A preview of music, film, theater, dance and more

Unlikely father figure

The Italian Film Festival USA will screen “Io e il Secco” (“My Killer Buddy”) at 7 p.m. on May 8 in the 225-seat auditorium of the Northbrook Public Library. The film follows the tragicomic adventures of Denni, a 10-year-old boy, and Secco, the professional hitman he hires to protect his mom from his abusive dad. There’s only one problem. Secco is a harmless unemployed father-to-be in need of money. Directed by Giancarlo Santoni, “Io e il Secco” is “a debut that transforms pain into tenderness, speaks of fear but does not forget humor,” according to Rivista del Cinematografo. In Italian with English subtitles; admission is free. For more, click here.

Overlooked no longer

The fifth season of Opera Festival of Chicago will run from May 9 to June 29. Directed by Emanuele Andrizzi, OFC specializes in staging neglected Italian masterpieces. “L’Amore dei tre re,” an early 20th-century opera by Italo Montemezzi, will be staged on May 9 and 11 at the Athenaeum Theater in Chicago. The rising stars of OFC’s Young Artists Program will perform food-related operatic excerpts during a “Delicatessen Recital” on June 5 at Artifacts Events in Chicago. The series will conclude with another operatic showcase, “Love is a Triangle,” on June 14 at DePaul University, and full performances of “I Pagliacci” on June 27 and 29 at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. For more, click here.

Major milestones

Legendary saxman Frank Catalano will perform at Space in Evanston on May 22 and Garcia’s Chicago on May 23. Catalano will be celebrating the 10-year anniversary of his No. 1 charting album, “Love Supreme Collective,” while honoring the 60th anniversary of John Coltrane’s historic recording, “A Love Supreme.” He’ll also be playing songs from his new No. 1 Billboard charting album, “Set Me Free,” as well as classics he has performed and recorded with Tony Bennett and other celebrities. The youngest saxophonist to be voted into the DownBeat Critics Poll, Catalano has appeared on three Grammy‐winning and 11 Grammy-nominated recordings, and received a Technical Grammy Award for his numerous patents and developments. For more, click here.

Mythic collection

“Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection” will be on display at the Art Institute of Chicago through June. From large-scale figures of gods and goddesses to busts of emperors and magnificent funerary monuments, the exhibition brings 58 rarely-seen sculptures to North America for the first time. The Torlonia Collection is the largest private collection of Roman marble sculptures in Italy. Nearly half of the sculptures in the traveling exhibit have not been publicly displayed in more than 70 years and have been newly cleaned, conserved and studied specifically for the purpose. For more, click here.

Giving tree

A pair of Italian Americans teamed up with several other local artists to transform the remains of a 200-year-old elm tree into a work of art. Rising up from the grounds of Ragdale in Lake Forest, “Diversity of Birds” was created by Jyl Bonaguro and Mia Capodilupo and fellow artists Margot McMahon, Anthony Heinz May, Nicole Beck, Julia Sulmasy, and Fredy Hauman Mallqui. Located at 1260 N. Green Bay Road, Ragdale is an artist residency program and community (ragdale.org). The Ragdale Tree Project was spearheaded by Chicago Sculpture International (chicagosculpture.org). The CSI has collaborated with the Chicago Park District to create more than 50 public sculptures from dead and dying trees. For more about Chicago Sculpture International, click here. For more about The Ragdale Tree Project, click here.

Sumptuous showcase

European history buffs will have a field day at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms and Armor. Unveiled in 2017, the expansive exhibit showcases nearly 700 objects from the museum’s rich holdings of art from 1200 to 1600 as well as an extensive arms and armor collection. Among the Italian items on display are a terra-cotta altarpiece by Florentine Benedetto Buglioni, works of art for the bedchambers of Tuscany’s merchant elite, and a tempera-on-panel diptych of the Virgin and Child Enthroned and the Crucifixion (pictured). For more, click here.