Lucky Chicagoans walked into a live opera in a food court on Michigan Avenue today where soprano Catalina Cuervo and baritone Martin Woods turned up to perform. It was the culmination of the Chicago Opera Theater and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs surprise performance series to celebrate National Opera Month.

Photos: Andrew Nawrocki

Heard an aria while you were strolling down Michigan Ave? The rich tones of a baritone while you were ordering breakfast? Don’t be surprised: Chicago Opera Theater is literally bringing opera to the people with its week long series of “Pop-up Opera” performances around the city. These brief ‘flash’ performances of popular opera favorites will be performed by COT Young Artists in unexpected public places throughout Chicago. Go to Chicagooperatheater.org/operaweek for hints on where and when “Pop-up Opera” will be that week, or hit up http://twitter.com/chicagoopera for frequent Twitter alerts. Keep your ears perked, as the stray voice of a soprano could also earn you some swag. Anyone who includes #popupopera in a tweet when they witness a “Pop-up Opera” performance during National Opera Week will automatically be entered in a contest. Prizes include subscriptions to Chicago Opera Theater, $50 gift cards from COT preferred restaurants and tickets to Kathleen Battle at the Harris Theater on Dec 18.

UPDATE: In addition to offering a pair of tickets to the Kathleen Battle performance as a prize for the COT “Pop-Up Opera” contest, the Harris is offering $5 off all tickets to the Battle performance booked during National Opera Week.

The Chicago Sinfonietta kick-started its 23rd season on Monday evening, with a lovely program that paired Rachmaninoff and Ravel with the two exquisite pieces from China: Gang Chen and Zhan-Hao He’s “The Butterfly Lovers” and An-Lun Huang’s “Saibei Dance,” from Saibei Suite No.2, Op 21. Maestro Paul Freeman, affable as ever, introduced guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen with a little anecdote about how her dreams of being an orchestra conductor began at age 10. They shared a hug before Chen nimbly lept on the podium and proceeded to guide the Sinfonietta, on reliably stellar form, through the Chicago premiere of “Saibei Dance.” Chen’s conducting style is downright awe-inspiring. In a black suit topped with a neat black bob, she managed to be simultaneously graceful and playful as she dipped and ducked with strong, fluid movements. Her animated presence and distinctive style was clearly as much as pleasure for the orchestra as the audience.

Chen would have been the clear star of the evening, had the 20-year-old piano prodigy Jeremy Jordan not taken the stage. With a wonderful synthesis of youthful swagger and a stoicism that exceeded his years, Jordan settled at the keys, swept his coat tails over the bench, and enjoyed a tense swell of silence for a few seconds before embarking on Rachmaninoff’s “Piano Concerto No.1, Op.1, in F-sharp minor.” Currently a student at Julliard, Chicagoan Jordan first started playing with the Sinfonietta at age 17 and his ease under Freeman’s baton was evident throughout the performance.

The final highlight of the evening came in the form of erhu player Betti Xiang, who took her place on a stool, dressed in a golden gown and little drop earrings, which quivered with her every movement. The erhu, a tiny traditional Chinese fiddle with two strings, is hardly common to the Sinfonietta, yet it merged with Xiang’s masterful, stinging, sweet tones with vitality and enthusiasm.

West Meets East was an inspired program, offering a kaleidoscopic range of compositional approaches that set the Sinfonietta up for a strong start to the season.

I was no fan of Andrew W.K. when I walked in. I just wanted to see what a metal dude—with a pair of dirty white jeans and greasy long hair—could do on a solo piano before a string quartet.

I forced myself to ignore a quickly rising fever when I saw his tweet from earlier on in the day: “PARTY MINDSET: For the rest of the day treat everyone as though they were dying tomorrow. In other words, PARTY VERY HARD!”

OMG. I am 27,  am I getting too old to party?

This party, however, started with Bach’s “Prelude in C major/Ave Maria.” I had seen AWK on YouTube going solo on the piano. I had been impressed, but nothing prepared me for the night that ensued.

Andrew W.K. and the Calder Quartet gave us a sweet rendition of not only Bach, but an orgasmic Philip Glass and a playful John Cage in a course of two hours. Clapping didn’t have to wait for the end of the piece; head banging had never felt so painless; foot stomping had never been so welcome. A string quartet has rarely been so loose. The members could rarely hold themselves from smiling and rocking out, banging their heads to their own chords.

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Many compelling new releases have come through the Time Out office over the last few weeks. Although we may not have space to review everything that tickles our fancy, I’m mentioning a few recordings well I’m glad I’ve stumbled upon.

Quartet Solo Series, the first release by the New York-based label Striking Mechanism, which specializes in improvised and experimental music, is a startling journey in sound. The CD features four pieces by four separate composers: Marina Peterson, Jonathan Chen, Phillip Schulze and Andrew Raffo Dewer. The highly experimental, minimalist works may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Chen Peterson’s cello, which sounds like a boiling kettle being pushed around on dry ice, is oddly soothing.

On the flipside of this rhythmic looseness is Alarm Will Sound, with the outstanding a/rhythmia (Nonesuch). Here, Herculean rhythms combine with startling energy and mathematical precision in a successful attempt to jolt the listener out of their comfort zone. Featuring 14 pieces written by composers as diverse as György Ligeti, Autechre, Conlon Nancarrow and Benedict Mason, Alarm Will Sound’s interpretations are engrossing abstractions that shiver with tension before bolting in unexpected directions, skipping across the beats with seemingly inexhaustible vigor.

