Redevelopment of Norris University Center’s East Lawn to begin this summer
April 5, 2024
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Rock icon Todd Rundgren will team up with string quartet ETHEL as part of “Side by Side -- Exploring Musical Connections,” Northwestern University’s Spring 2013 festival. The seven-concert music festival runs from April 2 through April 13.
Other festival artists include renowned jazz singer Kurt Elling and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra performing Cole Porter’s songs; the Miro Quartet with percussionist Colin Currie; guitarist Jason Vieaux with bandoneon and accordion virtuoso Julien Labro; New York’s edgy Asphalt Orchestra; “Chicago Reflections,” a celebration of Chicago’s rich musical diversity; and legendary clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, who will share the stage with the Assad Brothers guitar duo in “Dances from the New World.”
Other April highlights presented by Northwestern University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music include master classes led by violinist Rachel Barton Pine, flutist Leone Buyse and cellist Alisa Weilerstein; a performance by the cutting-edge Ensemble Dal Niente; and “Jump to Conclusions,” a Kids Fare concert for children aged 3 to 8 combining dance and music, led by Chicago’s Jump Rhythm Jazz Project artistic director Billy Siegenfeld.
All April 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; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; or Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive; 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. 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.
APRIL 2013 EVENTS
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” ETHEL and Todd Rundgren, “Tell Me Something Good,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 2, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. New York string quartet ETHEL and rock icon Todd Rundgren present a program highlighting the influence of the 1970s on classical music today, with cross-cultural works by Lou Harrison, Arvo Part and Judd Greenstein as well as arrangements of Rundgren’s songs. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Kurt Elling and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra, “Celebrating Cole Porter,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Grammy Award winner and 13-time DownBeat Critics Poll “Male Singer of the Year,” Elling is among the world’s top jazz vocalists. He is accompanied by the Chicago Jazz Orchestra and the Spektral Quartet in a program of Cole Porter music. Tickets are $26 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections, Chicago Reflections,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. A celebration reflecting the diverse music that makes Chicago one of the world’s great cities. The Greater Harvest Missionary Baptist Church Mass Choir, Irish accordionist Jimmy Keane with fiddler Liz Carroll, Sones de Mexico Ensemble, Russian accordionist Stas Venglevski with mandolinist Misha Litvin and the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band will perform. Alex Kotlowitz, author of “Never a City So Real,” will serve as the master of ceremonies at the event presented in conjunction with One Book One Northwestern. Tickets are $16 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Jason Vieaux Guitar Master Class, 7 p.m. Monday, April 8, Regenstein Recital Hall. Vieaux will coach Bienen School guitarists in this master class. Admission is free.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Colin Currie Percussion Master Class, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, Regenstein Recital Hall. Currie will coach Bienen school percussion students in this master class. Admission is free.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Miro Quartet Chamber Music Master Class, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, Lutkin Hall. The Miro String Quartet will coach Bienen School chamber music students in this master class. Admission is free.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” guitarist Jason Vieaux and accordionist and bandoneon player Julien Labro, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Gramophone has praised Vieaux as ranking “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists.” He will perform with accordionist and bandoneon player Labro, who, according to the Detroit Free Press “straddles the past-present fault line in particularly alluring fashion.” Vieaux and Labro will take the listener on a Latin-inspired journey through the works of Albeniz, Piazzolla, Brouwer and others. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $12 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Miro Quartet and percussionist Colin Currie, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The multi-award-winning Miro Quartet has captivated audiences around the globe with its fresh approach to the chamber music canon. Scottish percussionist Currie, praised by the Guardian for his “athletic percussionism, compulsive showmanship and deep musicality,” has inspired commissions from composers Steve Reich and Louis Andriessen. Together they will present an evening of classics, including Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” and works by Reich, Michael Torke, Steve Martland and other modern masters. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Asphalt Orchestra: “Unpack the Elephant,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The New York Times describes the Asphalt Orchestra as “an iconoclastic 12-piece marching band… part parade spectacle, part halftime show, part cutting-edge contemporary music concert.” Its repertoire ranges from pop maven Bjork and pop legend Frank Zappa to Swedish metal band Meshuggah and commissions by David Byrne (Talking Heads), Annie Clark (St. Vincent) and Tyondai Braxton (formerly of Battles). Tickets are $18 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Spring Festival, “Side by Side – Exploring Musical Connections,” Sergio and Odair Assad with Paquito D’Rivera, “Dances from the New World,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Assad Brothers, two-time Grammy Award winning guitar virtuosos, will join forces with Grammy-winning, genre-defying clarinetist D’Rivera for an evening of Latin classical music spiced with tangos, sambas, boleros and jazz. The program includes works by Ginastera, Piazzolla, Jobim and D’Rivera. Tickets are $28 for the general public and $12 for students with IDs.
Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble, 3 p.m. Sunday, April 14, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Donald Nally will direct a rare performance of Le Jeune’s “Reflections on the Vanity and Inconstancy of the World,” a Renaissance masterpiece consisting of 36 chansons (French songs). It reflects on humanity’s inability to attain godliness in the material world, as expressed in the words of Calvinist preacher Antoine Chardieu and explored through Le Jeune’s journey of modes, vocal combinations, textures and text painting. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.
Rachel Barton Pine Violin Master Class, 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, Regenstein Recital Hall. Hailed by the Washington Post as an “exciting, boundary-defying performer,” Chicago-based violinist Pine will coach Bienen school violin students. Admission is free.
Small Jazz Ensembles, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, Regenstein Recital Hall. Victor Goines will direct this tribute to jazz pioneer Dave Brubeck. The program will feature “Take Five,” “Blue Rondo a la Turk” and other favorite Brubeck gems. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.
Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Mallory Thompson will direct the symphonic wind ensemble in a program featuring Bach’s Fugue in C-sharp Minor from “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Book I, Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, von Weber’s “Andante e Rondo Ungarase” for bassoon and orchestra (featuring bassoon soloist David Young) and Jonathan Newman’s Symphony No. 1: “My Hands Are a City.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.
Kids Fare, “Jump to Conclusions,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 20, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The indefatigable Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, led by artistic director Billy Siegenfeld, seamlessly combines motion, dance, gesture and choreography with great music to create an experience for children aged 3 to 8. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.
Britten and Lutoslawski Centennial Celebration, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20, Lutkin Hall. Kurt Hansen is a specialist in oratorio, notably the Bach Passions, and has performed as a soloist throughout the world, including engagements with Music of the Baroque and the Chicago, St. Louis, and Milwaukee Symphony orchestras. Theresa Brancaccio has served as a vocal clinician and adjudicator throughout the country and as vice president of the Chicago Singing Teachers Guild. With pianists Karina Kontorovitch and Ruth Lin, they honor the centennials of composers Benjamin Britten and Witold Lutoslawski in a program also featuring works by Rachmaninoff and Dawid Janowski. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.
Northwestern Concerto/Aria Competition, 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 22, 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.
Leone Buyse Flute Master Class, 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, Lutkin Hall. Professor of flute at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Buyse has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony and as a soloist with the Boston Pops, Utah Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic. In this master class she coaches Bienen School of Music flute students. Admission is free.
Northwestern University Saxophone Ensembles and Quartets, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Timothy McAllister will direct a wide-ranging program of music highlighting the distinctive voice of the saxophone. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. A MacArthur 2011 “genius” award winner, Weilerstein released her debut album on Decca in 2012. She has appeared at the Edinburgh International Festival and the White House and is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. She has performed as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. This all-new program includes works by Beethoven, Britten, Stravinsky, Falla and Bernstein. Tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.
Alisa Weilerstein Cello Master Class, 10 a.m. Thursday, April 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Weilerstein will coach Bienen School cello students. Admission is free.
Guest artists, Ensemble Dal Niente, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, Regenstein Recital Hall. With a reputation for cutting-edge music, Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente concludes its Institute for New Music residency with performances of works by Bienen School composition students. Admission is free.
Keyboard Conversations, “Listen to the Dance – Waltzes, Marches, Polkas and Tangos,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Pianist Jeffrey Siegel will perform music of Schubert, Strauss, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Albeniz and Sousa, including Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.” Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students with IDs.
Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Victor Yampolsky will direct the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra in a program that features Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 (“Aquarius”), Scriabin’s “Reverie” and Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.
Gail Williams Horn Studio Recital, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, Regenstein Recital Hall. Former Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) associate principal horn and Bienen School brass faculty member Gail Williams performs in recital with Bienen School horn students, Bienen faculty colleagues bassist Andrew Raciti and percussionist She-e Wu, as well as retired CSO clarinetist Larry Combs and University of Wisconsin-Madison professor emeritus and horn player Douglas Hill. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.
