Northwestern Music in January

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Classical music enthusiasts who favor intimate settings will experience a warm and inviting welcome when they attend the post-New Year’s programs that Northwestern University has scheduled for January.

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the 18th annual Winter Chamber Music Festival opens Jan. 10 and runs through Jan. 26. Guest ensembles and artists include the Miro Quartet with pianist Shai Wosner, Parker Quartet, Dover Quartet and Lincoln String Quartet, and Bienen School music faculty and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Winter Chamber Music Festival subscriptions are $130 for the general public and $54 for students.

The Bienen School of Music and the Chicago Classical Guitar Society will explore the colorful spectrum of the guitar during the 2014 Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Jan. 19 through April 13. Croatian guitarist Zoran Dukic will launch the festival with a performance featuring works by Llobet, Malata, Piazzolla and Barrios. Subscriptions for the Segovia Classical Guitar Series are $95 for the general public and $45 for full-time students with IDs.

Subscriptions to the Winter Chamber Music Festival and Segovia Classical Guitar series are on sale and can be ordered by calling (847) 467-4000. 

Composer David Lang will join the Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble Jan. 26 for a matinee performance of his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, “The Little Match Girl Passion.”  Lang will also speak during a related pre-concert “Meet the Composer” event that day.

January also includes a concert by guest soprano Amanda Majeski, chamber music and clarinet master classes, and two Kids Fare programs for 3- to 8-year-olds. The first explores voice and opera and the other celebrates the symphonic band.  

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 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order subscriptions or single or group tickets, call (847) 467-4000 or visit Pick-Staiger.

For series brochures, call (847) 491-5441 or email requests to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. Visit Pick-Staiger 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. For updates on parking and directions, click here. 

All January 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; Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; Alice Millar Chapel and Vail Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, as noted.

JANUARY 2014

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Miro Quartet with pianist Shai Wosner, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Miro Quartet has since climbed to the top of the international chamber music scene. The quartet is comprised of violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess and cellist Joshua Gindele. The group has taken both the first and grand prizes at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and in 1998 they earned both the first prize and the Piece de Concert Prize at the 1998 Banff International String Quartet Competition. They are the first ensemble ever to be awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Pianist Shai Wosner, an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, will join them. Wosner has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among others. Their program includes Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Parker Quartet, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 12, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Founded in 2002, the Parker Quartet has been hailed for their “pinpoint precision and spectacular sense of urgency.” Comprised of violinists Daniel Chong and Ying Xue, violist Jessica Bodner and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim, the group won a 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance and they were recently named Blodgett Quartet-in-Residence at Harvard University. Their program features Haydn’s String Quartet No. 23 in F Minor, Thomas Ades’ “Arcadiana” and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Bienen School Faculty and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Violinists Gerardo Ribeiro and Renee-Paule Gauthier, violist Rami Solomonow, cellist Stephen Balderston, double bassist Kathryn Nettleman, pianist James Giles, flutist John Thorne, oboist Jelena Dirks, clarinetist Steven Cohen, hornist Gail Williams and bassoonist Christopher Millard will perform classical and contemporary works. The program includes Fine’s Partita for Wind Quintet, Reger’s Serenade for Flute, Violin and Viola, Schumann’s Violin Sonata No. 1 in A Minor, Mozart’s Sonata for Bassoon and Cello in B-flat Major and Thieriot’s Octet for Strings and Winds. Single tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Kids Fare, “Ringing Singing,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The hourlong family concert for children ages 3 to 8 will celebrate the joy, beauty and excitement of the human voice. It will feature performers from the Bienen School’s voice and opera program. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs and children.

Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Zoran Dukic, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, Lutkin Hall. Croatian guitarist Zoran Dukic has been praised for his “passionate interpretations, sensitive musicality and bravura technique.” With more than 30 prizes to his name, Dukic has given recitals around the world, inspiring countless commissions from Sergio Assad, Dusan Bogdanovic, Vojislav Ivanovic and many others. His concert will feature works by Llobet, Malats, Piazzolla and Barrios. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Dover Quartet, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 19, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Winners of the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Dover Quartet -- comprised of violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt and cellist Camden Shaw -- formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008. The quartet counts Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein and Peter Wiley among its mentors. The group's 2013-14 season includes performances at the Curtis Institute of Music and the Caramoor Festival, as well as their debut at Germany's Heidelberg Festival. Their program will include Mozart’s String Quartet No. 16 in E-flat Major, Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 3 in F Major and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, cellist Marc Johnson and pianist Andrea Swan, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The trio will perform three works by Brahms, including Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor and Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Kids Fare, “Symphonically Sensational,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Young audiences will experience the powerful sounds of the Northwestern University Symphonic Band. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for children and students with IDs.

Marc Johnson Chamber Music Master Class, 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, Regenstein Recital Hall. Cellist Marc Johnson has performed with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Vermeer Quartet. As both a quartet member and a soloist, he has commissioned and premiered works by composers Ezra Laderman, Chinary Ung, Cristobal Halffter and Steven Mackey. In 2007 Johnson joined the faculty of Boston University. Admission is free.

Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble, David Lang at Northwestern – “The Little Match Girl Passion” concert, 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, Alice Millar Chapel, (2 p.m. preconcert “Meet the Composer” in Millar’s Vail Chapel). Composer David Lang joins the ensemble for a performance of his Pulitzer Prize-winning work, “The Little Match Girl Passion” -- a compact and emotionally charged setting of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of hope and sorrow. Drawing parallels to Lang’s rich minimalism, the ensemble will sing movements from Renaissance composer Antoine Brumel’s 12-voice “Missa et ecce terrae motus” (“Earthquake Mass”). Donald Nally will conduct.  Prior to the concert, Lang will discuss his past and current compositional directions. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

Winter Chamber Music Festival, Lincoln String Quartet with cellist Brant Taylor, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Violinists Qing Hou and Lei Hou, violist Lawrence Neuman and cellists Kenneth Olsen and Brant Taylor will perform Beethoven’s String Quintet in A Major (“Kreutzer”), Britten’s Three Divertimenti for String Quartet and Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major. Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

Soprano Amanda Majeski with pianist Alan Darling, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, Lutkin Hall. Northwestern alumna Amanda Majeski’s current season engagements include a return to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Vitella in “La Clemenza di Tito” and her role debut as Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni” with Opera Philadelphia. She will make her Metropolitan Opera debut next season, and future debuts are scheduled at the Salzburg Easter Festival and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Pianist Alan Darling has accompanied vocalists in recitals throughout North America and Europe. He performs at the Ravinia Festival and serves on the faculty of Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center. Their program -- a week prior to Majeski’s Carnegie Hall debut -- includes Haydn’s “Scena di Berenice,” Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben” and Berg’s “Sieben Frühe Lieder.” Tickets are $12 for the general public and $8 for students with IDs.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Mallory Thompson will conduct the ensemble in a program that features Joel Puckett’s “Asimov's Aviary,” Stravinsky’s “Circus Polka” and Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, and Gabrieli’s "Canzon Primi Toni" from “Sacrae Symphoniae.” Kathryn Salfelder’s “Cathedrals” and Joseph Schwantner’s “... and the mountains rising nowhere” will also be performed. Rachael Kerr will be the piano soloist. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.