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Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: A delicious weekend at Ravinia brings together music and fine dining
'A good program,' chief conductor Marin Alsop told a crowd in Ravinia's Tree Top Lounge, 'is like a meal.' She wasn't just reaching for a fanciful metaphor. Each year, Breaking Barriers, the festival-within-a-festival she devised around gender equity at Ravinia, spotlights a different profession. This year's focus on the culinary arts invited women chefs to devise dishes inspired by Alsop's Chicago Symphony programs. Alsop picked the music, while her co-curator, 'Food Network' star Molly Yeh, matchmade the pieces with specific chefs. At this ticketed, add-on event in the Tree Top Lounge, a Ravinia audience sampled the results. The chefs themselves assembled and handed out the hors d'oeuvres at a long table: 'Chopped' judge Maneet Chauhan, New York City baker Jacqueline Eng, Florida chef Mika Leon, and Monteverde and Pastificio chef/co-owner Sarah Grueneberg. For some of the chefs, thinking deeply about music is already second nature. Yeh is the daughter of CSO clarinetist John Bruce Yeh and a Juilliard-trained percussionist; she designed a bite and performed at Saturday's chamber concert. And Eng is also a percussionist with a Juilliard credential. (Those department dinner parties must have been elite.) Despite the crush of more than 250 attendees — about the most Tree Top can fit comfortably — the preconcert tasting went off smoothly. When the line got long, a quick-thinking Chauhan started offering her dish to those waiting, scoopable from a Fritos bag. I'm a pale excuse for a food critic. But after sampling the bites first, then attending the concert in the Pavilion, I found that the chefs' dishes uncannily forecasted the performance to come. Here's how this musical feast went on Friday: Accompanying Reena Esmail's 'Re|Member' By seeking an Indian spin on Midwestern comfort food, Chauhan set a challenge for herself. Any Frito pie, even a cheffed-up one, has to contend with the overwhelming saltiness of the chips themselves. Chauhan might not have been able to surmount that totally, but I can't imagine it being done much better. Her answer was to introduce several tastes: fruity pops of pomegranate seed and mango koochumbar, sweet-and-sour tamarind chutney and briny-creamy queso fresco. In a clever stroke, Chauhan made the vindaloo with ground lamb, rather than the usual hunks, to nod to the more traditional chili topping. Your aunt in Cedar Rapids would surely approve. The Midwest/Indian mashup was apropos for Esmail, who was born in Chicago. In her 'Re|Member,' premiered in 2021, an oboist prerecords their solo, to be shown on a video screen at the top of the piece. Later, the video returns, with the same oboist duetting with their past self live onstage. Of all the pandemic-era commissions out there, Esmail's 'Re|Member' stands out for its poignancy — and I loved that Chauhan, by riffing on a familiar, lovable dish, managed to nod to that nostalgia. So, I was extra disappointed that Ravinia opted to go a different direction for this performance. Instead of the video duet, CSO oboists Lora and Will Welter played a spatialized duet— Schaefer playing in the Pavilion aisle, Welter onstage. Even with its profundity curbed, this was a fine, stirring performance. That's a credit to guest conductor Alexandra Arrieche, a participant in Alsop's fellowship program for female conductors. Accompanying Tim Corpus's 'Great Lake Concerto,' Movement III When you think 'percussion,' you probably think big, bold, maybe a little aggro. It's no surprise Eng's perspective as a former percussionist led her to temper those stereotypes. Instead of going for the obvious associations, she focused on that other, unseen aspect of being a musician: long sessions in the practice room. As she explained in the introductory video played in the Pavilion, she selected rye for its resilience in many different climates. (That grain selection had the added benefit of a slightly sour edge, brightening the dish.) And the bean-and-vegetable it rested upon had the rich, layered flavor one can only achieve by stewing high-quality ingredients patiently for hours on end. Decadent, a little cheesy, and oh-so-umami, it was the most flavor-packed bite of the evening. With its focus on Lakes-region vegetables and grains, Eng also drew inspiration from the piece's title. Corpus, a Chicago-based composer, composed the work specifically for CSO percussionist Vadim Karpinos and Lyric percussionist Ed Harrison; it was premiered by Roosevelt University's student orchestra last year. The third movement, marked 'Explosive,' throws us into a fast-paced repartee between Karpinos and Harrison from opposite sides of the stage — Karpinos on xylophone, Harrison on tom-toms. Corpus's writing is consistently inventive: It's never quite clear whether the soloists are teasing one another or casually trying to one-up each other, and you'll never hear a xylophone sound more mournful than it does at the middle of the movement. I's always a high endorsement, to both performer and composer, when people start hooting in the middle of a classical music piece like they're at a stadium show. Harrison's moment was his minute-long maraca solo (yes, really), and Karpinos' his stunt of tossing, then catching, a shekere 10 feet in the air during a cadenza. I'll be thinking about that performance for a long time—just like those beans. Accompanying George Gershwin's 'Cuban Overture' Of the four, León's dish was the most conventional, which is no slight. The texture of the ropa vieja was just right — not too soupy, but also not getting caught in your teeth for perpetuity, like some