By Southland Savvy
The Frankfort-based Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Music Director Carmon DeLeone, has been named the 2010 Professional Orchestra of the Year by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
The Illinois Council of Orchestras announced the IPO as winner of this prestigious award on March 18.
“I am thrilled that the Illinois Philharmonic has received this award for excellence in the field of music performance. Because it is the second time our dedicated staff and gifted musicians have received this honor during my tenure as Music Director, I feel even more humbly proud and grateful,” said Music Director Carmon DeLeone.
The Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra last received the Professional Orchestra of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras in 1992, and DeLeone was named Conductor of the Year in 1995.
Now in its 32nd season, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra is in residence at Lincoln-Way North Performing Arts Center in Frankfort. Its nine concert season and numerous education programs serve the Greater Chicago Southland spanning from Joliet to northwest Indiana and Chicago to Kankakee. Musicians of the orchestra come from a four-state region including Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.
“This award acknowledges the hard work, dedication, and artistry of our musicians, our music director, and our guest conductors,” said IPO Board President Charles Amenta. “Our musicians are here to serve the audience, and all the better when they can receive recognition in the process. We at the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra are hopeful that this well deserved honor and celebrity will inspire all the music lovers of the Southland to experience the beauty of an Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra concert as audience members.”
Executive Director Edmund Feingold said, “This is a welcome reminder that we are on the right track. Our musicians’ efforts are apparent at every concert, but this accolade also validates the dedication of our board of directors, staff, donors and patrons. We all work tirelessly to engage the community—planning, fundraising, volunteering for, and advocating on behalf of the orchestra when it is not on stage. This community engagement is often most clear in special events like the Friends of the IPO’s Rising Star Showcase which highlights aspiring young musicians and raises money for the professional orchestra. Thank you to the Illinois Council of Orchestras for recognizing that we are about community building through music. Bravo to all!”
Representatives from the Illinois Council of Orchestras are expected to join the IPO for its May 22 Season Finale Concert, Two Worlds: Old and New, where they will confer the award. To celebrate, the orchestra will host a pre-concert dinner party.
The orchestra’s next concert, Fateful Pairs, on April 10 and 11 at Lincoln-Way North Performing Arts Center, features a pair of soloists from the Orchestra’s own ranks, John and Laura Fairfield, who will perform the Chicago-area premiere of a movement from Stephen Gerber’s Concerto for Two Horns. The concert also includes Beethoven’s oft-neglected Symphony No. 2, and two beloved homages to
Romeo and Juliet: Bernstein’s Overture to West Side Story and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy.
Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra
www.ipomusic.org
About Me
- Bob Bong
- I have more than 40 years in the news business and have successfully evolved into an electronic journalist. Comings & Goings and Southland Savvy track news about businesses in Chicago's Southland.
Red Dragon stands out among Asian restaurants in Southland
Southland Savvy
Friendly service and generous portions of tasty food help Red Dragon Café stand out in a crowded field of Asian cuisine restaurants in the Southland.
Red Dragon opened a few months ago in a small storefront at 167th Street and 80th Avenue in Tinley Park.
Like most Asian restaurants in the Southland, Red Dragon is primarily a delivery and carryout establishment, but it does have two tables and a television if customers want to dine in.
Red Dragon is family owned and operated. One of the clan, Winnie Au (pictured), said her uncle is the chef and opened the restaurant after working at many other Asian restaurants in the Southland.
“One thing that sets us apart,” Au said. “Is that we prepare all of our food daily with only the freshest ingredients.”
Au recommends new customers try any of the restaurant’s signature dishes, which include salt and pepper pork chops, salt and pepper smelt and Japanese seafood udon.
Less adventurous diners can easily find something on the menu, which features staples of Asian restaurants such as egg rolls, wonton soup, fried rice, chop suey and lo mein.
On a recent visit, my group tried the vegetable lo mein, Mongolian beef, Szechwan delight and egg rolls. All of them were great. The servings were enormous and contained heaping helpings of peapods, onions, mushrooms, carrots and cabbage, noodles, rice and a slightly sweet sauce that was delicious.
Au said that dishes marked in red on the menu are spicy but all can be made without adding the hot sauce for those with more delicate stomachs, like me. “Just ask for non-spicy when ordering,” Au said.
Red Dragon offers lunch box and lunch combo specials as well as dinner box and dinner combo specials. The Mongolian beef lunch combo at $5.50 included a mountain of fried rice and an egg roll and could have fed two people.
The restaurant also serves fruit smoothies.
