Illinois - Music and Performing Arts

The Grant Park Music Festival, held every summer in Chicago’s Millennium Park at the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, is the only free outdoor classical concert series in the country. Concerts take place each Wednesday, Friday and Saturday under the pavilion’s 120-foot brushed steel proscenium arch.

The nearby Harris Theater has a year-round menu of ballet and modern dance, classical music and jazz. The theater also serves as a venue for the Fulcrum Point New Music Project, which combines experimental music with visual arts, dance and poetry.

For indie rock fans, the Pitchfork Music Festival, held each July in Chicago’s Union Park, offers three days of music by dozens of well-known and underground bands.