This year brings a dual celebration at Northwestern University: the centennial of the School of Music and 20th anniversary of the dedication of the university’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. In the first of two commemorative concerts in Pick-Staiger, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Northwestern faculty members will appear as soloists with the University Chamber Orchestra. The second concert, 7:30 p.m. Friday, will honor American composer Gunther Schuller on his 70th birthday with a performance of his Flute Concerto. Walfrid Kujala is soloist and Victor Yampolsky will lead the University Symphony Orchestra in works by Stravinsky and Bruckner. Schuller will attend the concert and there will be a post-concert reception in his honor. Phone 708-491-5199.
– The People’s Music School, Illinois’ only tuition-free music school, will open its new $1-million facility at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at 931 W. Eastwood St. Students from the school will perform. The new facility can accommodate about 400 students and includes a music discovery center for preschoolers, library, practice rooms and a recital hall. For more information, phone director Rita Simo at 312-784-7032.
– With pianist Martha Argerich sidelined with an ailing back, pianist Vadim Sakharov has stepped in to accompany violinist Gidon Kremer in his Lexus Great Performers Series recital at 8 p.m. Friday at Orchestra Hall. The revised program holds works by Prokofiev, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Part and Astor Piazzolla.
– The Choral Ensemble of Chicago, under guest conductor Michael Cullen, will open its 30th anniversary season with the world premiere of “Rhymes and Riddles” by Chicago composer William Ferris. The concert, which includes selections sung by the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus (also celebrating its 30th anniversary), is at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at St. Paul’s Church, Orchard and Fullerton streets. Phone 312-935-3800.
– John von Rhein.
ARCHITECTURE
The design for the proposed Music and Dance Theater at Cityfront Center is the topic when Friends of Downtown meets Nov. 2. Architect Thomas Beeby of Hammond Beeby & Babka joins the theater’s general manager Joyce Moffatt at noon in the 5th floor east meeting room of the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. The 1,500-seat theater will be home to 12 mid-size music and dance companies. Call 312-726-4031.
– The Northeast Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects holds its annual awards program Nov. 8, with honors being bestowed in five categories, including distinguished building. The event is at McDonald’s Lodge, 2815 Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook. and begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $40. Call 708-527-8550
– Blair Kamin.
ART
Lisa Phillips, a curator at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art since 1977, will co-curate the 1997 installment of the museum’s always controversial Biennial Exhibition. She will work closely with Louise Neri, United States editor of the Parkett journal of artists’ projects and critical writings. As the first co-curator of a Biennial selected from outside the museum, the Australian Neri will bring an international perspective to the all-American exhibition.
– “Robert Smithson Reconsidered: The Non-Site of Myth,” a free panel discussion on the legacy of the American pioneer of Earth Art, will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Bookstore/Cafe of the Museum of Contemporary Art, 237 E. Ontario St. Call 312-280-2696.
– An informal talk on two musical installations by Canadian conceptualist Rodney Graham will be given at 3 p.m. Sunday, preceding a largely 20th Century oboe-and-piano recital by Philip and Patricia Morehead at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Free admission for talk; $8, $5 for recital. Call 312-702-8670.
– Art historian Christopher Reed will speak on “Reimagining Domesticity: The Art of the Bloomsbury Group” for the annual Norma U. Lifton Memorial Lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Fullerton Hall of the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Free admission. Call 312-443-3600.
– Alan Artner.
JAZZ
These are fine times for Chicago trumpeter Orbert Davis, who has been racking up triumphs with apparent ease over the past couple of years. Last month, Davis won the Cognac Hennessy Jazz Search, a national competition that yielded a $10,000 check, plus likely tour dates next season.
And at 8 p.m. Nov. 3, Davis will present his “Strings Attached” show, in which the trumpeter performs with his rhythm unit plus a large and sumptuous string section. Davis’ previous club performances of this show have been sublimely expressive.
This time around, he’ll be performing at the auditorium of Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave., Evanston. Without the usual din of barroom noise, this could be one of the most appealing jazz evenings of the fall season. The show will be taped for Black Entertainment Television’s “Jazz Central” program; phone 800-729-8254.
– Howard Reich.