For more information, visit their web site at http://www.reddragoncafe.com/
Three out of four stars
Red Dragon Cafe
16651 S. 80th Avenue
Tinley Park
708-532-3388 (phone)
708-532-3399 (fax)
Fun Center for children a dream come true for South Holland woman
By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy
It was a dream come true for Okeycha Pettigrew when she opened EduFun Play Center at 16102 South Park Ave. in South Holland in December.
Pettigrew first conceived the idea of combining education and fun in a center for young children in 1994. Since then she has earned a master’s degree in early childhood education. She also has been certified in special education, autism, CPR, First Aid, quality care training and nutrition. Nine years ago she started a home daycare center called Mom Knows Best.
Finally, last year, she decided the time was right to fulfill her dream and opened EduFun.
“The mission of EduFun is to provide fun and enlightening hands-on experiences for children,” says Pettigrew, a South Holland resident since 1998.
At EduFun, children up to 13 years old are encouraged to create their own worlds.
“They can pretend to be homemakers, doctors or business owners,” says Pettigrew. “One of the popular activities is the hospital. They pretend to be doctors and patients, and sometimes pet doctors operating on their pets.”
Other areas include a construction zone, a McDonald’s restaurant and a bank.
EduFun also has a free play zone where the children can play games using oversized cards, dominoes, checkers and chess pieces.
“It’s almost like Alice in Wonderland,” says Pettigrew. “It’s the world from a child’s perspective.”
The center also offers culinary arts, music and creative arts.
Pettigrew says EduFun is ideal for homeschooled children and kids in home daycare, but also is suited to teachers.
“We follow Illinois Learning Standards, so teachers can link classroom materials to the play areas when they visit,” she says.
Pettigrew and her husband, David, operate the center with some staffers, but she said parents are “encouraged to stay and play.”
Cost is $5 per child (adults are free) for a 90-minute session. EduFun can accommodate 45 children at a time. The only requirement is that children must wear socks.
The center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Response has been great since opening, says Pettigrew. “We’ve already had a lot of birthday parties.”
For more information, call 708-670-5444 or e-mail Pettigrew at okeycha@aol.com. She says she is working on a Web site for the center.
Breakfast with the Bunny
Kids can have breakfast with the Easter Bunny from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday on the lower level of Orland Square Mall near Macy's in Orland Park. Costco is picking up the tab so there will be free bagels, pastries and other baked goods.
Deal of the weekend
Mention Twitter or Spring Break when reserving a room and get 20 percent off at the Days Inn, 9625 S. 76th Avenue in Bridgeview. 708-430-1818.
Southland Savvy
It was a dream come true for Okeycha Pettigrew when she opened EduFun Play Center at 16102 South Park Ave. in South Holland in December.
Pettigrew first conceived the idea of combining education and fun in a center for young children in 1994. Since then she has earned a master’s degree in early childhood education. She also has been certified in special education, autism, CPR, First Aid, quality care training and nutrition. Nine years ago she started a home daycare center called Mom Knows Best.
Finally, last year, she decided the time was right to fulfill her dream and opened EduFun.
“The mission of EduFun is to provide fun and enlightening hands-on experiences for children,” says Pettigrew, a South Holland resident since 1998.
At EduFun, children up to 13 years old are encouraged to create their own worlds.
“They can pretend to be homemakers, doctors or business owners,” says Pettigrew. “One of the popular activities is the hospital. They pretend to be doctors and patients, and sometimes pet doctors operating on their pets.”
Other areas include a construction zone, a McDonald’s restaurant and a bank.
EduFun also has a free play zone where the children can play games using oversized cards, dominoes, checkers and chess pieces.
“It’s almost like Alice in Wonderland,” says Pettigrew. “It’s the world from a child’s perspective.”
The center also offers culinary arts, music and creative arts.
Pettigrew says EduFun is ideal for homeschooled children and kids in home daycare, but also is suited to teachers.
“We follow Illinois Learning Standards, so teachers can link classroom materials to the play areas when they visit,” she says.
Pettigrew and her husband, David, operate the center with some staffers, but she said parents are “encouraged to stay and play.”
Cost is $5 per child (adults are free) for a 90-minute session. EduFun can accommodate 45 children at a time. The only requirement is that children must wear socks.
The center is open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Response has been great since opening, says Pettigrew. “We’ve already had a lot of birthday parties.”
For more information, call 708-670-5444 or e-mail Pettigrew at okeycha@aol.com. She says she is working on a Web site for the center.
Breakfast with the Bunny
Kids can have breakfast with the Easter Bunny from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday on the lower level of Orland Square Mall near Macy's in Orland Park. Costco is picking up the tab so there will be free bagels, pastries and other baked goods.
Deal of the weekend
Mention Twitter or Spring Break when reserving a room and get 20 percent off at the Days Inn, 9625 S. 76th Avenue in Bridgeview. 708-430-1818.
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