Finally, Hawaii-based composer John A. Carollo’s timely Transcendence in the Age of War (Navona) is a 70-minute collection of works written over the last decade and is worth checking out for the opening track, “Desiderio for String Orchestra” alone. Scored for violins, violas, cellos and contrabass and performed by the Moravian String Orchestra, it’s a stingingly poignant piece that, in the words of Carollo, “expresses remoteness of desire, its discovery and the ultimate satisfaction of experiencing human appetites.”

The exciting news, first: Two restaurants, Florian Opera Bistro and The Sarah and Peer Pedersen Room, are slated to open in the Civic Opera House in late September. (312 Dining Diva has some photos of the luxurious spaces.) Both are named after Lyric patrons donors and will be operated by Jewell Events Catering. The more formal Pedersen will have two seatings for its $28 prix fixe, which includes dishes like steak with chive mashed potatoes, while the Florian, located on the third floor, will be a la carte, with more casual offerings like a pastrami sandwich. Now, the damper: Both will be open only to opera patrons with tickets to that night’s performance and will serve pre-, post- and intermission fare. So, got your Tosca tickets ready?

Judging by the number of wait-listers who hovered at the entrance to the MCA Stage Thursday night, the guerilla marketing tactics of International Contemporary Ensemble’s Street Team—including hipster-friendly “X” and “Xenakis” buttons—seemed to have paid off. Brainy Greek composer Iannis Xenakis is known for the sometimes impossible demands he makes on the musicians, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who came to see how ICE navigates his scores.

Steve Schick is a world-class percussionist and, at the MCA show, ICE’s conductor. Stepping into an eerie wash of scarlet light surrounding his rig, he opened the concert with “Psappha,” for solo percussion. As Schick coiled up between attacks, it occurred to me that “Psappha” is as much about the potency of silence as it is about sound—and that I held my breath during each of these suspensions.

By far, one of the most harmonically beautiful moments of the night was unveiled toward the end of “Akanthos,” with the retreat of the instruments into an atmospheric haze as vocalist Tony Arnold lofted a very pure tone toward us. She spent the majority of the piece wrangling with Xenakis’s vocal acrobatics, and it was a much-needed moment of serenity. If you see Tony Arnold’s name listed for a concert, buy a ticket immediately.

Other highlights included the never-disappointing Joshua Rubin, grinding multiphonics out of his bass clarinet in “Échange” and the sonic experience of “O-Mega,” in which ICE members lined the side walls of MCA Stage for a literal surround-sound effect.

ICE has been described as having one foot in Chicago and one in New York City. Let’s hope the one in our city stays firmly planted.

Based on the gothic novella by Henry James and composed to a libretto by Myfanwy Piper in 1970, Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave was originally commissioned as a BBC television production, although Britten always intended for it to be performed onstage. It took a couple of years before his vision was satisfied; Britten’s close friend, conductor Steuart Bedford, worked on the first stage performance in London and now, finally, he makes his Chicago debut nearly 40 years later to conduct the opera at the Harris Theater.

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Last night the Chicago Sinfonietta closed its 2008-09 season with Sound Waves, a program designed to reflect the temperamental character of water. Opening with Handel’s Water Music and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, extraordinary guest pianist Anton Kuerti solidified his reputation as one of the strongest interpreters of Beethoven alive today. Hunched over the Steinway in a midnight blue velvet jacket, tufts of white hair quivering with emotion, Kuerti displayed a masterful intricacy of his performance that led the orchestra boldly as they trickled and surged through movements that sounded like light skipping across a river before cascading into the vicious, salty depths of the unknown.

Of course, no water-centered program is going to escape a rendition of Debussy’s La Mer, which was directed by guest conductor William Eddins. Although every element of the orchestra was on top form, Eddins stole the show with his charismatic conducting, which was both expressive and powerfully moving. The buoyant personality of Debussy’s composition flourished thrillingly under his command, and he departed from the stage shaking his head in humble delight.

The final performance was the world premiere of Michael Abels’s Aquadia, which will be the soundtrack to the new Oceanarium show at the Shedd Aquarium. Having been left somewhat disgruntled by the ostentatious Disney-esque tunes used for the Shedd’s dolphin show, it was a relief to hear that Abels’s animated, crystalline rhythmic elegance gave the music dignified fluidity. Images from the aquarium were projected behind the orchestra throughout, and highlighted the compelling relationship between music and color, as electric pink jellyfish, spiky blowfish, and fetal-looking beluga whales were brought to life.

The Chicago Sinfonietta, one of America’s most diverse symphony orchestras, is transitioning to a new music director. The CS has made its mark on our culturally rich city with its loyal attention to composers and performers of color. Now, famed founder and current music director Paul Freeman will become music director emeritus, as the 21-year-old institution opens up an international search.

“We’ve actually been talking about a transition plan all the way back to 2005,” executive director Jim Hirsch told me by phone Thursday afternoon. He added that several committee members have been assembling names since last May, but would not disclose any potential successors. “As you know, over the last couple of years, maestro Freeman has been dealing with some health challenges that has made it fairly clear we needed to act on this.” Hirsch emphasized that the decision has been 100 percent mutual between Freeman and the organization.

Still, Freeman will remain active as music director for the next two years, and Hirsch says there will always be a role for the 73-year-old with the Sinfonietta as long as he desires. His conducting activity over the next two years, however, will be reduced.

The Sinfonietta plays this Sunday and Monday with Joffrey Ballet music director Leslie Dunner stepping in as guest conductor.

No word on whether there will be a reality-show talent search to discover the new leader, but I’m guessing no.