Northwestern University Music in November

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Fans of the piano, guitar and opera will have a lot to be thankful for this November on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus.

The University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music has programmed a rich variety of repertoire this fall and throughout the year, including performances by outstanding Bienen School faculty members, instrumental and choral student ensembles and guest appearances by some of the world’s leading artists.

Highlights include the first concert in the 2015-16 inaugural season of the Skyline Piano Artist Series, which begins Nov. 14 with a recital by Ursula Oppens, who will appear with Jerome Lowenthal. Their program will take place in the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, a new recital venue with state-of-the-art acoustics and breathtaking views of the Chicago skyline. Oppens is a former Bienen School faculty member.

The Skyline series also will feature other internationally renowned pianists, including: Dec. 3, Stephen Hough; Jan. 29, Garrick Ohlsson; March 8, James Giles, Bienen School associate professor of piano; April 6, Andrew Tyson; and May 15, the Cheng-Chow Trio, featuring Alan Chow, Bienen School associate professor of piano.

The annual Segovia Classical Guitar Series gets underway Nov. 21 with a program by Eduardo Fernández. This season’s Segovia Series also will feature: Jan. 23, Paul O’Dette; Feb. 14, Anne Waller and Mark Maxwell; March 12, Ekachai Jearakul; and April 24, Alvaro Pierri. All Segovia Series concerts will take place in the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall.

Northwestern’s fall opera production will feature three different views of love and marriage American-style, from the Wild West to 1950s suburbia. Directed by Michael M. Ehrman, “American Dreams: Three One-Act Operas,” Nov. 19-Nov. 22, includes works by Henry Mollicone, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein. The production will take place in the new Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center’s Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater.

VENUES

All programs listed below are open to the public. They will take place on the University’s Evanston campus at the Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive; David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room, 70 Arts Circle Drive; Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater, 70 Arts Circle Drive; Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; and Regenstein Recital Hall’s Master Class Room, 60 Arts Circle Drive, as noted. More information available online.

TICKETS

The Bienen School Ticket Office is located at the southeast entrance of 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 events.music.northwestern.edu. To order tickets, call 847-467-4000 or visit events.music.northwestern.edu.

SERIES BROCHURES/FURTHER INFORMATION

For series brochures or further information, call 847-491-5441 or email requests to events.music@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 events.music@northwestern.edu. 

NOVEMBER 2015 MUSIC EVENTS

The following events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

• Percussion Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Bienen School faculty member She-e Wu will direct the ensemble in an evening of eclectic rhythms. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, University Chorale, Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble and Anima Singers, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Donald Nally will conduct the combined forces of three Northwestern ensembles during a performance of two iconic contemporary works by winners of the Bienen School’s Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition.  The program will feature the Midwest premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s “Oltra Mar” and John Adams’ “On the Transmigration of Souls.” Both works were commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, the first as part of its Millennium Project and the latter as a response to the losses of Sept. 11, 2001. Tickets are $12 for the general public and $6 for students with valid IDs.

• Pianist Marilyn Nonken, 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, the Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Marilyn Nonken has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum and Le Poisson Rouge, a music venue and multimedia art cabaret. Her recent season highlights include performances of Hugues Dufourt’s “Erlkönig,” Claude Vivier’s “Shiraz” and Tristan Murail’s complete piano music, as well as performances of Messiaen’s “Visions de l’Amen.” She is director of piano studies and associate professor of music and music education at New York University’s Steinhardt School. This performance is focused on Morton Feldman’s spare, trance-like “Triadic Memories,” described by the composer as “the biggest butterfly in captivity.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

