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Northwestern University Music in March

Bienen School schedule of pre- and post-spring break concerts
March 2, 2016 | By Judy Moore
  • James Giles March 8 Skyline Piano Artist Series recital at Galvin Recital Hall
  • Vocal master class by Susanna Phillips and flute master class by Mary Kay Fink
  • Segovia Classical Guitar Series March 12 concert features Thailand’s Ekachai Jearakul

EVANSTON, Ill. --- With spring just weeks away, romance is in the air this March at two of the Northwestern University music venues.

The Philharmonia’s March 6 “Love and Romance” program will feature Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet” Overture-Fantasy and Howard Hanson’s “Romantic” symphony. The University Singers’ March 6 “Eat, Pray, Love” concert ends with a romance and a circus in Lionel Daunais’ “Figures de danse,” and pianist James Giles’ March 8 Skyline Piano Artist Series concert celebrates the romantic era with works by Schubert, Liszt and Rachmaninoff.

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, they are among the  March events, including appearances by leading guest artists, Bienen School faculty members and student vocal and instrumental ensembles.

Other highlights include a March 7 vocal master class led by lyric soprano Susanna Phillips, who received the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award; a March 8 flute master class by Mary Kay Fink, a former member of the New Jersey and Madison Symphony orchestras and New York Philharmonic; and a March 12 Segovia Classical Guitar Series recital by Ekachai Jearakul.

Northwestern University’s spring break begins at 6 p.m. Friday, March 18. Classes will resume Tuesday, March 29.

VENUES 

All March programs listed below are open to the public. They will take place on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus at the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts’ Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, and David and Carol McClintock Choral and Recital Room, 70 Arts Circle Drive; Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Regenstein Recital Hall’s Master Class Room, 60 Arts Circle Drive; and Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, 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 concertsatbienen.org. To order tickets, call 847-467-4000 or visit concertsatbienen.org. 

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. 

MARCH 2016 MUSIC EVENTS

  • Susanna Phillips Vocal Master Class, 7 p.m. Monday, March 7, Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010 Beverly Sills Artist Award, soprano Susanna Phillips has established herself as one of today’s most sought-after vocalists. During the 2014-15 season she returned to New York’s Metropolitan Opera to star as Antonia in “Les contes d’Hoffmann,” in addition to appearances as the Countess in a Lisbon production of “Le nozze di Figaro” and the title role in Handel’s “Agrippina” with Boston Baroque. Her orchestral engagements included a performance of Fauré’s Requiem with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and a return to the San Francisco Symphony for Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Tickets are $10 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 
  • Skyline Piano Artist Series: James Giles, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall.James Giles, associate professor of piano and coordinator of the Bienen School of Music’s piano program, is a frequent performer in the musical capitals of America, Europe and Asia. Giles has given acclaimed recitals at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Paris’ Salle Cortot, London’s Purcell Room, Warsaw’s Chopin Academy and London’s Wigmore Hall, where a critic hailed his performance as “sheerly inspired.” Giles has commissioned and premiered works by William Bolcom, C. Curtis-Smith, Stephen Hough, Lowell Liebermann, Augusta Read Thomas, Ned Rorem, Earl Wild and James Wintle. A winner of the American Pianists Association Fellowship and the New Orleans International Piano Competition, he recently recorded with Russia’s St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic and toured northern England. His other 2015-16 engagements include recitals in New York, Miami and other cities in America and Europe. Giles’ program celebrates the romantic era with works by Schubert and Rachmaninoff, as well as the monumental Liszt Sonata. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.
  • Contemporary Music Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10, Ryan Center’s Shirley Welsh Ryan Opera Theater. Conducted by Bienen School faculty member Alan Pierson and graduate student Vincent Povazsay, the concert will feature members of Ensemble Dal Niente. Works on the program include Lutoslawski’s “Chain 1” and Georg Friedrich Haas’ “In Vain.” Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. Join us for a free musical presentation and talk prior to this concert at 6:30 p.m. at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive. The pre-concert event at the Block will feature international cello improviser Deborah Walker, who will present several works from Charlotte Moorman’s repertoire, including ‘Per Arco,’ which Walker adapted by studying photographs and rare footage from the Charlotte Moorman Archive. In addition, Block Museum curator Corinne Granof will discuss Moorman's “Bomb Cello” (c. 1965), an instrument fashioned from a military practice bomb. Learn more. The Block Museum’s main gallery exhibition, “A Feast of Astonishments: Charlotte Moorman and the Avant-Garde, 1960s-1980s,” is on view through July 17. The Block program is presented in partnership with the Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music.
  • Segovia Classical Guitar Series, Ekachai Jearakul, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 12, Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall.Ekachai Jearakul is considered one of the most outstanding classical guitarists on today's international scene. In addition to his 2014 win in the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, he has received 12 first prizes at competitions in Europe, Asia and North America. Jearakul has appeared with the Buffalo Philharmonic and orchestras across the globe, including Thailand, the Ukraine and South Korea. His program will include works by Leo Brouwer, Luigi Legnani, Johann Mertz and more. Tickets are $30 for general public and $10 for students with valid ID.
  • Gail Williams, horn, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Gail Williams, Bienen School professor of horn, is principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. She was previously a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra. Williams has appeared as a soloist with the CSO, the San Antonio Symphony and the New World Symphony Orchestra, among others, and her chamber music appearances include collaborations with the Vermeer Quartet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Her program features sonatas by Bowen and Hindemith, as well as a work for horn ensemble. Pianist Kay Kim will be the featured soloist. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.  

For more information, call the Bienen School of Music Concert Management Office at 847- 491-5441 or visit concertsatbienen.org. To order tickets, call the Bienen School Ticket Office at 847-467-4000 or visit concertsatbienen.org.  

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