Three World-Class Musicians to Perform

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Internationally-renowned cellist and MacArthur “genius” award winner Alisa Weilerstein, electronica artist Robert Henke of the duo project Monolake and clarinetist Tadayoshi Takeda of Japan share something in common. The three world-class guest artists will appear at Northwestern University this spring.

During their visit to the University’s Evanston campus, Weilerstein and Takeda as well as violinist Rachel Barton Pine, flutist Leone Buyse and Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal flutist Mathieu Dufour will coach Bienen School music students during admission-free master classes.

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the following events are open to the public. They will take place on the 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.

APRIL 2013

Rachel Barton Pine will lead a master class for Bienen School violin students at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in Regenstein Recital Hall. At age 10, Pine made her first appearance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and at 17 she became the youngest person and first American to win a gold medal at the prestigious J.S. Bach International Competition in Germany. Pine has released 13 albums, won countless first prizes and, along with many classical engagements, performs with the heavy metal band Earthen Grave. Admission is free.

Leone Buyse will coach Bienen School flute students in a 7 p.m. master class Tuesday, April 23, in Lutkin Hall. Buyse, the Joseph and Ida Kirkland Mullen Professor of Flute at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, has appeared as a soloist with the Boston Pops, Rochester Philharmonic, and Boston and San Francisco symphony orchestras and in recital with opera singer Jessye Norman and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She currently performs with her husband, clarinetist Michael Webster, in the Buyse-Webster Duo. Admission is free.

World-renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan will perform an all-new program at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, including works by Beethoven, Britten, Stravinsky, Falla and Bernstein. Weilerstein has appeared with countless orchestras across the United States and Europe. She also has performed under the baton of top conductors, including Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel and Lorin Maazel. In 2010, she became an exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics and the first cellist signed by the label in more than 30 years. In 2011, she was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow. Barnatan is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and has appeared as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Barnatan’s second solo recording, “Darknesse Visible,” was released in 2012. Tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students.

Alisa Weilerstein will coach Bienen School students in a 10 a.m. cello master class on Thursday, April 25, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Admission is free.

Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente will conclude its Institute for New Music residency at Northwestern with a performance of works by Bienen School composition students at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, in Regenstein Recital Hall. The ensemble, founded at Northwestern by composer Kirsten Brobert in 2004, presents music by established, emerging and undiscovered composers and has collaborated with Kaija Saariaho, Augusta Read Thomas and Mark-Anthony Turnage. The group is comprised of young artists and virtuosos who have participated in the International Ensemble Moderne Academies, been fellows of Aspen Music Festival’s Contemporary Ensemble, are on staff at local universities and are members of notable ensembles. Admission is free.

Pianist Jeffrey Siegel will perform waltzes, marches, polkas, tangos and more during “Listen to the Dance” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, as part of his Keyboard Conversations concert with commentary. The program features works by Schubert, Strauss, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Albeniz, and includes Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students.

MAY 2013

Electronica artist Robert Henke will give a performance of “Dust” at 9 p.m. Saturday, May 4, in Lutkin Hall. Composed for a 2011 performance at the ZKM Media Theater in Karlsruhe, Germany, “Dust” explores dense and layered streams of sound, including digital noise, splash­ing waves, a massive storm, steam from a coffee machine and crackles from an old phonograph record. Henke holds a professor­ship in sound design at the Berlin University of the Arts and will serve as a Mohr Visiting Artist at Stanford University, where he will teach a class in computer music com­position and performance. A computer music composer, Henke draws inspiration from applied computer science and technology and creates his own instruments. Admission is free.

Mathieu Dufour will coach Bienen School flute students in a master class at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, in Lutkin Hall. Principal flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Dufour has led master classes and appeared as a soloist in concerts around the globe. Admission is free.

Tadayoshi Takeda, a professor at Tokyo’s Kunitachi College of Music, will perform works by Debussy and Poulenc, and coach a master class for Bienen School clarinet students at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Takeda won first prize at the Concours General de Musique et d’Art Dramatique Leopold Bellan in Paris and at the 47th Japan Music Competition. Admission is free.

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