Photo: courtesy of grant park music festival

The 2013 Grant Park Music Festival kicks off June 12.

CHICAGO CULTURAL CENTER Free!
6/5 at 12:15 Steven Vanhauwaert, piano.
6/12 at 12:15 Rebecca Benjamin, violin, and Tatyana Stepanova, piano.
6/19 at 12:15 Jie Yuan, piano.
6/24 at 12:15 Susan Lageson Lundholm, soprano.
6/26 at 12:15 Sima Piano Trio. 78 E Washington. choosechicago.com.

CHICAGO FOLKS OPERETTA
6/28–7/14 This company loves Hungarian light opera, and Franz Lehár’s The Land of Smiles, the story of a Viennese bride who follows her new husband to polygamist China, is right in its wheelhouse. The husband sings one of Lehár’s greatest hits, the aria “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz.” $30–$40. Stage 773, 1225 W Belmont. chicagofolksoperetta.org.

CHICAGO SINFONIETTA
6/8 at 8, 6/9 at 3 The Pulitzer-winning composer Jennifer Higdon chose four colleagues to write movements about local architectural gems—Aqua, Crown Hall at IIT, the Art Institute’s Modern Wing, and the Pritzker Pavilion. The result: ChiScape, a suite that premieres here. $10–$50. 6/8: Wentz Concert Hall, North Central College, 171 E Chicago, Naperville. 6/9: Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. chicagosinfonietta.org.

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
6/6 at 8, 6/7 at 1:30, 6/8 at 8, 6/11 at 7:30 The CSO music director Riccardo Muti closes out the season with a three-week residency. His first concert program starts old, with Haydn’s “Maria Theresa” Symphony, and then turns 20th century, with Bohuslav Martinů’s oboe concerto and Scriabin’s Third Symphony, “The Divine Poem.” $28–$215.
6/13 at 8, 6/14 at 1:30, 6/15 at 8 Critic’s Pick Focal in Muti’s second weekend is the Viennese pianist Rudolf Buchbinder playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. A Wagner instrumental interlude from Götterdämmerung and Bruckner’s First Symphony bookend the concerto. $28–$243.
6/18 at 7:30 A nonsubscription program with Buchbinder repeats Beethoven and Wagner and caps them with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony. $45–$230.
6/20 at 8, 6/21 at 1:30, 6/22 at 8, 6/23 at 3 Muti invites the Symphony Chorus to the season’s final program, beginning with the Mozart chestnut Ave verum corpus. Among the Verdi on the program is the rare Vivaldi Magnificat, with the mezzo-soprano Alisa Kolosova soloing. $40–$299. Symphony Center, 220 S Michigan. cso.org.

GRANT PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL Free!
6/12 at 6:30 The summer music fest kicks off with a contemporary piece by Andrew Norman, which the fest elliptically calls Drip. Tchaikovsky’s locally faddish Fourth Symphony and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, with the young virtuoso Stefan Jackiw, fill the bill.
6/14 at 6:30, 6/15 at 7:30 The Grant Park Chorus’s season opens with Prokofiev’s cantata Alexander Nevsky, programmed opposite two orchestral works by Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland.
6/19 at 6:30 Pink Martini hope for better weather than their 2010 appearance, where drenched fans kept vigil through tornado sirens to hear the group.
6/21 at 6:30, 6/22 at 7:30 Continuing a week of fusion music, the East-meets-West piece Iris Dévoilée, for orchestra and Chinese instruments, with solos by two sopranos, anchors a program that also includes Fauré and Ravel.
6/26 at 6:30 An early-20th-century concert comprises Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony, Carl Nielsen’s clarinet concerto, and Martinů’s scherzo about an airplane, Thunderbolt P-47.
6/28 at 6:30, 6/29 at 7:30 Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem last graced the festival in 2004. Now, in Britten’s centenary year, the oratorio returns—including the same soprano soloist, Erin Wall. Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Michigan and Washington. grantparkmusicfestival.com.

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY ORGAN CONCERT SERIES Free!
6/16 at 3 Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle foregrounds the chapel’s excellent pipe organ, with the equally excellent William Ferris Chorale singing the choral part. Madonna della Strada Chapel, Loyola U, 1032 W Sheridan. luc.edu/organ.

MAKE MUSIC CHICAGO Free!
6/21 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The solstice fest returns for a third year with performances from professionals and amateurs at more than 60 sites, culminating in a four-hour concert at St. James Cathedral in River North. Performers include Spektral Quartet, Quintet Attacca, and the Providence St. Mel Gospel Choir. Locations, times: makemusicchicago.com.

MORTON ARBORETUM
6/27 at 7:30 After the close of the arboretum’s season, the orchestra goes on tour to Lisle. The first concert consists of John Williams orchestral excerpts, mostly from his well-known movie scores, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, and E.T. $25–$30.
6/29 at 7:30 An all-Tchaikovsky CSO program, under the baton of Carlos Miguel Prieto, presents the Capriccio Italien, with Jennifer Koh, and, yep, the Fourth Symphony. $25–$30.
6/30 at 3 Child Friendly Intended for kids ages 5 to 8, this picnic concert features danceable works by Bizet, Ginastera, and Rimsky-Korsakov. $15–$20. 4100 Lincoln, Lisle. cso.org.

RAVINIA
6/15 at 8 The Mormon Tabernacle Choir. $17–$95.
6/21 at 8 The chameleon pianist Peter Serkin plays a recital ranging from a baroque work attributed to the Dutch composer Sweelinck through Mozart and Beethoven to the modernist Carl Nielsen. $10–$60.
6/23 at 7 The Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra presents the composer Max Richter’s Four Seasons, a recomposed version of the Vivaldi classic. Arvo Pärt’s Fratres and J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 complete the concert. $10–$65.
6/24 at 8 The Zukerman Chamber Players perform Beethoven and Mendelssohn piano trios and bring in the CSO principal cellist John Sharp for Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major. $10–$75.
6/28, 29, 30 at 2 Free! The Steans Music Institute, Ravinia’s young-musician program, puts on chamber concerts for piano and strings. Lake Cook and Green Bay, Highland Park. ravinia.org.

RUSH HOUR CONCERTS Free!
6/11 at 5:45 The trumpeter Stephen Burns and the extravagantly mustachioed David Schrader perform works for trumpet and organ.
6/18 at 5:45 Music of J. S. Bach.
6/25 at 5:45 Trio Voce, which, despite its name, consists of all instruments, plays piano trios. St James Cathedral, 650 N Dearborn, Suite 500. rushhour.org.

THE SINGERS
6/18, 19 at 8:30 The Minnesota-based choir performs Rachmaninoff’s Russianly beautiful, bass-heavy All-Night Vigil (a.k.a. “Vespers”) in two settings. $10–$60. 6/18: Trinity Episcopal Church, 425 Laurel, Highland Park. 6/19: Lake Cook and Green Bay, Highland Park. ravinia.org.

SPEKTRAL QUARTET
6/29 at 9 The omnivorous string ensemble pairs new works with movements from quartets by the likes of Mozart, Haydn, and Verdi. $12. The Hideout, 1354 W Wabansia. spektralquartet.com.

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