Northwestern Music in April

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Violinist Jennifer Koh’s concert of works inspired by Bach, a program celebrating accordion and bandoneon virtuosos and an evening of jazz featuring Cuban trumpet star Arturo Sandoval and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra will conclude Northwestern University’s March 28 to April 7 “Soundings” Spring Festival.

Presented by the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the “Soundings” Festival will feature top artists, including sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar, pianist Gabriela Montero, members of Northwestern’s clarinet faculty and students, guitarist Sharon Isbin and percussionist Thiago de Mello.

April music events will also include a concert by the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman. Also scheduled are master classes for Bienen School students by leading artists, including violinist Paul Kantor, cellist Lynn Harrell, string bass player Harold Hall Robinson and pianist Richard Goode.

All programs listed below are open to the public. They take place on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive; or Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, as noted.

Ticket prices are indicated in two ranges: the first for the general public and the second for full-time students with IDs. Northwestern faculty and staff with a valid WildCARD ID receive a 15 percent discount off the general public ticket price. 

For more information, call the Pick-Staiger Concert Office at (847) 491-5441 or visit the Pick-Staiger website at www.pickstaiger.org. To order tickets, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org.

APRIL 2012

Violist Viacheslav Dinerchtein, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, Lutkin Hall. Viacheslav (“Slava”) Dinerchtein has appeared with orchestras and in recitals at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall and Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, as well as at the Bach International Festival in Peru, the Niagara Music Festival in Canada and the Spoleto Music Festival in Italy. He premiered the viola transcription of Bartok’s 44 Duets for Two Violins with Bienen School of Music faculty member Roland Vamos at the 36th International Viola Congress. Dinerchtein will be accompanied by pianist Winston Choi. Admission is free.

“Soundings” Spring Festival, violinist Jennifer Koh, “Bach and Beyond, Part 1,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Koh brings her critically acclaimed solo violin program “Bach and Beyond, Part 1” to Northwestern in its Chicago-area premiere. Koh’s program guides audiences through a historical journey of solo violin masterpieces inspired by J. S. Bach’s quintessential Partitas Nos. 2 and 3, which bookend the concert. Featured works include music by Ysaye and Elliott Carter as well as Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “lachen verlernt,” which incorporates a video by award-winning filmmaker Tal Rosner. Tickets are $18 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs. 

“Soundings” Spring Festival, Jennifer Koh, Violin Master Class, 10 a.m. Friday, April 6, Regenstein Recital Hall. Chicago native Jennifer Koh will guide Bienen School violinists in this master class. Admission is free. 

“Soundings” Spring Festival, Accordion and Bandoneon Discussion and Demonstration, 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 6, Regenstein Recital Hall. Master accordionists Julien Labro (jazz and South American), Alexander Sevastian (classical), Jimmy Keane (Celtic) and Dwayne Dopsie (zydeco) guide the audience through a variety of genres. Admission is free. 

“Soundings” Spring Festival, “The Big Squeeze,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 6, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. This one-time-only gathering of celebrated accordion and bandoneon virtuosos will perform classical, Celtic, jazz, tango, South American and zydeco music. Featured performers include France’s Julien Labro, Russia’s Alexander Sevastian, Chicago’s Jimmy Keane, and New Orleans’ Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers. Supporting musicians include guitarist Dennis Cahill, alto saxophonist Jon Irabagon and the Spektral Quartet. Tickets are $16 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs. 

Trombone Faculty Recital, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 6, Regenstein Recital Hall. The performance will feature Bienen School trombone studio instructors. Michael Mulcahy is principal trombone of the Grand Teton Music Festival as well as a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Musicians, and Summit Brass. Peter Ellefson regularly records and performs with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Randall Hawes is bass trombonist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Timothy Higgins has performed and recorded with the Milwaukee, Virginia and Chicago Symphony orchestras as well as the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Washington National Opera and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

“Soundings” Spring Festival, Arturo Sandoval with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Winner of four Grammy Awards, six Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award, Sandoval has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Patti LaBelle, the Mambo Kings and the Boston Pops under John Williams. Sandoval will be joined by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra for an evening of big-band jazz virtuosity. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs. 

Paul Kantor, Violin Master Class, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, Regenstein Recital Hall. One of the leading violin pedagogues of his generation, Paul Kantor is the Eleanor H. Biggs Memorial Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Kantor has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles around the globe and has given the world premieres of Dan Welcher’s Violin Concerto and John Corigliano’s “Red Violin Caprices.” In this master class, he will coach Bienen School violin students. Admission is free.

Lynn Harrell, Cello Master Class, 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, Regenstein Recital Hall. Internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell will continue his Bienen School of Music residency with a master class featuring Bienen School cello students. Admission is free.

Clarinetist Steven Cohen and the Lincoln String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, Lutkin Hall. Bienen School faculty member Steven Cohen has performed and taught throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. The Lincoln String Quartet, comprised of current and former Chicago Symphony Orchestra members, including violinists Qing Hou and Lei Hou, violist Lawrence Neuman and cellist Stephen Balderston, performs regularly at Chicago’s Symphony Center, the Art Institute and Northwestern University. The ensemble will play works by Bliss, Joan Tower and Mozart. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

Lynn Harrell, Cello Master Class, 4 p.m. Thursday, April 12, Regenstein Recital Hall. Internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell will continue his Bienen School of Music residency with a master class featuring Bienen School cello students. Admission is free. 