• Contemporary Music Ensemble, 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Benjamin Bolter and Alan Pierson will conduct a program of contemporary Irish works, including Ann Cleare’s “on magnetic fields,” excerpts from Ted Hearne’s “Katrina Ballads” and Donnacha Dennehy’s “Grá agus Bás.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Ensemble Dal Niente, 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Chicago-based contemporary music collective Ensemble Dal Niente challenges convention to create engaging and immersive performance experiences through flexible, repertoire-based instrumentation. In 2012 the group became the first-ever ensemble to receive the Kranichstein Music Prize at the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany. The ensemble has commissioned or premiered hundreds of works by composers Brian Ferneyhough, George Lewis, Kaija Saariaho, Marcos Balter, Deerhoof, Hans Thomalla, Lee Hyla and Jay Alan Yim. This program includes works by Kate Soper and Rick Burkhardt as well as music submitted by NUNC! participants. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Bienen Strings, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Victor Yampolsky will conduct a program of contemporary Russian works by Alfred Schnittke and Jakov Jakoulov, as well as music of Falik and Tchaikovsky. Featured soloist Michael Zaretsky is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and viola instructor at Boston University. He has collaborated with composer Jakoulov, and composer-conductor John Williams dedicated his Duo Concertante to Zaretsky. In the summer of 2010, he performed Williams’ Viola Concerto with the Peninsula Music Festival, led by Yampolsky. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Claire Chase, “Density 2036 - Part III,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Now in the third year of her 23-year project “Density 2036,” flutist Claire Chase continues her Bienen School residency with 2015 premieres by Jason Eckardt, Dai Fujikura, Pauline Oliveros, Nathan Davis and Francesca Verunelli. The goal of “Density 2036” is to commission a new body of flute repertoire leading up to the 100th anniversary of Edgard Varèse’s seminal 1936 solo flute work, “Density 21.5.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Mallory Thompson will conduct a pre-Thanksgiving program that includes Parker Gaims’ “March of the Wildcats,” Percy Grainger’s “Colonial Song,” Gordon Jacob’s Concerto for Bassoon and Karel Husa’s Concerto for Wind Ensemble. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Skyline Piano Artist Series,Ursula Oppens with Jerome Lowenthal, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Ursula Oppens, a four-time Grammy Award nominee and former Bienen School faculty member, has performed with many major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also has appeared with the Cassatt, JACK, Juilliard and Pacifica quartets. Her program features music from her new Cedille Records release, including a performance of Frederic Rzewski’s new work “Four Hands” with Jerome Lowenthal, as well as Elliott Carter’s “Night Fantasies” (Oppens gave its North American premiere at Northwestern) and Rzewski’s “The People United Will Never Be Defeated.” Skyline Piano Artist Series subscriptions are still available; call 847-467-4000 to order. Single tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• Women’s Chorus, 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. A variety of music written and arranged for treble voices will be conducted by Tyrone Clinton. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Baroque Music Ensemble, “Italian Enchantments,” 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall.  Conducted by Stephen Alltop, the ensemble will perform Italian works, including some of Vivaldi’s most stunning pieces: the Concerti Grossi in A Minor and D Minor, the cantata “In furore iustissimae irae,” and the “Concerto alla rustica.” Also featured is Francesco Geminiani’s instrumental ballet, “The Enchanted Forest.” Violinist David Douglass will be the soloist. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Jazz Small Ensembles, “Composition 801-- Student Originals,” 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, Regenstein Recital Hall. Victor Goines and Marlene Rosenberg will conduct a program of new compositions by Northwestern jazz students written specifically for this concert. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• University Singers, “Ways of Thanksgiving,” 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Albert Pinsonneault will conduct a program featuring John Taverner’s “Audivi vocueum de coelo,” John Dunstable’s “Veni Sancte Spiritus -- Veni Creator,” Handel’s “Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened” (Coronation Anthem No. 3), Matthew Harris’ “O Mistress Mine!” from “Shakespeare Songs,” Book III; Dominick Argento’s Sonnet No. LXIV; Cecil Effinger’s Four Pastorales; Gabriel Jackson’s “To Morning”; Jussi Chydenius’ “I Am the Great Sun” and Ēriks Ešenvalds’ “Long Road.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Matisse Trio, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Founded in 2004, the Matisse Trio has given master classes and performances throughout the country. Violinist Katie Wolfe is a member of the University of Iowa string faculty and has recorded for Newport Classics, Albany Records, and Centaur Records, including the first recording of a rediscovered Haydn sonata. Cellist Anthony Arnone, a faculty member at the University of Iowa and the Preucil School of Music, has collaborated with members of the Pro Arte, Cypress and Arianna quartets. Pianist and University of Minnesota faculty member Timothy Lovelace has performed on four continents, appearing on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert programs and at New York’s Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. The trio’s all-Brahms program includes a cello sonata, violin sonata and piano trio. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Gail Williams, horn; John Thorne, flute; Steven Cohen, clarinet, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Gail Williams has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and New World Symphony Orchestra. Former associate principal flute of the Houston Symphony and principal flute with the San Antonio Symphony, John Thorne began his career as a member of the inaugural season of the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas. Steven Cohen is the former principal clarinetist of the New Orleans Symphony (now the Louisiana Philharmonic) and principal clarinet each summer at North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center. Their recital includes music of Sigfrid Karg-Elert. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

• American Dreams: Three One-Act Operas, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater. Directed by Michael M. Ehrman, Northwestern’s fall opera will feature three different views of love and marriage American-style, from the Wild West to 1950s suburbia. Henry Mollicone’s “The Face on the Barroom Floor” tells two parallel stories of love and jealousy, set in the present day and the Old West. Barber’s “A Hand of Bridge” reveals the hidden dreams and desires of two couples playing the eponymous card game. Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti” depicts a day in the life of a young married couple longing for love and connection. Seating is limited for these first opera productions in the intimate new Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater, so purchase your tickets in advance. Robert McConnell will conduct members of the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra. All three operas will be performed in English. Tickets are $18 for the general public and $8 for students with valid IDs.

• Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Eduardo Fernández, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 concert, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Fernández has made an indelible mark on the guitar world as a performer, highly sought-after recording artist, composer, educator and researcher. Over the course of his career, he has toured the world and won several awards, most notably prizes at the Porto Alegre and Radio France competitions, and first prize at the Andrés Segovia Competition in Spain. Fernández’s 18 recordings with Decca have garnered acclaim from Stereo Review and The New York Times as “best of the year.” His program will feature works by Fernando Sor, Heitor Villa-Lobos and Luys de Narváez. Tickets are $30 for general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• Segovia Classical Guitar Series master class, Eduardo Fernández, 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, Regenstein Recital Hall. Fernández will conduct a master class for Bienen School guitar students. Admission is free. 

• Concert Band, 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Daniel J. Farris will conduct students from across the Northwestern campus in a concert of band standards. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Philharmonia, “Russian Masterpieces,” 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Robert G. Hasty will conduct the ensemble in a concert featuring Khachaturian’s “Gayane: Three Pieces,” Tchaikovsky’s “Capriccio Italien,” Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Russian Easter Overture.” Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Chamber Music Ensembles, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23, David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room. Top ensembles in the chamber music program will perform a variety of repertoire. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.

• Chamber Music Ensembles, 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30,David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room. Top ensembles in the chamber music program will perform a variety of repertoire. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid IDs.