Glick's Pix: Les Miz, Chamber Music & Opera

Cold wintry weather has now engulfed Lansing, but concerts are blooming which allows us to forget about ice and snow.

Tuesday of this week, “Les Misérables”, opened at Wharton Center (whartoncenter.com) for another run.  After “Hamilton” played Wharton in the summer, I heard several folks says, “I still like Les Miz better.  It’s my favorite musical.”

And although it’s dark, has very little humor or dancing, and the costumes are mostly dreary, Les Miz still captures the audience every time.  The music (almost all ballads) is inspiring and emotional and the stage craft is astounding. At this writing, the Wharton run is almost sold out.

Thursday, November 14^th, is the second concert in the Absolute Music Chamber Series, taking place at the Urban Beat in Old Town (absolutemusiclansing.com).  This very popular series features a concert featuring piano quintets by Brahms and Dvorak and a world premiere of a piece for flute and piano quintet with guest artist, flutist Richard Sherman. These concerts often sell out, so if you want to attend call for tickets NOW.

Lansing used to be a wasteland for chamber music, but now this intimate, small ensemble music is booming.  In addition to a full series of chamber music presented at the Michigan State University College of Music throughout the year, local music lovers can attend concerts of these mini music groups as presented by Absolute Music as well as the Lansing Symphony Orchestra Chamber Series  (lansingsymphony.org) at the Molly Grove Chapel at First Presbyterian Church.. 

But there are now two additional groups that are offering more options:  The Camertone International Chamber Soloists Concert Series has a 7-concert series at the Urban Beat, and the Capital Chamber Music Society is beginning a series of chamber music concerts taking place in private homes – as chamber music was performed when it was first written. Seating will only be for 30 attendees. (www.capitalchambermusicsociety.org)

All of these concert series have been created by MSU College of Music faculty members.  The LSO Chamber and Absolute Music are curated by flutist and artistic director Richard Sherman.  The International Chamber Soloists, a small chamber orchestra, is the brainchild of violinist Dimitri Berlinsky and the Capital Chamber Music Society has clarinetist Guy Yehuda as its artistic director.

So, for the first time EVER Lansing is now a veritable garden of chamber music listening opportunities. We will have more articles about the Lansing Chamber music boom in the months ahead.

One more musical event that you shouldn’t forget about is the fall opera of the MSU Opera Theatre which will be the perennial favorite, Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” (think: Can-Can). Four shows will begin on November 20 at the Fairchild Theater. (music.msu.edu/events) GlickArts will have a feature on this opera next week.