'He was like everybody's grandfather,' a politician declared when Ronald Reagan died—and a liberal Democratic politician at that! Well, no, he wasn't. By many accounts he wasn't even a good father, let alone grandpa. He might have been Father of the Nation to his adoring partisans and a Wicked Stepfather to his opponents but, for certain, he was the real father of Maureen, Michael and Ronnie Reagan and Patti Davis. Composer/librettist Eric Reda ( formerly with About Face Theatre ) takes the kids' perspective in his opera-oratorio Reagan's Children, which will receive its world concert premiere on Presidents' Day, Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m. at Martyr's Pub, 3855 N. Lincoln; 800-594-8499; $20. Reda has been working on Reagan's Children for several years, with parts of it performed previously in workshops at the Around the Coyote Festival.
The DuPage Opera, at the McAninch Arts Center, 425 Fawell, Glen Ellyn, offers two performances of Verdi's Otello on Thurs., Jan. 31, and Sat., Feb. 2, at 8 p.m.. Fully staged and accompanied by full orchestra, Otello will be sung in Italian with projected English titles. Based on Shakespeare's play, Verdi's second-to-last opera is considered one of his very best, pithy, powerful and dramatic—without a wasted note. Michael Ehrman is the stage director and Kirk Muspratt is the conductor. Tickets: 630-942-4000; $43.
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Maestro Muspratt returns to the MAC with the New Philharmonic Orchestra and pianist Meng-Chieh Liu Feb. 22-23, 8 p.m., in a program of Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Revueltas, featuring solo piano and orchestral versions of Ravel's La Valse, plus Revueltas' Afro-Cuban Sensemaya and the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto; 630-942-4000; $33.
Fresh from its annual, grand Martin Luther King, Jr., tribute program, the Chicago Sinfonietta partners with the National Museum of Mexican Art to present a much more intimate program in its Chamber Music Series. The concert, ¡Guitarra!, features guitar virtuoso Alfonso Ponticelli and Swing Gitan along with string players from the Chicago Sinfonietta. Together, they'll explore the common antecedents of flamenco, jazz and classical in Mexican music and its Spanish influences. It sounds like a wonderful concert, but time is short: it's this Friday night, Feb. 1, 7:30 p.m. at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th Street; 312-236-3681, ext. 2; $15.
