Chicago Celebrates with over 500 Cities around the World

98.7WFMT Broadcasts throughout the Day

CHICAGO (May 20, 2013) – Presented byRush Hour Concerts, Make Music Chicago, a completely free musical celebration across Chicago, returns for its third annual event taking place on the first day of summer, Friday, June 21.  Chicago joins more than 500 cities across the world celebrating music with free performances, all on the longest day of the year.  Tishman Speyer is proud to be Presenting Sponsor of Make Music Chicago 2013.

Make Music Chicago celebrates the ability of everyone to participate in music-making.  Throughout the day, people of all ages and backgrounds – beginners, amateurs, professionals and marquee artists – gather in Chicago’s public spaces to perform live music of all genres.  This year, over 25 sites host music events, including Daley Plaza, the Driehaus Museum, The Poetry Foundation, Midway Plaisance, Lincoln Park Zoo, Old Town School of Folk Music, Roosevelt University and more.  The Grand Finale takes place in the historic St. James Cathedral (65 E. Huron Street at Wabash) in River North, followed by an outdoor street party at the St. James Commons.  A complete list of performance sites can be found at www.makemusicchicago.com.

In related news, Rush Hour Concerts is pleased to announce that pianist Kuang-Hao Huang has joined Creative Director Deborah Sobol on the Make Music Chicago Creative Team.  A renowned pianist and frequent artist on the Rush Hour Concerts Summer Concert Series, Huang is collaborating with Sobol to program several locations for the June 21 celebration.  "I'm excited to join Rush Hour's creative team for Make Music Chicago," said Huang. "We are planning a range of programs across the city, from large participatory events like ‘Play the Plaza’ to a full day of live broadcasts on 98.7WFMT."

Make Music Chicago 2013 Events

Play the Plaza

Make Music Chicago invites anyone and everyone to Play the Plaza, beginning in the morning at Daley Plaza (50 W. Washington Street).  The fully participatory event welcomes all orchestra, choral and concert band musicians of any age.  Play the Plaza opens with the Rise and Shine Orchestra and continues with two popular lunchtime events returning from prior years, the Broadway and Opera Sing-Along and Sousapalooza.

• Rise and Shine Orchestra: 10 – 10:45 am

Lloyd Palmiter of Quinlan & Fabish Music Company leads musicians through vibrant orchestral music (rehearsal begins at 9:00 am). 

• Broadway and Opera Sing-Along: 11 – 11: 45 am

Bill Chin, Artistic Director of the Oriana Singers, leads Broadway and opera fans in favorite tunes.

• Sousapalooza: 12 – 12:45 pm

Richard Fischer, Director of Bands at Concordia University-Chicago, leads classic marches of John Philip Sousa. 

Any musicians interested in participating in Play the Plaza events can learn more, download repertoire and sign up at www.makemusicchicago.com/play-the-plaza.

Live Broadcasts on 98.7WFMT

Chicago's only classical music radio station, 98.7WFMT, devotes a full day of broadcasting on June 21 to Make Music Chicago, featuring live performances from the Music Institute of Chicago (1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston), the PianoForte Foundation (Fine Arts Building, Studio 825, 408 S. Michigan Avenue) and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts (915 E. 60^th Street). The broadcast is produced by 98.7WFMT's program director, Peter Van De Graaff, who said: “Make Music Chicago is one of the city's most unique musical events and WFMT is excited to feature a day of live broadcasts from around the city on June 21^st."

• Nichols Hall at Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston: 10 am – 12 pm

Performances by Newberry Consort, Music Institute of Chicago, Opera Moda, International Chamber Artists, New Budapest Orpheum Society and Apollo Chorus

• PianoForte: 1 – 3 pm

Performances by George LePauw, Marcia Bosits, Sylvia Wang, Isabelle Olivier, Matthew Hagle, and Alex Djordjevic

• Logan Center: 4 pm – 6 pm

Performances by Fulcrum Point New Music Project featuring Kuang-Hao Huang, Avalon String Quartet, Orion Ensemble, Cavatina Duo and CUBE Ensemble

Family Concerts

Make Music Chicago includes multiple Family Concerts throughout the day.  In Lincoln Park Zoo (2001 N. Clark Street), woodwind ensemble Quintet Attacca, along with special guest narrator Mark George, President of the Music Institute of Chicago, perform their interactive "Peter and the Wolf" show.  Also, the young musicians of the Suzuki Music School of Lincoln Park perform favorites in “SuZOOki” and the young artists of the Chinese Fine Arts Society perform highlights of their repertory.

Lincoln Park Zoo

• Quintet Attacca with Mark George, “Peter and the Wolf”: 10:30 am – 11:15 am
• “SuZOOki”kids play-along:  11:30 am – 12:00 pm
• Chinese Fine Arts Society Young Artists:  12:15 pm – 1:00 pm

During the Grand Finale, Quintet Attacca also performs its interactive “Quintet Idol!” on the Scott V. Bruner Family Stage in the St. James Commons, a show intended to introduce school-age children to woodwind instruments where they decide their favorite.

