Hannah Edgar

In 2012, Howard Reich received a daunting assignment: to interview the writer, Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who would be awarded the at a public event later that year.

“Apartment House 1776,” written for the United States’ bicentennial, is getting an immersive new production with a skeptical twist.

Violist Shasta Ellenbogen's performance of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 on OnlyFans, reviewed at the bar

A century since Louis Armstrong arrived from New Orleans, the coasts still look to Chicago for innovation. Music journalist Hannah Edgar brings us to its clubs, churches and corner bars

Lucky for Chicago audiences, anniversary years abound this year. The obvious one, of course, is America250.

Who are we, really? That’s the question on the tip of the tongue of cultural institutions everywhere as we approach our 250th anniversary as a nation.

We may not have gotten the planned new symphony for America 250, but the amazing collaboration on “The Jungle" made for no disappointment.

Friday featured the first choral-orchestral work of the season: “Conquest Requiem” by Gabriela Lena Frank, composer of “El último sueño de Frida y Diego,” which Lyric Opera produced in the spring.

Entertainment By Hannah Edgar NYT News Service/Syndicate Stories June 15, 2026 12:38 PM

There were highlights, to be sure, but the bombastic “Lincoln Portrait” was not one of them. Chicago actor Harry Lennix's narration was often rendered inaudible.