thursday23
Thursday23
Foreign BornNovalima, Issa Bagayogo
Friday24
Abe VigodaAkron/FamilyBig ScienceDemi Lovato
Saturday25
Jack-O & the Tennessee TearjerkersObits
Monday27
Matthias Goerne & Christoph Eschenbach
Tuesday28
The Dead Weather
Wednesday29
The Dead WeatherMatthias Goerne & Christoph EschenbachMary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone
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Electronic beats provide a backbone for the music of Malian singer and kamele n’goni player ISSA BAGAYOGO as well. His attempts to break into Bamako’s music scene in the early 90s earned him little but a drug habit and a job as a bus driver, but when he returned a few years later he hooked up with Yves Wernert, a French producer who talked him into wedding the circular riffs and gruff, bluesy incantations of his Mande songs to electronic beats and textures—a decision that earned him the nickname “Techno Issa” and eventually made him an international star. I especially like his early recordings, with their stark divide between raw, unadorned acoustic instruments and unapologetically artificial electronics; his most recent, Mali Koura (Six Degrees), softens this contrast by making everything pretty slick. He’s still a fine singer and instrumentalist, though, and no matter what he does in the studio, his infectious energy comes through just fine onstage.
Novalima headline and Bagayogo opens. Members of Novalima also DJ an aftershow at Sonotheque. 6:30 PM, Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Michigan and Randolph, 312-742-1168. —Peter Margasak
DEMI LOVATO If you’re not the parent of a tween girl(or a tween girl yourself), you’re probably wondering who Demi Lovato is and why she’s playing the same size venues as Beyonce. The 16-year-old Lovato is Disney’s Hannah Montana 2.0, an icon to millions of girls, and she’s already released her second album, the brand-new Here We Go Again (Hollywood). She’s also part of a triumvirate of BFFs with Selena Gomez (also of Disney fame) and Taylor Swift—in their gushy and totally heartening Twitter feeds they post about missing one another in between stadium gigs. Lovato’s songs are about typical teen concerns—friendship, authenticity, the quest for self, young L-U-V—but there’s something about her that makes me believe she’s going to turn into a genuinely compelling pop star come adulthood. She doesn’t just sing but also plays guitar and piano, she’s already been through a metal phase (during which she cited Dimmu Borgir as a favorite live band), and she writes or cowrites most of her own songs. Here’s hoping she, Swift, and Gomez join forces—the world could use a new Runaways. David Archuleta and Jordan Pruitt open. 7 PM, Allstate Arena, 6920 Mannheim, Rosemont, 847-635-6601 or 312-559-1212, $39.50-$49.50. —Jessica Hopper
MATTHIAS GOERNE AND CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH Nobody inhabits the narrative of a song cycle more thoroughly than German baritone Matthias Goerne, though the arresting beauty of his voice can distract the listener from the great artistry behind it. Goerne relishes the sparks that come from shifting between musical partners, and he’s teamed with some extraordinary pianists, including Brendel, Ashkenazy, Aimard, and Andsnes. Christoph Eschenbach, every bit their peer as an accompanist, joins Goerne for a three-concert series devoted to the three Schubert song cycles, in which the composer distilled his writing to perfection. First is Die Schöne Müllerin, set to 20 poems by Wilhelm Müller. In Goerne’s interpretation the harrowing descent it depicts— from yearning to obsession to suicide—is even darker than Schubert’s later song cycle Winterreise (performed at the second concert), and in an enthralling recent recording with Eschenbach he delivers the optimism of the early songs with a hint of instability. This series is a real coup for Ravinia—the only Goerne recitals in the U.S. this year—and an absolute treasure for lied lovers. See also Wednesday. 8 PM, Martin Theatre, Ravinia Festival, Green Bay and Lake Cook Rds., Highland Park, 847-266-5100, $10-$40. —Steve Langendorf
MATTHIAS GOERNE AND CHRISTOPH ESCHENBACH See Monday. Schubert elevated the art song, making it more dramatic and giving the piano a greater role. His Winterreise, the second of Goerne and Eschenbach’s three concerts devoted to Schubert’s complete song cycles, is the pinnacle of his writing for voice. This “winter journey” is a cry of anguish, arguably the greatest song cycle ever written. The final concert (Fri 7/31) pairs Schwanengesang—not intended as a cycle by Schubert, it was assembled posthumously by his publisher and contains some striking individual songs—with the transcendent Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960. 8 PM, Martin Theatre, Ravinia Festival, Green Bay and Lake Cook Rds., Highland Park, 847-266-5100, $10-$40. —Steve Langendorf
