Northwestern Music in November

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Calorie-free, pre-Thanksgsiving international treats await new music lovers Nov. 3 when Germany’s Ensemble Recherche performs a program launching its residency at Northwestern University’s Institute for New Music on the Evanston campus. Israel’s MultiPiano ensemble will perform Nov. 19. 

“Sounds and Sweet Airs: Scenes and Songs from Shakespeare,” Nov. 22-23, will provide audiences their choice of two consecutive evenings of excerpts from popular operas and musicals based on Shakespeare’s work.

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, November programs will also include faculty recitals, choral programs, a free flute master class and a Kids Fare program for 3- to 8-year-olds.

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 more information, call the Pick-Staiger Concert Hall office at (847) 491-5441. To order tickets, call (847) 467-4000 or go online.

For series brochures, call (847) 491-5441 or email requests to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. Visit Pick-Staiger's website for video and audio clips, photos and up-to-date information on upcoming events. To receive a monthly events newsletter and special discount offers, email pick-staiger@northwestern.edu.

Check online for updates on parking and directions.

All November programs listed below are open to the public. They take place on the University’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road; or Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St., as noted.

NOVEMBER 2013

Symphonic Band: Bach and Beyond, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Timothy J. Robblee will conduct a program of music written or inspired by Bach, including his Fantasia in G, works by Grainger and Scott McAllister’s exuberant “KRUMP.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Robert G. Hasty will conduct a program that includes Stravinsky’s Suite No. 1 for Small Orchestra, Shostakovich’s Ballet Suite No. 3, Bach’s Overture from Suite No. 2 in B Minor, featuring flute soloist John Thorne, and Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 in D Major (“The Clock”). Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Ensemble Recherche, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3, Lutkin Hall. Founded in 1985 and based in Freiburg, Germany, the nine-member Ensemble Recherche has premiered more than 500 works by composers Wolfgang Rihm, Hector Parra, Brice Pauset, Gerard Pesson and others. Their concert opens the group’s Institute for New Music residency at the Bienen School. The program includes Helmut Lachenmann’s “Allegro sostenuto,” Georg Friedrich Haas’ “Nach-Ruf…ent-gleitend” and the U.S. premiere of Brian Ferneyhough’s “Liber Scintillarum.” The concert is supported by a grant from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and by the Goethe-Institut Chicago. For more information, visit the Institute for New Music. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with IDs.

Mark Sparks Flute Master Class, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, 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: Student Composition Concert, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, Lutkin Hall. Ensemble Recherche concludes its Institute for New Music residency with world premieres of works by Bienen School graduate student composers. The program is supported by a grant from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation and by the Goethe-Institut Chicago. Admission is free.

Brass Faculty and Student Recital, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Bienen School faculty trumpet player Robert Sullivan, hornist Gail Williams, trombonist Michael Mulcahy and tuba player Rex Martin and brass students will perform a program that includes music for double quintet. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time  students with IDs.

Kids Fare, Brasstacular!, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The brilliant and bold sounds of trumpets, trombones, horns and tubas will fill Pick-Staiger as Gail Williams leads the Bienen School of Music Brass Ensemble. The hourlong program is for children ages 3 to 8. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for children and full-time students with IDs.

Percussion Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Bienen School faculty member She-e Wu will conduct a program of eclectic rhythms. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Evening of Brass, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Faculty member Gail Williams will conduct an evening of music written and arranged for brass ensemble. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Faculty member Mallory Thompson will conduct a program that includes Arthur Bird’s Serenade for Wind Instruments and Ingolf Dahl’s Sinfonietta. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Pianist Ralph Votapek, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, 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. He is professor emeritus of piano at Michigan State University. His program will include Haydn’s Sonata in A-flat Major, H. 46; Schumann’s “Kreisleriana” and Chopin’s Fourth Ballade in F Minor, Op. 52. He also will perform Bill Doerrfeld’s “A Definite Possibility,”Nikolai Kapustin’s “Andante,” and Ravel’s “Jeux d'eau” and “La Valse.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with IDs.