ropier ropas viejas. I could see a world in which the tostón weighs down the dish. Instead, it was just dense enough to support the generous mound of meat on top. I might have wanted some more acidity to brighten the dish. Then again, at this point in the meal, some unabashed heartiness was welcome. Without León's dish, I don't know that I would have left the Tree Top Lounge fully satiated. Alsop and the CSO's 'Cuban Overture' stuck to one's ribs, too. Maybe a little too much, actually — the overall spirit seemed transplanted from Gershwin's blustery, big-city tone poems, like 'American in Paris' or 'Rhapsody in Blue.' For a work that references son and rumba so deeply over its short duration, this overture didn't dance much as possible, I tried to isolate each dish's composite parts before taking them in together. The lamb vindaloo in the Frito pie. The cultured butter off Eng's rye toast. Even the tostón, alone, in León's creation. When I did the same for this 'pasta tale' — a chilled orzo, with a tomato saffron sauce pooling at its side — I admit, I was skeptical. Between the freshness of the lump crab and its vegetal crunch, the orzo had all the makings of a great summer pasta salad, if on the mild-mannered side. Meanwhile, the sauce was not at all what I expected, leading with the tomato's acidity. The saffron, for all its potency, arrives only on the back end of the bite, albeit mild enough to be overpowered by the taste of Ravinia's wooden utensils. I swapped to plastic before mixing it all together and digging in. Then: total magic. It's as though Grueneberg had carefully plotted a run-of-show for each bite. First, the salinity of the crab, now amplified. Then, that tomato zing, rounded off pleasantly to become more mere aroma than star. The fresh veggies complete the garden, but no longer dominate. And then: the saffron, asserting itself more bravely than before. If this ends up on Monteverde's menu, catch me there tomorrow, a Road-Runner puff of dust pluming behind. What kismet that the most nuanced dish got the most nuanced performance. If programs are like meals, 'Scheherazade' would be the equivalent of a weekly special at Chez Ravinia: Like Copland's Clarinet Concerto, appearing later in the weekend, Alsop conducted the work earlier in her Ravinia tenure, in 2022. But the flavor profile of this meeting between CSO, Alsop and associate concertmaster Stephanie Jeong — who, then and now, played the expansive solos representing Scheherazade — has only deepened in those three years. Conducting scoreless, as is her wont in big repertoire works, Alsop had a specific and inspiring vision for the piece: an end-to-end lyricism, episodes that elicited delicious contrasts, slowdowns that were just right. But don't mistake specificity for micromanagement. Just as exhilarating was the sheer freedom and creativity the CSO seized in their solos. Stephen Williamson's runs in the third movement slowed at their peak, like the suspended, heartstopping moment before a roller coaster's big drop. Keith Buncke's bassoon solo was punctuated by pauses, a sage carefully choosing his words. And Jeong — where to begin? It was really her Scheherazade, a masterclass in taking time and, when called for, freezing it altogether. I can't think of a better 'Scheherazade' I've heard live, anywhere, even including Grant Park's noble account last summer. If only we could come back for seconds. The Breaking Barriers Festival continues 5 p.m. Sunday with Felix Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, 'Italian,' and Chicago Symphony clarinetist Stephen Williamson playing Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto. Tickets $35–$95 Pavilion, $15 lawn. More information at
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sharks get the job done in a hurry as they make it two from two in Blast
Sussex claimed a swift and comfortable T20 Vitality Blast home victory over last year's champions Gloucestershire, winning by 80 runs as Tom Alsop and James Coles set up a commanding total, with skipper Tymal Mills claiming three wickets. After being put in to bat, Sussex started brightly, with opener Daniel Hughes twice finding the boundary in the first over. Advertisement Fellow opener Harrison Ward fell for one in the second over, clean bowled by the off-spin of Ollie Price after going back and trying to cut a straight delivery which wasn't that short. Hughes kept his foot on the gas, hitting powerfully down the ground and square of the wicket, before tamely chipping a short delivery from Price into the hands of James Taylor at mid-off for 35 from 19. Hammond took a wonderful diving catch in the sixth over to dismiss John Simpson for eight off the bowling of Taylor, and the Sharks finished the powerplay on 53-3. James Coles started slowly, but Alsop hit both of his first two balls for four and didn't look back, thumping Tom Smith back over his head for the first six of the innings in the 11th over, and managing to hit the clock face above the scoreboard with another huge blow shortly after. Advertisement Coles got in on the act too, twice hitting Taylor over the square leg boundary in the 13th, almost striking the clock himself. Alsop reached his 50 from 30 in the 14th over, and the pair brought up their 100 partnership in the 15th. Sussex were well on top by this point, but David Payne seemed to have swung momentum back in Gloucestershire's favour when he dismissed Alsop (58 off 35) and then Coles (43 off 27) in the 16th over - Alsop stretching for a wide slower ball and looping it to short third man, Coles pulling a shortish delivery straight to mid wicket, leaving the Sharks 149-5. No subsequent batter could add more than ten runs to the total in the remaining four overs. Advertisement