Chris Thile, Ensemble Recherche Among Guest Artists

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Grammy Award-winning mandolinist Chris Thile, Germany’s new music group Ensemble Recherche, pianist and Northwestern alumnus Ralph Votapek and Israel’s four-member MultiPiano ensemble are among the international line-up of guest artists coming to Northwestern University this fall.

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

Concert 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 receive a 15 percent discount off the general public ticket price.

For tickets, call (847) 467-4000 or visit Pick Staiger online. For more information, call (847) 491-5441 or visit Pick Staiger online.

Fall 2013 Guest Artists

• Pianist Jeffrey Siegel begins his 2013-14 Keyboard Conversations series at Northwestern with “Popular Piano Classics” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Siegel’s program includes works by Mozart, Beethoven, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Gershwin. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students with valid IDs.

• Trio Solari -- comprised of clarinetist Chad Burrow, violinist Yung-Hsiang Wang and pianist Amy I-Lin Chen -- gives a 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 performance in Regenstein Recital Hall. The trio has appeared at the OK Mozart Festival, Denmark’s Thy Chamber Music Festival and on KUHF Houston Public Radio. The group has commissioned many new works, notably a 2011 trio by Edward Knight. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Trio Solari clarinetist and Northwestern alumnus Chad Burrow will lead a master class for Bienen School clarinetists at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in Regenstein Recital Hall. Formerly principal clarinetist of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the New Haven Symphony, Burrow is assistant professor of clarinet at the University of Michigan. Admission is free.

• Mary Ann Archer will give a flute master class and recital at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in Lutkin Hall. A former member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Opera Orchestra, Archer is a lecturer at Hampden-Sydney College and principal flutist of Opera on the James. Admission is free. NOTE: THIS CONCERT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

• Mandolin virtuoso, composer and vocalist Chris Thile will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. A member of Punch Brothers, Thile is known for incorporating progressive bluegrass, classical, rock and jazz influences into his music. A recent MacArthur “genius,” he won a 2013 Grammy Award for “The Goat Rodeo Sessions,” collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Stuart Duncan. His new program will draw from his recent Nonesuch album of Bach sonatas and partitas, his own compositions and other contemporary works. Tickets are $28 for the general public and $12 for students with valid IDs.

• The nine-member Ensemble Recherche opens its residency at the Bienen School’s Institute for New Music with a recital at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, in Lutkin Hall. Founded in 1985 and based in Freiburg, Germany, the group has premiered more than 500 works by composers Wolfgang Rihm, Hector Parra, Brice Pauset, Gerard Pesson and others. Their performance includes Helmut Lachenmann’s “Allegro sostenuto,” Georg Friedrich Haas’ “Nach-Ruf … ent-gleitend” and Brian Ferneyhough’s “Liber Scintillarum.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Mark Sparks leads a master class for Bienen School flutists at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, in Lutkin Hall. Principal flutist of the St. Louis Symphony, Sparks has made guest appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is an artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he is principal flutist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony. Admission is free.

• Ensemble Recherche concludes its Institute for New Music residency at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, in Lutkin Hall, with a program featuring world premieres of works by Bienen School graduate student composers. Admission is free. 

• Pianist Ralph Votapek will appear in recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, in Lutkin Hall. Winner of the Naumburg Award and the inaugural Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Votapek has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. A Northwestern alumnus, he was the featured soloist at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall’s dedication in 1975. Votapek is professor emeritus of piano at Michigan State University. His program includes music by Haydn, Schumann, Chopin, Bill Doerrfeld, Nikolai Kapustin and Ravel. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Israeli ensemble MultiPiano presents “A Keyboard Celebration” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, in Lutkin Hall. Launched in 2010 at Tel Aviv University, the ensemble is comprised of three students -- Daniel Borovitzky, Berenika Glixman and Nimrod Haftel-Meiri -- and their teacher, Tomer Lev. MultiPiano has toured Asia, Latin America, South America and throughout Israel. The program features arrangements for two pianos -- for two to eight hands -- of music by Mozart, Smetana, Ravel, Rossini and others. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Jeffrey Siegel’s Keyboard Conversations series continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall with “The Glory of Beethoven.” This concert with commentary includes Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, written in the shadow of the composer’s deafness. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students with valid IDs.

For updates on parking and directions, visit Pick Staiger online.