Oct. 09--A floating music barge designed by a great American architect will not be used for a waterborne performance during the Chicago Architecture Biennial, as its owner hoped. But the boat's owner is planning concerts in Chicago for next year, and organizations like classical music radio station WFMT-FM could help.
Designed by the late Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn, the so-called "music boat" opens like a clamshell, providing a classical-music concert stage for listeners on shore. The low-slung, double-hulled vessel, whose official name is "Point Counterpoint II," has been used for performances in the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean.
Its Pittsburgh-area owner, Robert Boudreau, conductor of the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, had the nearly 200-foot-long craft towed this year to southwest suburban Lemont, 30 miles from the Loop. He sought a performance during the biennial, the global exhibition of cutting-edge architecture that opened Saturday and runs through Jan. 3.
But he could not find a berth along the city's Riverwalk or at Navy Pier because of logistical hurdles.
Nonetheless, the music boat may still have its day in Chicago or one of its suburbs.
Boudreau said in an email Wednesday that he's planning events in Chicago from June 21 to 25 and that he expects to meet in late October with organizations who want to participate. He credited a Tribune story about the music boat with spurring interest in a performance.
WFMT-FM executives like the idea of holding mobile classical music concerts along the Chicago River.
"The idea seems very intriguing to me," Steve Robinson, the station's general manager, said Thursday. The station would promote a concert by the music boat if it were broadcasting the event, he said.
In addition, the executive director of the Blue Island Park District, Robert Manthei, is trying to arrange a music boat concert at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District's aeration station in the south suburb. The station includes parkland and man-made waterfalls along the Calumet-Sag Channel.
Manthei is exploring whether it's possible to anchor the craft at the aeration station. He stressed Thursday that the concert would need approval from government agencies, including the Park District board of commissioners, the city of Blue Island and the water reclamation district.
In an earlier email, he wrote: "Wouldn't a musical performance by a symphony on the music boat for an audience located along the shoreline at the aeration station, which is a state of the art water-filtration station literally bringing life back to the waters of the Cal Sag in Blue Island,....be a great experience for all?"
bkamin@tribpub.com
