Chicago Tribune|Section 1|Saturday, March 7, 2020 9
ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
AE
With the global spread of the co-
ronavirus sending many of the world’s arts
and cultural gatherings into a tailspin of
uncertainty, Chicago is having its own
COVID-19-related setbacks.
On Thursday, the Chicago International
Film Festival confirmed that renowned
Japanese writer-director Hirokazu Kore-
eda has canceled plans to travel to Chicago
for a March 15 tribute. Kore-eda was to
receive the festival’s Artistic Achievement
Award prior to a screening of his new film
“The Truth,” starring Catherine Deneuve
and Juliette Binoche.
The screening will go on as scheduled,
to be followed by a pre-taped Skype con-
versation between Kore-eda (whose
“Shoplifters” won top prize at the 2018
Cannes Film Festival) and Chicago festival
artistic director Mimi Plauché.
Citing “increasing travel uncertainties,”
festival managing director Vivian Teng
issued a statement regarding the tribute,
and the now-canceled screenings of earlier
Kore-eda films initially slated for March 14.
“We look forward to welcoming director
Kore-eda to Chicago at some point in the
future to pay tribute to his career and to
present a retrospective at that time,” Teng
said.
The annual Chicago European Union
Film Festival, continuing at the Gene Siskel
Film Center through April 2, announced
two in-person cancellations of its own
Thursday.
Italian director Mimmo Calopresti will
no longer attend the March 29 screening of
his film “Aspromonte: Land of the Forgot-
ten.” Also on March 29, the French film-
maker Nadège Trebal’s EU fest title,
“Twelve Thousand,” in which she also
stars, will now make its Chicago premiere
without the director in attendance.
“The virus scare dictated these cancella-
tions as concerns mounted in the last day
or two,” said Marty Rubin, the Siskel Film
Center’s associate director of program-
ming.
Travel plans involving visiting filmmak-
ers from Lithuania, Poland and the Czech
Republic, he said, remain uncertain. Other-
wise, the festival schedule remains intact.
COVID-19 has spread to more than 80
countries, infected nearly 98,000 and killed
over 3,300. Five cases have been detected
in Illinois so far; 12 deaths have been re-
ported in the United States.
As of Thursday, the next major film
gathering on the international festival
circuit, South by Southwest’s overlapping
film, music and tech festivals, remains set
for March 13-22 in Austin, Texas. Last
year’s SXSW attendance figures hit
280,000, with an estimated economic
impact of $356 million.
This week, however, a growing number
of corporate behemoths and individualspeakers have canceled their plans to at-
tend. Among the no-gos: Apple, Amazon
Studios, Netflix, Facebook, IBM — and
Ozzy Osbourne.
The list is likely to grow as the extent of
the coronavirus impact worldwide remains
a rapidly developing story.The Chicago European Union Film Festival
continues at the Gene Siskel Film Center of
the Art Institute of Chicago through April 2,at 164 N. State St.; siskelfilmcenter.org.“The Truth” will be shown 6 p.m. on March
15 at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema,
2828 N. Clark St., presented by the Chicago
International Film Festival. Tickets at
chicagofilmfestival.com.Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.[email protected]Due to the spread of the coronavirus, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda is no longer
attending a Chicago International Film Festival tribute March 14 and 15.LAURENT CHAMPOUSSIN/CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALA coronavirus fallout
By Michael Phillips
Film directors from Japan,
Italy and France cancel March
appearances in Chicago
Above all, it was the quiet dignity of
conductor Herbert Blomstedt’s work
that stood out Thursday night in Or-
chestra Hall.
At 92, he long has toiled in a profes-
sion that tends to feed ego, reward
narcissism and encourage self-promo-
tion onstage and off.
Blomstedt’s self-effacing manner
always has been quite the opposite,
nowhere more than on this occasion,
when the conductor led the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra in two landmarks
of the standard repertory. In each,
Blomstedt placed emphasis on the
music rather than on himself. Other
conductors may generate more excite-
ment and heat, but Blomstedt chose
simply to let these scores sing forth,
unencumbered by histrionics.
Only the CSO musicians know what
it was like to follow Blomstedt’s lead,
but his continuously flowing hand
gestures — sans baton — would seem to
have posed certain challenges. Then
again, Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D
Major and Mozart’s Piano ConcertoNo. 23 in A Major, K. 488, are ingrained
in every great orchestra’s DNA; they
tend to proceed with a certain inevi-
tability. Thus Blomstedt did more to
shape phrases, provide rhythmic ac-
cent and convey the musical character
of particular passages than anything
else.
Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 lends itself
well to this approach, for it doesn’t seek
to express, say, the emotional ferocity
of the First or the autumnal profundi-
ties of the Fourth. Instead, this pastoral
work basks in lyricism, warmth and joy,
albeit with occasional streaks of drama.
Blomstedt’s unhurried opening
tempo enabled melodic lines to soar, as
in the lyric poetry he drew from the
cellos. Subtlety, elegance and grace
were the hallmarks of his reading of the
first movement, the development sec-
tion more smolder than fire. There was
no resisting the tenderness of the final
pages.
The second movement’s climactic
passages retained a rounded, resonant
character under Blomstedt’s direction.
And as always, principal oboe William
Welter enriched the music-makingwith his signature sonorous tone in the
third movement.
Blomstedt achieved his greatest
results in the finale, capturing the
grandeur of Brahms’ score while main-
taining the reasonable scale of the
entire performance. He offered vigor
instead of haste, musical substance
instead of mere commotion. The deci-
sive finish provided the evening’s high
point.
To open the concert, Bertrand
Chamayou made his CSO debut
playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.- Judging by this performance,
Chamayou is Blomstedt’s kindred
spirit, thanks to his preference for
elegance and polish. Most striking
about his work, though, was the
weighted tone he produced even in
single-line passagework. This was a
pleasure to hear, Chamayou sculpting
intricate phrases rather than just rat-
tling them off.
It was easy to admire the gentle
qualities pianist and conductor brought
to the first movement, Blomstedt po-
litely deferring to his soloist. The sec-
ond movement stands among Mozart’s
most sublimely lyrical creations, yield-
ing serene playing from the CSO winds
and arialike phrasemaking from the
soloist.
Early music devotees might not have
been persuaded by Chamayou’s full-
bodied pianism in the finale. But any-
one who believes pianists should take
full advantage of the modern instru-
ment’s possibilities could savor the
tonal variety and ruddy expressiveness
he brought to this movement.
Most important, Chamayou and
Blomstedt allowed this score to
breathe, one indelible Mozartean
phrase leading relaxedly into the next.
The concert may have been brief in
duration, with just two works, but it
was deep in artistic content.The program will be repeated through
Saturday in Orchestra Hall at Symphony
Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; ticket
prices vary; 312-294-3000 or http://www.
cso.org.Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.[email protected]Herbert Blomstedt conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in music of Brahms and Mozart in Orchestra Hall on Thursday night.
ARMANDO L. SANCHEZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNEIN PERFORMANCE
An emphasis on the music
At 92, conductor Herbert Blomstedt has plenty to say
By Howard Reich