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cJohn Sharp, Ani kavafian, Jorge Federico Osorio, Desiree Ruhstrat, and Michael Strauss Georg Solti hired cellist John Sharp in 1986, when Sharp was only 27, making him one of the youngest musicians ever appointed to a Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal chair. As a soloist with the orchestra he’s performed Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, with Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim. He consistently plays his section’s solos with elegant phrasing and a gorgeous tone, and he has a remarkable ability to pick up a musical line from an unrelated instrument such as the clarinet and match its sound–all qualities essential to great chamber music making. For this program he’ll be joined by violinist Ani Kavafian, local pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, violinist Desiree Ruhstrat, and violist Michael Strauss. They’ll play Brahms’s monumental, searingly passionate Piano Quintet in F Minor, op. 34, Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-flat, K. 378, and Mozart’s magnificent Piano Quartet no. 2 in E-flat, K. 493, one of the composer’s finest chamber works to include the piano. a 7:30 PM, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University, 50 Arts Circle Dr., Evanston, 847-467-4000, $25, $23 for seniors, $12 for students. –Barbara Yaross
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a 9:30 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western, 773-276-3600 or 866-468-3401. F –Monica Kendrick
FRENCH KICKS French Kicks’ 2002 debut, One Time Bells, initially inspired a lot of “next Strokes” talk from would-be tastemakers, but the lack of follow-up hype may have been a blessing. Two Thousand (Vagrant), released in July, is the type of record that might have been labeled a disappointment coming from an indie-pop It Band, but stripped of expectations its low-level thrum has a pretty, muted glimmer. And the sustained balance of tension and mellowness makes it an exceptional soundtrack for your next Zach Braff moment. This show is part of the Tomorrow Never Knows festival; see page 24 for a complete schedule. Headlights, Skybox, and Eagle Seagull open; Flosstradamus DJs upstairs. a 9 PM, Schubas, 3159 N. Southport, 773-525-2508, 18+, $15. –Miles Raymer
son of gunnar, ton of shel While Aram Shelton has kept up his links to Chicago’s jazz and improv scene since he moved to California a year and a half ago–in local performances with Dragons 1976, Fast Citizens, and Grey Ghost, for instance–the multi-instrumentalist has also formed some new partnerships. He and Icelandic guitarist Gudmundur Steinn Gunnarsson formed Son of Gunnar, Ton of Shel in the fall of 2005, when they both enrolled at Mills College; on their self-titled debut, which Edgetone will release later this year, they use signal processing to dissolve the boundaries between acoustic and electronic sounds. On one of the CD’s six unnamed tracks, Shelton’s bass clarinet snakes patiently through a maze of independently spinning percussion, reed, and guitar loops; elsewhere reed and string tones pixelate into fields of brittle chimes. The duo headlines this show; Architeuthis Walks on Land and the Labycz Sprikut Duo open. On Friday, January 12, Son of Gunnar, Ton of Shel opens for Never Enough Hope at the Empty Bottle. a 8:30 PM, Enemy, 1550 N. Milwaukee, third floor, 773-318-8685 or 312-493-3657, $5 suggested donation. A –Bill Meyer
