In guitarist Sharon Isbin and violinist Mark O’Connor, the music world has two of the most versatile artists, each capable of presenting a varied and engaging solo recital.  Additionally, each has a compulsion for collaboration, and a large audience at the Harris Theater Saturday night found the duo bridging both formats.

On Thursday night the Windpipe Chinese Ensemble gave its North American debut at Northwestern’s Thorne Auditorium. The one night only concert was the product of a collaboration between the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office of New York (HKETO), and Chicago’s own Fulcrum New Music Project, in celebration of the Chinese New Year.

As people were filing into Thorne before the performance began, footage of the Windpipe Ensemble doing presentations at two Chicago public schools was projected on the back wall of the stage. (The obviously tireless group did these despite having a total of 36 hours in Chicago.) The students looked engaged and impressed, though perhaps a little mystified, which mirrored my own reaction to the beginning of the concert.

So I’m a sucker for great wind playing; I guess almost a band geek. But the first half of last night’s Chicago Chamber Musicians’ concert at Gottlieb Hall was proof (not that any was needed) that a bunch of wind players have as much a place on a beautiful concert stage as on a football field. The program opened with Franz Krommer’s B-Flat Partita. A renowned oboist once said of this work specifically, “It’s the kind of music that, you know, needs a little help.” Well, the CCM players gave it that and a lot more. I was “blown” over by the nuances and emphatic attention to detail the group displayed. Pitch perfect, wide dynamic range, all that good stuff. Charles Geyer’s trumpet playing added flair to the ensemble (as did, I suppose, Krommer’s instrumentation), and Dennis Michel showed off his superb technique and tone in some virtuosic passages in the closing rondo.

The International Chamber Artists Trio performed by lamplight in the Belden-Stratford lobby Sunday, giving the hour-long concert the intimate feel of a salon performance.  The hotel arranged the lobby’s couches and armchairs into a semi-formal, but comfortable, concert setting for Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Suite and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, subtitled “Ghost.”
 
Violinist Elizabeth Choi opened with the Suite’s twisting melody, followed in kind by pianist Patrick Godon and cellist Jocelyn Butler.  The cello melodies throughout the Andante were well-served by Butler’s sweet tone.  Though the trio gave the Suite a technically proficient reading through Piazzolla’s demanding rhythms, the third movement finally carried the energy that seemed absent during the first.