Smith took an amazing caught and bowled after Tom Clark smashed one back towards his face for two, and Jack Carson holed out at long on off Aman Rao's bowling, just after hitting an impressive pull shot over square leg for six. Nathan McAndrew was also caught on the boundary, becoming Payne's third wicket in an outstanding spell of 4-24 in his four overs. Tom Alsop adds to his tally (Image: Simon Dack) Ollie Robinson tried a few scoops, but eventually lobbed one straight to the keeper for six, and skipper Tymal Mills was out off the final ball of the innings, caught for one off the bowling of Taylor, with Sussex setting Gloucestershire a target of 174 to win. That seemed at the halfway point just above a par score, on a good wicket with a lightning outfield. Advertisement However, it became apparent quite quickly that Sussex's total would be far out of Gloucestershire's reach. Robinson showed his class with a high quality opening spell, clean bowling Australian opener Bancroft for seven in the third over with a world class delivery that kissed the top of off stump. He was very unfortunate not to have Price in the third over with lbw and, by the time Robinson had completed his third over, Gloucestershire were 29-2, with Currie having removed D'arcy Short for a duck. Hammond looked good for 24, but when he fell to Mills in the final over of the powerplay, Gloucestershire looked in trouble at 34-3. Advertisement Bracey looked in decent nick but also couldn't get past 24, joint top-scoring with Hammond. Mills bamboozled the lower order with his slower deliveries, finishing with 3-13, but everyone chipped in with Coles and Carson picking up two wickets each, and McAndrew claiming another. Gloucestershire were dismissed for 93 in the 14th over, with Sussex winning by a huge 80 runs.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
In Defense of Academic Freedom
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic's archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here. Why defend academic freedom even when the ideas in question are wrongheaded or harmful? 'It is precisely because any kind of purge opens the gate to all kinds of purge, that freedom of thought necessarily means the freedom to think bad thoughts as well as good.' Those words, written in 1953 by Joseph Alsop, an alumnus of Harvard who later served on its Board of Overseers, are relevant today, as the Trump administration cancels the visas of foreign students for viewpoints that it deems 'bad.' And they were relevant in recent years as institutions of higher education investigated and disciplined members of their communities for expressing views that ran afoul of various progressive social-justice orthodoxies. But Alsop wrote them in response to the McCarthy era's efforts to identify and punish Communists who were working in academia. Hundreds of professors were summoned by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, forced to appear as witnesses, and pressured to name names––that is, to identify fellow academics with ties to the Communist Party. Many were then censured or fired and blacklisted by their employers. 'I have been profoundly and actively anti-Communist all my life,' Alsop declared in a letter to the president and fellows of Harvard, published in The Atlantic. 'Unfortunately, however, the question that confronts us is not how we feel about Communists and ex-Communists. The question is, rather, how we feel about the three great principles which have run, like threads of gold, through the long, proud Harvard story.' The first principle he listed was the freedom to make personal choices within the limits of the law. The second principle was 'unrestricted freedom of thought.' And the third principle was one's right to due process when accused of breaking the law. 'A member of our faculty is not to be penalized for any legal choice he may make, however eccentric or controversial,' Alsop wrote. 'He may become a nudist or a Zoroastrian, imitate Origen or adopt the Pythagorean rules of diet. If called before a Congressional investigating committee, he may seek the protection of the Fifth Amendment, and refuse to testify on grounds of possible self-incrimination. However much we disapprove, we may not interfere.' By standing for 'unrestricted free trade in ideas,' Alsop sought to conserve the university's ability to extend the frontiers of human thought and knowledge at a moment that has long been regarded as one of the darkest in the history of American academia. But as Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), documented in a 2023 Atlantic article, the threat to academic freedom today arguably surpasses the threat that existed in the 1950s. 'According to the largest study at the time, about 100 professors were fired over a 10-year period during the second Red Scare for their political beliefs or communist ties,' he wrote. 'We found that, in the past nine years, the number of professors fired for their beliefs was closer to 200.' More recently, FIRE has objected to the Trump administration's infringements on academic freedom, including the unprecedented demands that it sent to Harvard last month. Supporters of academic freedom have every reason to fear that more colleges will be similarly targeted in coming months. One defense should involve consulting similar situations from bygone eras. Doing so can help identify principles and arguments that have stood the test of time—and it can be a source of hope. After all, the authoritarian excesses of McCarthyism, which intimidated so many, did not long endure. 