Northwestern University Music in April

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The closing Segovia Classical Guitar Series concert will feature the Canadian Guitar Quartet; duo pianists Christopher O’Riley and Pablo Ziegler will present an evening of tango music; and Maya Beiser, founding cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Wilco percussionist Glenn Kotche will perform a program of music by Led Zeppelin, Nirvana and others. They are among the guest artists appearing on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus in April.

Presented by Northwestern’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, other events include a Northwestern Concerto/Aria Competition; a Kids Fare program led by Billy Siegenfeld, artistic director and principal choreographer of the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project; and a Jazz Small Ensembles concert directed by faculty members Victor Goines and Marlene Rosenberg celebrating the music of jazz legend Cedar Walton.

The Bienen School’s Institute for New Music also will host a daylong new music symposium on April 17.

VENUES

All April programs listed below are open to the public. They will take place on the University’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place; Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive; and Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, as noted.

TICKETS

The Bienen School Ticket Office is located in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Concert ticket prices are offered at three levels: 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, contact the Bienen School of Music Concert Management Office at 847-491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org. To order tickets, call 847-467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org.

For series brochures or further information, call 847-491-5441 or email requests to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. To join the Bienen School’s concerts and events list and receive a monthly events newsletter as well as special discount offers, send your email address to pick-staiger@northwestern.edu. For updates on parking and directions, visit www.pickstaiger.org/construction.

APRIL 2015 MUSIC EVENTS

• Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Canadian Guitar Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 4, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The quartet has often been featured on national broadcasts in the Americas and Europe and with orchestras across the globe. The group’s 2007 New York City debut on the 92nd Street Y's “Art of the Guitar” series was enthusiastically received with several standing ovations, and the quartet’s three recordings have won awards and international critical acclaim. The program will feature de Lhoyer’s “Air Varié et Dialogue,” Hans Brudërl’s “Octopus,” Renaud Côté-Giguère’s “Fille de Cuivre,” Gnattali’s “Quatro Movimentos Dançantes,” Patrick Roux’s “Concierto Tradicionuevo” and Rossini’s Overture from “William Tell.” Single tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

• Deborah Baron Flute Master Class, 7 p.m. Monday, April 6, Lutkin Hall. Piccolo and associate principal flute with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Baron also has performed with the Springfield (Mass.) Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds. A Juilliard graduate, she was a founding member of the quartet Flute Force and has recorded with the Triptych trio. Baron is an adjunct faculty member at Southern Methodist University. Admission is free.

• Christopher O’Riley and Pablo Ziegler, Two to Tango, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Host of National Public Radio’s “From the Top,” O’Riley has stretched the piano beyond conventional boundaries, from his groundbreaking transcriptions of Radiohead, Elliott Smith and Nick Drake to his sublime interpretations of classical works. The Buenos Aires–born Ziegler has become one of the most important figures in Argentine Tango Nuevo, the vibrant musical hybrid of classic tango and American jazz. Together, the two pianists will perform a program of new compositions by Ziegler and music by Piazzolla. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

• Maya Beiser, All Vows, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 9, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. “Maya Beiser has etched a bold career path that marries classical to rock, starched collars to casual dress and tradition to unorthodoxy,” declares AllMusic.com. The founding cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Beiser has collaborated with composers Tan Dun, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Mark O’Connor. In this new program she plays acoustic and electric cello, combining classical forms with rock, blues and electronics. Joining Beiser on stage will be percussionist-composer Glenn Kotche, perhaps best known for his work with Chicago-based band Wilco and guest bassist Gyan Riley. The program will include the Chicago-area premieres of Michael Gordon’s “All Vows” and Michael Harrison’s “Just Ancient Loops,” as well as Mohammed Fairouz’s “Kol Nidrei” and music by Kotche, Reich, Led Zeppelin and Nirvana. Tickets are $24 for the general public and $10 for students with IDs.