Organ Crawl

• St. Chrysostom Episcopal Church (1424 N. Dearborn Street): 11:10 am – 11:40 am
  Performance by Richard Hoskins
• Fourth Presbyterian Church (126 E. Chestnut Street): 12:10 pm – 1:00 pm

Performance by Julie Vidrick Evans

• St. James Cathedral: 1:20 pm – 2:00 pmPerformance by David Jonies

More Music Throughout the Day

Make Music Chicago events take place throughout the day at these Tishman Speyer properties:

• 10 & 20 S. Wacker Drive
• 161 N. Clark Street
• 222 N. LaSalle Street
• 30 N. LaSalle Street
• 353 N. Clark Street
• 525 W. Monroe Street
• 227 W. Monroe Street
• 1 N. Franklin Street

Additional Sites Hosting Music:

• Midway Plaisance, 731 E. 60th Street
• Nichols Park, 1355 E. 53rd Street
• Diehaus Museum, 40 E. Erie Street
• The Poetry Foundation, 61 W. Superior Street
• Joan’s Music Studio, 1438 E. 57th Street
• International House (2 – 8 pm), 1414 E. 59th Street
• Resurrection Project Plaza, 1818 S. Paulina Street
• Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue
• Roosevelt University, 430 S. Michigan Avenue
• Chant Restaurant (starting at 9 pm), 1509 E. 53rd Street

Grand Finale

The day’s events close with the Grand Finale, including a free two-hour concert event as part of the Rush Hour Concerts Summer Concert Series from 5 – 7 pm, at St. James Cathedral, featuring (in order of appearance, subject to change):

• A trumpet fanfare by Chicago Symphony Orchestra trumpeters Chris Martin and Tage Larsen
• Spektral Quartet performing Verdi’s String Quartet in E Minor
• Singers from the Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera Chicago performing selections from Carousel, The Marriage of Figaro and Dido and Aeneas
  • Janet Sung (violin) and Kuang-Hao Huang (piano) performing Poulenc’s Sonata for Violin and Piano
  • Fifth House Ensemble with participants in the 2013 fresh inc festival
  • Quintet Attacca performing the music of Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Marquez and Astor Piazzolla
  • Chicago Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet
  • David Schrader’s improvisations on organ

The Grand Finale continues outdoors in the new St. James Commons on Wabash at Huron from 7 – 9 pm for the Make Music Chicago Street Party, featuring family programming and international music on three stages.  Renowned harmonica performer and teacher Joe Filisko leads an all-ages Harmonica Jam with harmonicas generously donated by Hohner, Inc.  A variety of food trucks will also be on hand.

About Make Music Chicago

Celebrating the ability of everyone to make music, Make Music Chicago is completely free for musicians and audiences alike.  It is inspired by Fête de la Musique, a national musical holiday in France.  Since its inaugural year in 1982, Fête de la Musique has become an international phenomenon, taking place every June 21^st in more than 500 cities in over 130 countries – including Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Australia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Fiji, Colombia, Chile, Nepal and Japan – easily making it the largest music event in the world.  Make Music Chicago is part of a national group of “Make Music” cities that includes New York, Los Angeles, Denver, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Make Music Chicago is presented by Rush Hour Concerts in partnership with 98.7WFMT, Alliance Française de Chicago, the Consulate General of France in Chicago, the Chicago Loop Alliance, Chicago Sister Cities International, the Chicago Park District and St. James Cathedral.

About Rush Hour Concerts

Rush Hour Concerts presents the annual Summer Concert Series featuring free concerts of “great music for busy lives” at St. James Cathedral every Tuesday evening, June 4 – August 27, 2013.  In a format that reinvents classical music for life in a new century, Rush Hour Concerts begin with a pre-concert food and beverage reception with the artists at 5:15 pm in the cathedral foyer, followed by a 30-minute concert at 5:45 pm.  The reception and concert are always free and no tickets are required.

Since its inception in 2000, Rush Hour Concerts has reinvented the classical music experience through a dedication to presenting uncompromising artistic quality; a concert format suitable to contemporary lifestyles and accessible to all listeners; and a policy of admission-free events.  Rush Hour Concerts has created groundbreaking programs and access initiatives that have revolutionized music making in Chicago and forged trendsetting partnerships with the city’s arts and cultural community. 

Rush Hour Concerts is committed to broadening arts access and launched its Community Engagement Residencies to bring expert musical instruction to under-resourced neighborhoods in Chicago through a long-term strategy of artistic and community collaboration.  Now in its 14^th year, Rush Hour Concerts has expanded into a year-round arts organization, yet remains grounded in its mission to reach across all communities with new ways for audiences to experience world-class music in Chicago.

To learn more about Make Music Chicago, please visit www.makemusicchicago.com, and to learn more about Rush Hour Concerts, please visit www.rushhour.org.