Lynn Harrell, Chamber Music Master Class, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 12, Regenstein Recital Hall. Internationally renowned cellist Lynn Harrell will continue his Bienen School of Music residency with a chamber music master class featuring Bienen School students. Admission is free. 

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Mallory Thompson will conduct a program featuring Bernstein’s “Profanation” from Symphony No. 1 (“Jeremiah”), Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” John Harbison’s “Music for 18 Winds,” Milhaud’s “Cinquieme Sinfonie,” Ivana Ludova’s “Don Giovanni’s Dream” and Wagner’s “Elsa’s Procession.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

Kids Fare, “A Fleet of Feet,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 14, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Music and dance burst onto the stage as DanceWorks Chicago sails into Pick-Staiger for an hourlong family program of music, dance, movement and rhythm for children aged 3 to 8. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Eduardo Fernandez, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 14, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. In addition to performing, guitarist Eduardo Fernandez is a recording artist, composer, educator, author and researcher. He has toured the world and won countless awards, including the Porto Alegre, Radio France, and Andres Segovia prizes. His extensive body of recordings includes 18 albums for Decca that feature many first recordings of classical guitar masterworks. Tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs. 

Newberry Consort 25th Anniversary Season, “Les Caracteres de la Danse,” 3 p.m. Sunday, April 15, Lutkin Hall. Baroque dancers Paige Whitley-Bauguess and Thomas Baird return to Northwestern with a program featuring shepherds, harlequins, nymphs and sailors from the 18th-century stage. The program features soprano Ellen Hargis, violinist David Douglass, violinist and violist Brandi Berry, viola da gamba player Craig Trompeter, harpsichordist Mark Shuldiner and oboist Debra Nagy. A pre-concert lecture will take place at 2 p.m. Tickets are $35 for the general public, $5 for students with IDs, and $28 for general-public orders made in advance. 

Harold Hall Robinson, String Bass Master Class, 6 p.m. Sunday, April 15, Pick-Staiger Rehearsal Room. Harold Hall (“Hal”) Robinson is principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra and a faculty member at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Robinson has been featured as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia, National Symphony, Houston Symphony and American Chamber Orchestras. In this master class, he will coach student bassists from the Bienen School of Music. Please use the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office entrance on the south end of the building. Admission is free. 

Northwestern Concerto/Aria Competition, 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 16, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. With a reputation for producing some of the world’s finest young instrumentalists and vocalists, the Bienen School of Music showcases top students in the final rounds of this year’s solo competition. Admission is free.

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, “From Russia,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 21, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Victor Yampolsky conducts a program that includes Prokofiev’s Sinfonia Concertante in E Minor, featuring cellist Jeffrey Li, and Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred” Symphony in B Minor. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy and featuring pianist Yefim Bronfman, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Founded in 1976, the European Union Youth Orchestra unites talented young musicians from all 27 European Union countries. The orchestra regularly performs worldwide, including the Salzburg Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the BBC Proms and the Concertgebouw’s Robeco Summer Concert Series. Since 2000 the orchestra has been conducted by Grammy Award–winning pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. Joining the orchestra in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 will be renowned pianist Yefim Bronfman, the 2010 winner of Bienen School of Music’s $50,000 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance.  Other works on the program include Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” featuring the Bienen School’s Symphonic Choir and faculty soloists, and Strauss’ “An Alpine Symphony.” Tickets are $26 for the general public and $12 for students with IDs. 

Small Jazz Ensembles, “Pannonica,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, Regenstein Recital Hall. Conducted by Victor Goines, the small jazz ensembles will pay tribute to the eccentric yet timeless compositions of Thelonious S. Monk. During the famous 1940s jam sessions at Minton’s Playhouse, Monk played a vital role in the development of bebop. His angular, chromatic phrasings and bright, percussive approach to the piano have inspired generations of jazz musicians. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

Contemporary Music Ensemble, “Chicago Voices,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 27, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Stephen Alltop will conduct a program featuring composers with strong connections to the Windy City. These include “Ausruff” by Northwestern composition faculty member Hans Thomalla. The Alice Millar Chapel Choir will perform “Sky with Four Suns” and “Sky with Four Moons” by John Luther Adams, winner of the Bienen School’s Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition. Mezzo-soprano Elisa Sutherland will sing “In Eleanor’s Words,” a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt by Roosevelt University faculty member Stacy Garrop. Also featured will be music by Uruguayan-born Elbio Barilari. Barilari is a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, “German Fest,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 28, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Robert G. Hasty will conduct a program that features Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll,” Mahler’s selections from “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” (“The Youth’s Magic Horn”), featuring baritone and Bienen School faculty member Philip Kraus, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major (“Eroica”). Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs. 

Richard Goode, Piano Master Class, 7 p.m. Monday, April 30, Lutkin Hall. Internationally renowned pianist Richard Goode, the inaugural winner of Northwestern University’s Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance, returns to the Evanston campus to coach Bienen School piano students. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.