They Dared to Dream Big: Handel's Water Music on the Chicago River

CHICAGO— It’s one thing to perform for 1,500 people, the capacity of downtown Chicago’s Harris Theater. How about performing for 15,000 people? Music of the Baroque grew its audience by at least that much on September 18, thanks to a gambit as showy as it was daring: performing Handel’s Water Music suites and other Baroque showstoppers on a boat motoring down the Chicago River.

The stunt was, of course, a nod to the suites’ 1717 premiere on the Thames, atop King George I’s royal barge. (Not unlike the original, VIPs got front-row seats on an adjacent vessel commissioned by Music of the Baroque.) But in this 21st-century twist, the musicians—playing on more weather-resistant modern instruments and swapping harpsichord for an electric keyboard—were amplified for all to hear. Music that once accompanied a selective and ostentatious display of royal might became, on this singular evening, an everyman’s anthem.

Music of the Baroque Director Jane Glover conducts her forces in Handel's Water Music

After observing a docked dress rehearsal at Navy Pier, not far from where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan, I took in Music of the Baroque’s “Chicago Water Music” like most spectators: from the city’s streets and Riverwalk, a lively boulevard lined with seating and restaurants. The concert began at the east end of the Riverwalk, delaying its start time by about seven minutes to wait for the disruptive spray of the Centennial Fountain to die down. During its voyage to the Merchandise Mart and back again, Music of the Baroque repeated the program three times: once while in motion, once anchored in front of the Mart, and once in front of a large wall of amphitheater-style seats at Clark and LaSalle streets.

Of what I caught—Handel’s “Hallelujah” and Vivaldi’s Gloria choruses outside Merchandise Mart, and most of the Water Music suites each time they appeared— the orchestra and chorus performed with remarkable consistency across performances. Some rocky brass passages and violin twangs still lingering during the dress were ironed out in time for the run. (No doubt instruments needed time to adjust to the moist al fresco setting.)

The chorus was a special treasure, singing with a sweet, ripened sound. Embedded among its ranks were Chicago public high school musicians in Music of the Baroque’s Strong Voices program. Top choral students from each of the seven partner schools stood together dressed in concert blacks and colorful T-shirts representing their respective schools.

Students in the "Strong Voices" program were among the musicians in the chorus

Though Strong Voices, Yamila Esquivel, 17, of Solorio Academy High School on Chicago’s southwest side, performed Vivaldi’s Gloria last year at Harris Theater, Music of the Baroque’s signature venue. The opportunity to sing it in the open air, in downtown Chicago, for untold throngs of people, might cow a young performer.

Not Esquivel. When we spoke after the dress rehearsal she was bubbling with excitement, especially at the chance to sing alongside professional choristers.
“I kind of see myself in the adult [singers], you know. I look at them and I'm like, ‘Oh, wow—their voice is so mature. It really shows me how much voices evolve throughout your life,” Esquivel said.

In interviews, Music of the Baroque Director Dame Jane Glover emphasized that high-quality amplification was key to the project’s success. Having observed “Chicago Water Music” from 50 feet to five blocks away and everything in between, I can say: Mission very much accomplished. The orchestra and chorus carried powerfully all night, ricocheting down the river’s retaining walls. At one point, the concert boat had outrun me so soundly that it was nearly out of sight. As I jogged down the Michigan Avenue pedestrian bridge to catch up, I passed a woman and her daughter peering out over the river. They, too, heard the music and were trying to figure out which boat it was coming from. When I pointed at the furthest visible vessel, they reacted with no small bit of astonishment.

The view up to the bridge and beyond

Whether I was stationary or in hot pursuit of Handel, what stuck with me all night were those eager, childlike reactions. The jogger who paused his run to listen and left air-conducting. The ruddy-faced man in the Bears cap wailing along to Gloria. The elegant pair of older women hustling so they could arrive at Clark and LaSalle at the appointed time. The cheers from the pedestrian bridges above. Even trains rattling overhead became part of the tableau, curious faces peeking out of their windows.
“Chicago thinks it's London,” Christine Slivon, a Chicago resident, told me. At that, her friend cut in: “Chicago is better than everything! Better than Paris! Better than London!”
If there was a night to prove that, it was this one. Many passersby echoed similar feelings of civic pride. Everyone I spoke to was eager to see the project reprised. At a time when classical music organizations, shell-shocked from the pandemic, are belt-tightening or playing it safe, Music of the Baroque dared to dream big. Other organizations could learn from its audacity.

And to think this all began by looking to the past for inspiration. To Esquivel, the Solorio high school student, that’s none too surprising. “[This music] sticks around for a long time because they're classics,” she said. “It’s all really great music. It will never die out."

Photos by Elliot Mandel and Ronit Bezalel

Classical music coverage on Musical America is supported in part by a grant from the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Musical America makes all editorial decisions.