Concert Band, 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Students from across the Northwestern campus will present a concert of band standards conducted by Daniel J. Farris. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Baroque Music Ensemble: The Virtuosic Baroque, 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, Alice Millar Chapel. Student soloists and violinist David Douglass will be featured in Handel’s Concerto a due cori No. 1 and arias and duets from Handel’s operas. The program will include music by Telemann, Zelenka and others and will be conducted by Stephen Alltop. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with IDs.

MultiPiano: A Keyboard Celebration, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, Lutkin Hall. Launched in 2010 at Tel Aviv University, the MultiPiano Ensemble is comprised of students Daniel Borovitzky, Berenika Glixman and Nimrod Haftel-Meiri as well as their teacher, Tomer Lev. MultiPiano has performed throughout Israel and toured Asia, Latin America and South America. They have been praised for their “technical purity” and “polished, powerful and stylized interpretations.” This 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 full-time students with IDs.

Northwestern University Jazz Orchestra: Artistry in Rhythm -- The Music of Stan Kenton, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The Jazz Orchestra will pay tribute to the sounds of Stan Kenton with a program featuring both favorite and obscure works, including “The Peanut Vendor,” “Kentonova,” “Opus in Pastels” and “Intermission Riff.” The program will be conducted by Victor Goines and Christopher Madsen. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Northwestern University Saxophone Ensembles, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Timothy McAllister will conduct a diverse program highlighting the distinctive voice of the saxophone. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with  IDs.

Horn player Gail Williams and pianist Nolan Pearson, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, Lutkin Hall. Principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, a faculty member of Swiss Brass Week, and for two decades a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Gail Williams has performed with the San Antonio Symphony, the New World Symphony and other major orchestras. She will be joined by pianist and Bienen School alumnus Nolan Pearson, 2012 winner of the Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists. Their program includes John McCabe’s “The Goddess Trilogy,” Adam Roberts’ “Chimera” and Elliott Carter’s “Two Thoughts About the Piano.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with valid IDs.

Saxophonist Timothy McAllister, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, Lutkin Hall. McAllister recently appeared as soloist with the Albany Symphony, Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, Royal Band of the Belgian Air Force, United States Navy Band and Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Since 2001 he has performed in major chamber music series nationwide as soprano saxophonist of the Prism Quartet. In August he was the featured soloist in the world premiere of John Adams’ Saxophone Concerto at the Sydney Opera House. His program includes music by Adams, Babbitt, Roshanne Etezady, Carter and Albright. Pianist Elizabeth Ames and faculty clarinetist Steven Cohen will also perform. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with IDs.

Sounds and Sweet Airs: Scenes from Shakespeare, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, Cahn Auditorium. Michael M. Ehrman will direct an evening of excerpts from operas and musicals based on the works of William Shakespeare. The program includes music from “Falstaff,” “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Hamlet,” “Otello,” “West Side Story,“ “The Boys from Syracuse” and “Kiss Me, Kate.” Tickets are $10 for the general public and $6 for full-time students with IDs.

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Conducted by faculty member Robert G. Hasty and graduate students Jiang Xie and Chia-Hsuan Lin, the program will feature Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio espagnol,” Stravinsky’s “Scherzo fantastique” and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11 in G Minor (“The Year 1905”). Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for full-time students with IDs.

Women’s Chorus, 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, Lutkin Hall. Christopher Windle will conduct a program of works for treble voices, centered on the music of Benjamin Britten. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

Philharmonia: Inspired by Folk Music, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Robert G. Hasty will conduct the Philharmonia in a performance of Bartok’s “Rumanian Folk Dances,” Vaughan Williams’ “English Folk Song Suite” and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.

University Singers: For the Love of Text, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Emily Ellsworth will conduct a program of poetic works adapted by major composers in completely different, but equally beautiful, musical styles. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for full-time students with IDs.