Sun-Times Arts Calendar — July 21-26, 2014

COMPILED BY KYLE MACMILLAN | FOR SUN-TIMES MEDIA

Some cultural arts happenings around town this week:

Visual Art

Eileen Doman epitomizes what a little talent and determination can do. After working at a Genoa beauty salon, she decided she wanted to be an artist, diving into the pursuit with a few memories of field trips to the Art Institute of Chicago but no formal training. Using photographs as guides, she painted friends, family members and, sometimes, celebrities. Doman was featured at the Outsider Art Fair in 1994, and just seven years later, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City acquired one of her pieces. In short, she had arrived. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, 756 N. Milwaukee, showcases the artist with a just-opened exhibition, “Past Perfect: The Art of Eileen Doman,” which runs through Sept. 27. Admission, $5. (312) 243-9088; art.org.

Visual Art

Influenced by Wassily Kandinsky and Edvard Munch, Onchi Koshiro (1892-1955) helped introduce abstract compositions to Japanese printmaking as a leader of the sosaku hanga or creative-print movement. The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan, which is one of the few museums to house a significant body of its work, pays tribute to him with a just-opened show titled: “Onchi Koshiro: The Abstract Prints.” It runs through Oct. 5. Free with regular admission. (312) 443-3600; artic.edu.

Classical music

Conductor Leonard Slatkin likes to assemble programs that veer from well-worn musical paths. A perfect example is the line-up for his Grant Park Orchestra concerts at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday as part of the Grant Park Music Festival in Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion, 201 E. Randolph. Among the spotlighted works are Michael Camilo’s Piano Concerto No. 2, “Tenerife,” with the composer as soloist, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s “The Execution of Stepan Razin,” Op. 119, which features bass Alfred Walker and the Grant Park Chorus. Free. (312) 742-7638; grantparkmusicfestival.com.

Classical Music

Conductor James Conlon and a group of musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra team up for an adventurous program at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park that includes black-listed composer Hanns Eisler’s “Fourteen Ways of Describing the Rain,” Op. 70. The 12-tone work for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello and piano, was written to either stand alone as a chamber composition or serve as the soundtrack for a short silent documentary, “Regin (Rain)” (1929). For this performance, it will be performed with a screening of the film. Also on the program is Paul Hindemith‘s “Overture to the ‘The Flying Dutchman,’ as Sight-Read by a Bad Spa Orchestra at 7 a.m. by the Well” and works by Richard Wagner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Reserved tickets, $40-$60; Lawn, $10. (847) 266-5100; ravinia.org.

Choral Music

Sing-alongs to screenings of “The Sound of Music” or George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” have become commonplace, but here’s something a little different. Choral music fans are invited to take part in the Music Institute of Chicago Chorale’s 11th annual Summer Sing-Along at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., in Evanston. Singers will be accompanied by a 27-piece orchestra led by Frank Winkler and four soloists. On the program are Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Coronation Mass.” An optional free rehearsal takes place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets, $10. (847) 905-1500, ext. 100; musicinst.org.