• Northwestern Brass Ensemble and Norwegian Brass Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Gail Williams will direct a concert featuring the Oslo-based Norwegian Brass Ensemble and the Northwestern Brass Ensemble for an evening of music written and arranged for brass ensembles of all sizes. The program includes Hovland’s “Fanfare and Chorale”; Nystedt’s Requiem and Sanctus from “Pia Memoria”; Sibelius’ Brass Septet; Anthony Plog’s Concerto for Trumpet and Brass Ensemble featuring trumpet soloist Robert Sullivan, and Eric Ewazen’s Symphony for Brass. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

• Claire Chase and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, Alice Millar Chapel. Students from the Bienen School’s flute studio will perform contemporary works for flute. The concert is presented by the Bienen School’s Institute for New Music and is made possible in part by the Davee Foundation. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

• Bienen School of Music/Institute for New Music symposium, Programming New Music: Strategies, Successes, Challenges, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, April l7, Lutkin Hall. The purpose of this daylong symposium is to begin a discussion of the aspects of new music programming -- commissioning new works, re-conceptualizing the concert as a whole, and developing a sense of cultural and political place -- and the strategies to address these issues. Leading new music performers who have explored innovative programming, as well as producers from Chicago’s inventive new-music scene, will share their experiences and observations, followed by reflections from musicologists. The symposium continues with thoughts on music programming in academia and contributions from graduate students on the challenges they will face as the next generation programming new music. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.pickstaiger.org/event/programming-new-music-strategies-successes-challenges.

• Kids Fare: Jump That Rhythm, 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 18, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Led by the dance ensemble’s Billy Siegenfeld, artistic director and principal choreographer, the Jump Rhythm Jazz Project will leap onstage to share toe-tapping music and exuberant dance with young audience members. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for children and students with IDs.

• Jasper Quartet Master Class, 10 a.m. Sunday, April 19, Regenstein Recital Hall. Winner of the 2012 Cleveland Quartet Award, the Jasper Quartet recently issued two highly acclaimed albums for the Sono Luminus label featuring music by Beethoven, Schubert and Aaron Jay Kernis, as well as a digital release of Beethoven’s Op. 131. Between now and 2017, the Philadelphia-based group will premiere Kernis’ Third String Quartet -- a Jasper commission -- around the world, including performances at Carnegie Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. Admission is free.

• Northwestern Concerto/Aria Competition, 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 20, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. With a reputation for producing some of the world’s finest young instrumentalists and vocalists, the Bienen School of Music will showcase top students in the final rounds of this year’s solo competition. Admission is free.

• Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.

Mallory Thompson will conduct the ensemble in a program featuring Triebensee’s arrangement of Mozart’s Overture to “Don Giovanni,” Barbara Buehlman’s arrangement of Brahms’ “Blessed Are They” from “Ein Deutsches Requiem,” Michael Allen’s arrangement of Bach’s Fugue in G Minor (“Little”) and Carter Pann’s “My Brother’s Brain” (Symphony for Winds). Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

• Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and University Chorale, Vive la France, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 25, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Victor Yampolsky and graduate assistant conductor Robert McConnell will conduct a program that includes Massenet’s Overture to “Phèdre,” Dukas’ “La Péri: Poème dansé” and Ravel’s complete ballet “Daphnis et Chloé.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs.

• Newberry Consort, Mr. Dowland’s Midnight, 7 p.m. preconcert lecture; 8 p.m. concert, Saturday, April 25, Lutkin Hall. Superstar lute player Paul O’Dette will join the Consort for an evening of Elizabethan blues. The program features music for lute, soprano and a consort of viols to display both the dark and light sides of 16th-century composer John Dowland. Consort songs, lute solos and lute songs will explore the gamut of human emotion, from Dowland’s famous melancholy to lighthearted dance music. Performers will include violists David Douglass, Christel Theilmann, Kate Shuldiner and David Ellis; soprano Ellen Hargis; and lute player O'Dette. Tickets are $38 for the general public and $5 for students with IDs (or $45 for preferred seating and $35 for general admission orders made in advance of the concert).

• Jazz Small Ensembles, Firm Roots -- The Music of Cedar Walton, 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 27, Regenstein Recital Hall. Pianist, composer and bandleader Cedar Walton was a major force on the jazz scene for more than half a century. He penned some of the most beautiful and complex compositions in the jazz canon. In this performance jazz students will share their new interpretations of “Firm Roots,” “Bolivia,” “Sixth Avenue” and other Walton classics. Bienen School jazz studies faculty members Victor Goines and Marlene Rosenberg will direct the concert. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with IDs.

ARTS CIRCLE DRIVE

Northwestern’s Arts Circle Drive has reopened for vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The road, drive-up handicap access to Arts Circle Drive venues, the pedestrian path at the lakefront and all sidewalks are now open for public use. New improvements to the South Beach Garage have also eliminated the need to use the stairways, and both levels of the two-story parking structure are now accessible to persons with disabilities for easy access to Bienen School of Music venues. Additional parking on the Evanston campus also is available in the new Segal Visitors Center at 1841 Sheridan Road. For more information, call 847-491-5441 or visit www.pickstaiger.org.