Millennium Park combines nature, art and
architecture. It’s one of the most beautiful–not to mention inexpensive–spots to check out downtown. It’s crowning centerpiece, the Jay Pritzker
Pavilion is a truly spectacular place to enjoy a summer concert and Chicago
knows it. That’s exactly why the Park stocks its summer schedule full of truly
impressive musical performances.
Downtown Sound (Mondays from May 27 – July 29, 2013)
Downtown Sounds is
Millennium Park’s premier free concert series, bringing in sounds from all over
the country with a few local opening acts to showcase Chicago’s sounds. This
year Downtown Sounds’s diversity continues with rock, folk, rap (Rhymesayers’ spunky female Dessa, performing July 29)
and everything in between. For
a full schedule, click here.
Grant Park Music Festival (June 12 – August 17)
Rock, rap and pop
music seem to have taken over the summer music festival scene, but Chicago’s
not keen on settling for the usual genres. For nearly 80 years the Grant Park
Music Festival has brought classical music into the spotlight and existed as
the nation’s only free outdoor classical music series. Principal Conductor
Carlos Kalmar and Chorus Director Christopher Bell curate a summer full of
picnic-worthy concerts in the park. For
a full listing of performances, click here.
Loops Variations (Thursdays from June 13 – July 18 Sunday, August 18, 2013)
Electronic music
usually sparks connotations of neon-clad teens at 3 a.m. raves, but truthfully
that’s the only setting in which this music thrives. One of Millennium Park’s
newest music series Loops Variations is already drawing lots of attention
and big crowds. If family friendly acts like Fatty DL and Dan Deacon don’t get
your toes tapping, nothing will. To
find out who’ll be performing at Loops Variations this summer, click
here.
Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz (Thursdays from July 25 – August 29, 2013)
Jazz music and the
city of Chicago have long had a symbiotic relationship and it’s helped shape
the local music scene as a whole. So a special celebration of the genre seems
fit. This year Made In Chicago: World Class Jazz seeks to highlight the
influences of Latin, African and even rock music on jazz music throughout
history. The month-long series kicks off July 25 with local jazz and RB
queen Dee Alexander’s jazzed up tribute to James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. For
a full list of concerts, click here.
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