January 2013 Music Calendar

EVANSTON, ILL. --- The New Year will get off to a melodious start at the Northwestern University Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music’s 17th annual Winter Chamber Music Festival, beginning Jan. 11.

The festival’s impressive array of artists and ensembles includes violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry chamber orchestra, the Calder Quartet, the Escher String Quartet and a strong lineup of Bienen School faculty, Chicago Symphony Orchestra members and other outstanding musicians.

Festival program highlights include seven concerts and a free master class for Bienen School string students led by members of the Escher String Quartet.

Other January events include a Jan. 26 Kids Fare program exploring band music.

All programs listed below are open to the public. They take place on Northwestern’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.

Construction alert

Due to construction on the south end of campus, Arts Circle Drive is currently closed to traffic. Free parking is still available on weekends and after 4 p.m. weekdays in the two-level lakefront structure located on Campus Drive. After turning onto Campus Drive from Sheridan Road, enter the parking structure on the right by way of ramps leading to the upper and lower levels. For vehicles with handicap placards, reserved spaces are available on weekends and after 4 p.m. weekdays in the lot directly west of Louis Hall, 1877 Campus Drive. For more construction and parking information, visit www.pickstaiger.org/construction.

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.

JANUARY 2013 EVENTS

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Bienen School Faculty and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 11, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Winter Chamber Music Festival begins with a collaboration of Bienen School of Music faculty and guests, including pianist Andrea Swan, violinists Lei Hou, Ni Mei and Blair Milton, violists Lawrence Neuman and Yukiko Ogura, cellists Brant Taylor, Stephen Balderston and Kenneth Olsen and clarinetist Steven Cohen. The program will feature Ravel’s Piano Trio in A Minor, Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B Minor and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Bienen School Faculty and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The festival continues with a performance by faculty members, including pianist Alan Chow, violinists Stephanie Jeong and Sylvia Kilcullen, violist Yukiko Ogura, cellist Kenneth Olsen, bassist Robert Kassinger, clarinetist J. Lawrie Bloom, hornist Gail Williams and bassoonist Christopher Millard. The program will feature Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G Major, Blanc’s Septet in E Major and Dvorak’s String Quintet No. 2 in G Major. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, A Far Cry, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.  The chamber orchestra A Far Cry will perform Osvaldo Golijov’s “Last Round” for Strings, Arvo Part’s “Fratres” for Strings and Percussion, Biber’s “Battalia a 10” in D Major and Walton’s Sonata for Strings. Founded in 2007, the ensemble is comprised of 17 young professional musicians with a goal of expanding the boundaries of orchestral repertoire and experimenting with the ways music is prepared, performed and experienced. The group is the ensemble-in-residence for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and has performed more than 200 concerts worldwide, including a European debut tour this year. Tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs. 

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Calder Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Calder Quartet features violinists Benjamin Jacobson and Andrew Bulbrook, violist Jonathan Moerschel, cellist Eric Byers and clarinetist John Bruce Yeh. The program includes Andrew Norman’s “…toward sunshine and the prime of light…,” Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major, Aaron Jay Kernis’ Clarinet Quintet (“Perpetual Chaconne”) and Bartok’s String Quartet No. 5. Kernis is the 2012 recipient of the Bienen School’s Nemmers Prize in Music Composition. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Escher String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Escher String Quartet is comprised of violinists Adam Barnett-Hart and Aaron Boyd, violist Pierre Lapointe and cellist Dane Johansen. Their program includes Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.  

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Escher String Quartet Master Class, 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, Regenstein Recital Hall. Members of the Escher String Quartet will coach string students from the Bienen School of Music. Admission is free.

Kids Fare, “Band Illusions,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Northwestern University Symphonic Band, led by Timothy Robblee, celebrates the variety and power of band music. The hourlong family program is recommended for children aged 3 to 8. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for children.

Early Music Ensemble-in-Residence, Newberry Consort, “My Heart’s in the Highlands,” 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, Lutkin Hall. Violinist David Douglass, soprano Ellen Hargis, actor Paul Hecht, harpsichordist David Schrader, flutist Leann Daihl and cellist Craig Trompeter perform songs and poems of Robert Burns, plus other music from Burns’ Scotland. Tickets are $35 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Bienen School Faculty and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. This performance features violinists Gerardo Ribeiro and Robert Hanford, violist Lawrence Neuman, cellist Stephen Balderston, bassist Andrew Raciti, pianists Toni-Marie Montgomery and James Giles and trumpeter David Gauger. The program includes Saint-Saens’ Septet in E-flat Major, Prokofiev’s Sonata for Two Violins in C Major and Robert Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 31, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Winter Chamber Music Festival concludes with a performance by internationally renowned violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra. The program includes Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 10 in B Minor, William Bolcom’s Romanza for Violin and String Orchestra, Villa-Lobos’ “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5” and Strauss’ “Metamorphosen.” Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.