'From the perspective of the sixties, the whole period has an air of unreality' for many students, a 1965 Harvard Crimson article—written in an era of 'sit-ins, summer projects, and full page ads criticizing U.S. foreign policy placed in the Times by hundreds of academics'—declared. But just several years prior, it pointed out, 'tenured professors thought long and hard before risking a statement on public issues; teaching fellows, fearful of antagonizing Governing Boards, were politically inert; and students retreated into silence and inactivity.' I hope that, circa 2030, incoming college students will have trouble understanding the mounting attacks on academic freedom that began about a decade ago. Perhaps this period, echoing the Red Scare's aftermath, may yet be followed by a new flourishing of academic freedom. A renaissance of that sort will require defending people's rights—no matter how abhorrent one may find a given opinion. As Alsop put it, 'In these cases the individuals are nothing and the principles are everything.' Article originally published at The Atlantic
Atlantic
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Atlantic
In Defense of Academic Freedom
This is an edition of Time-Travel Thursdays, a journey through The Atlantic 's archives to contextualize the present. Sign up here. Why defend academic freedom even when the ideas in question are wrongheaded or harmful? 'It is precisely because any kind of purge opens the gate to all kinds of purge, that freedom of thought necessarily means the freedom to think bad thoughts as well as good.' Those words, written in 1953 by Joseph Alsop, an alumnus of Harvard who later served on its Board of Overseers, are relevant today, as the Trump administration cancels the visas of foreign students for viewpoints that it deems 'bad.' And they were relevant in recent years as institutions of higher education investigated and disciplined members of their communities for expressing views that ran afoul of various progressive social-justice orthodoxies. But Alsop wrote them in response to the McCarthy era's efforts to identify and punish Communists who were working in academia. Hundreds of professors were summoned by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee, forced to appear as witnesses, and pressured to name names––that is, to identify fellow academics with ties to the Communist Party. Many were then censured or fired and blacklisted by their employers. 'I have been profoundly and actively anti-Communist all my life,' Alsop declared in a letter to the president and fellows of Harvard, published in The Atlantic. 'Unfortunately, however, the question that confronts us is not how we feel about Communists and ex-Communists. The question is, rather, how we feel about the three great principles which have run, like threads of gold, through the long, proud Harvard story.' The first principle he listed was the freedom to make personal choices within the limits of the law. The second principle was 'unrestricted freedom of thought.' And the third principle was one's right to due process when accused of breaking the law. 'A member of our faculty is not to be penalized for any legal choice he may make, however eccentric or controversial,' Alsop wrote. 'He may become a nudist or a Zoroastrian, imitate Origen or adopt the Pythagorean rules of diet. If called before a Congressional investigating committee, he may seek the protection of the Fifth Amendment, and refuse to testify on grounds of possible self-incrimination. However much we disapprove, we may not interfere.' By standing for 'unrestricted free trade in ideas,' Alsop sought to conserve the university's ability to extend the frontiers of human thought and knowledge at a moment that has long been regarded as one of the darkest in the history of American academia. But as Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), documented in a 2023 Atlantic article, the threat to academic freedom today arguably surpasses the threat that existed in the 1950s. 'According to the largest study at the time, about 100 professors were fired over a 10-year period during the second Red Scare for their political beliefs or communist ties,' he wrote. 'We found that, in the past nine years, the number of professors fired for their beliefs was closer to 200.' More recently, FIRE has objected to the Trump administration's infringements on academic freedom, including the unprecedented demands that it sent to Harvard last month. Supporters of academic freedom have every reason to fear that more colleges will be similarly targeted in coming months. One defense should involve consulting similar situations from bygone eras. Doing so can help identify principles and arguments that have stood the test of time—and it can be a source of hope. After all, the authoritarian excesses of McCarthyism, which intimidated so many, did not long endure. 'From the perspective of the sixties, the whole period has an air of unreality' for many students, a 1965 Harvard Crimson article —written in an era of 'sit-ins, summer projects, and full page ads criticizing U.S. foreign policy placed in the Times by hundreds of academics'—declared. But just several years prior, it pointed out, 'tenured professors thought long and hard before risking a statement on public issues; teaching fellows, fearful of antagonizing Governing Boards, were politically inert; and students retreated into silence and inactivity.' I hope that, circa 2030, incoming college students will have trouble understanding the mounting attacks on academic freedom that began about a decade ago. Perhaps this period, echoing the Red Scare's aftermath, may yet be followed by a new flourishing of academic freedom. A renaissance of that sort will require defending people's rights—no matter how abhorrent one may find a given opinion. As Alsop put it, 'In these cases the individuals are nothing and the principles are everything.'
