Upcoming Events
Mucca Pazza at Krannert Center
Mucca Pazza is a full-blown spectacle rolling straight out of Chicago with brass, strings, drums, and a whole lot of joy. This 30-member marching band blends everything from Balkan folk to Björk-inspired sounds to Frank Zappa-influenced melodies into a wild, genre-smashing performance that refuses to sit still. As the Chicago Tribune puts it, they blur the lines between New Orleans jazz, street band energy, and P-Funk soul—basically, expect the unexpected.
Decked out in mismatched uniforms, backed by a pounding drumline, and joined by cheerleaders chanting surreal, offbeat cheers, Mucca Pazza turns every show into an ebullient, dance-filled experience. Born in a steel mill parking lot in 2004, they’ve spent nearly two decades evolving into a roaming, musical circus of creativity. Whether on a stage or in the streets, they bring the same vibe: big, loud, weird, and incredibly fun.
Mucca Pazza at Purdue (Multi Day and City Event)
This merry band of misfits will roam campus, providing a variety of FREE pop-up performances around Purdue in Indianapolis during Purdue’s Weeks of Welcome!
Wednesday, September 9 All day
Purdue University in Indianapolis
Check for times and locations closer to the performance date.
Joffery Ballet's production of Liliom
Inspired by Ferenc Molnár’s 1909 play and the musical adaptation Carousel, Neumeier’s adaptation follows Liliom, a charismatic but self-destructive carnival barker whose fierce love for Julie is unraveled by pride, poverty, and rage. Set in an American amusement park during the Great Depression, passion turns to crime and tragedy.
Granted a chance to return to Earth, Liliom confronts his choices and attempts one final act of grace. This stark reckoning with guilt and the possibility of redemptionis Neumeier’s most profound artistic endeavor. Distinguished by his emotional depth and theatrical nuance, Liliom features Michel Legrand’s evocative score, blending classical and jazz influences that echo a restless America.
Choreographer Neumeier’s masterpiece Liliom premieres with the Joffrey, the first American ballet Company to bring the production to life.
Join us for the Chicago premiere! More information here: https://joffrey.org/performances-and-tickets/26-27-season/liliom/
Butter Chicken At penn state erie
Butter Chicken will present various performance at Penn State Erie, including workshops and clinics with University students and outreach performances at local area middle and high schools.
Butter Chicken at Harris Theatre
Performance Run Time: Approximately 2 hours, including intermission.
Curated by Fareed Haque, acclaimed guitarist and Mandala Artist-in-Residence, the Red Line Jazz Festival is the culminating performance of the Red Line Jazz Project, a five-month public arts initiative showcasing live music and cultural programming at CTA Red Line stations and community spaces across Chicago.
The festival features project artists Butter Chicken Brass Band, Luciano Antonio, The Windy City Ramblers, members of the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, and the Mandala Dance Ensemble, led by Raji Venkat and Greer Hutchinson.
Blending jazz improvisation, global musical influences, and dance, the performance celebrates Chicago’s rich cultural landscape and the communities connected by the Red Line corridor, from the North Side to the South Side, highlighting the city’s longstanding tradition of artistic innovation, cultural exchange, and community engagement.
Find more information here: https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/performance/red-line-jazz-festival
MAHLER X NOTORIOUS B.I.G. X 2PAC, Symphonyfuse and Steve hackman at harris theater
SYMPHONYFUSE Orchestra performs creator Steve Hackman’s fusion of the quintessential music of Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur with Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony for a transformative exploration of life, death, legacy, struggle, and triumph. Featuring favorites like “Hypnotize,” “Ambitions as a Ridah,” “California Love,” “Juicy,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” and “Sky’s the Limit,” the performance weaves these artists together in a thoroughly original way, with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 propelling the work forward.
More information and ticket links found at: https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/performance/mahler-x-notorious-big-x-2pac
Thirsty Ears with Origin of Animal
ACM’s Thirsty Ears Festival is Chicago’s only classical music street festival!
For two days Wilson street between Hermitage and Ravenswood are closed to feature stellar ensembles and soloists a huge range of classical music from all eras on the main stage.
We also have delicious beer and wine, vendor booths, kid-friendly activities and food trucks on both days.
Suggested entry donation of $10
In the event of rain we will move the music into the All Saints Church on the same block with seating for 200 people.
Chicago Stars v Racing Louisville FC at Martin Stadium, Evanston
Professional Pep Band at the Chicago Star Game!
Chicago Stars vs Bay FC at Martin Stadium, Evanston
Professional Pep Band accompanies the Chicago Stars!
Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and Mozart Requiem
Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in Mozart’s soul-stirring Requiem, left incomplete at the time of the composer’s premature death at 35. Written during the height of the AIDS crisis, John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 is another requiem of sorts, memorializing friends and colleagues lost to the disease.
I’ll be playing the second Tuba part on John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. There is no Tuba in Mozart’s Requiem.
https://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/events/mozart-requiem/
Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 and Mozart Requiem
Giancarlo Guerrero leads the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus in Mozart’s soul-stirring Requiem, left incomplete at the time of the composer’s premature death at 35. Written during the height of the AIDS crisis, John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 is another requiem of sorts, memorializing friends and colleagues lost to the disease.
I’ll be playing the second Tuba part on John Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. There is no Tuba in Mozart’s Requiem.
https://www.grantparkmusicfestival.com/events/mozart-requiem/
Butter Chicken at Harper College
From jazz and rock to a range of global styles, Harper College’s annual Summer Concert Series will once again bring live music to campus with a lineup of free performances featuring faculty, alumni and Chicago-based artists.
The 2026 series begins May 28 and continues Thursday evenings through August 13 at the Drs. Kenneth and Catherine Ender Outdoor Pavilion on Harper’s Palatine campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. Each concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
Indeed, the lineup showcases a broad range of musical styles and performers, most of which have a connection to Harper. Some groups feature music faculty, while others highlight the talents of alumni or area musicians who have come to campus to help instruct music students. Highlights include the Latin music of Sandra Antongiorgi, the South Asian folk songs of Butter Chicken, the modern R&B of the Evon J. Sams Sextet and the rock ’n’ roll of Blitzer – which features recent Harper alum Madison Kehl.
Since beginning in 2021, Harper’s annual series has become a summertime tradition at Harper, offering audiences the opportunity to experience professional-caliber performances in an outdoor setting while highlighting the college’s music faculty, alumni connections and commitment to arts programming.
Concertgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets, as seating is not provided. Free parking is available nearby in lots 9 and 10; enter at Harper’s Euclid Avenue entrance. If it rains, performances may be moved indoors.