Dominion Post
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
Elza's walk-off lifts University to Game 1 victory over Morgantown in regional championship series
MORGANTOWN – The University High School softball team seemed to have been beaten multiple times in Game 1 of the Class AAAA, Region I championship series on Monday against crosstown rival Morgantown High before finding a late rally to steal the opening game. The Hawks dug their claws in when their backs were against the wall and worked their way back from a 3-1 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to force extras, eventually taking Game 1 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth on a bases-loaded, walk-off single by Lexi Elza. Seven different Mohigans earned a hit with Liz Alsop and Beth Robinson each tallying a pair. Maddie Wisman went the distance for MHS in the defeat, throwing 8.2 innings with nine hits, four runs, and eight strikeouts. Each team had nine hits in the contest. UHS junior Maddie Campbell went 3 for 5 at the plate while also tossing seven innings with only one run allowed and 12 strikeouts. 'We had plenty of chances throughout the game, but seemed a little bit unsure at the start and left a lot of runners on base, but we never gave up,' UHS head coach Mindy Parks said. 'We knew we had it in us, and I think our mentality was great. It feels good to get the first win.' MHS took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning on a double by senior Anne Robinson, scoring her sister Beth and Kira Smith. The Hawks cut the deficit in half in the bottom half of the same frame as Adalyn Brown laid down a sacrifice bunt that brought Whitney Cox home to score. Campbell entered the game in relief of UHS starter Sophia Lehosit to open the third inning and held the Mohigans scoreless through the next three frames. But the Hawks offense didn't produce a run either, and MHS added another in the sixth as Haley Street took home on a wild pitch. The Hawks blanked again in their offensive half of the sixth as Wisman worked MHS out of a bases-loaded jam. But Campbell matched the effort and didn't allow the lead to grow any more than two runs. 'Honestly, I love coming in to relieve in games,' Campbell said. 'Sophia and I work so well together. We are alike in pitching styles, yet we have different approaches. I think it's an advantage for us to have that option.' Trailing 3-1, the Hawks loaded the bases with one out as Kelsey Park came to the plate and sent a long fly ball into center field. Alsop tracked the ball down and snagged it out of the air, and the UHS runners took off on the catch. Maddie Walls scored easily from third, and Bri Royce came around from second to tie the game and force extra innings. MHS earned two hits, and Olivia Masoner pelted a double for UHS, but neither side found a run in the eighth. Alsop led off the ninth with a single, but three outs followed her hit to bring the Hawks back to the plate with a chance to end the game. With one out, Park reached on an error in the infield and Campbell slapped her third base hit, giving UHS two runners with one out. Lehosit walked to load the bases, and Masoner followed with a fly ball for out number two. That's when Elza took center stage and sent the third pitch of her at-bat into left field, which safely landed on the turf, giving UHS the win as Park touched home. Game 2 will be played on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. on ISS Field at Mylan Park. UHS leads 1-0 in the series, one win away from a ticket to the 2025 WVSSAC state softball tournament next week in South Charleston. If MHS wins on Tuesday, a decisive Game 3 will be played on Lynch Field on Wednesday evening. BOX SCORE University 4, Morgantown 3 MHS 020 001 000 – 3 9 4 UHS 010 000 201 – 4 9 0 Morgantown (0-1) – A. Robinson 4012 G. Robinson 5000 Alsop 4020 Wisman 3010 Rhodes 5000 Smith 4110 Messerly 4010 B. Robinson 3120 Stone 3010 2B: Wisman 3B: A. Robinson University (1-0) – Park 5102 Campbell 5030 Lehosit 4020 Masoner 5000 Elza 5021 Cox 2100 Brown 3020 Stevens 2000 shaver 2000 Royce 4100 2B: Brown (2) Lehosit (W): 2.0ip 1h 2r 4bb 1k (Campbell: 7.0ip 8h 1r 3bb 12k) Wisman (L): 8.2ip 9h 4r 3bb 8k
