Northwestern Presents Array of Guest Artists This Spring

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University’s Evanston campus will be the site of an eclectic lineup of guest performances by world-renowned artists this spring. Upcoming programs will feature prize-winning pianist Andrew Tyson; the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition winning Dover Quartet; Metropolitan Opera tenor Matthew Polenzani; and classical guitarist Alvaro Pierri.

Also taking the stage in upcoming weeks will be Mnozil Brass, a witty brass group from Austria, who also vocalize during their stage antics; flutist Claire Chase and more than 100 Bienen School and Chicago area flutists who will perform a monumental work by Salvatore Sciarrino; Ensemble Linea, a creative contemporary collective of musicians founded in Strasbourg, France; Keyboard Conversations with pianist Jeffrey Siegel, who will present another installment of his “concert-with-commentary” series; and a program of classical keyboard works by the multi-international piano competition winning Cheng-Chow Trio.                                                                                         

Presented by the University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music, the events will be held at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, and the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts’ Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, as noted.

Spring 2016 Guest Artists/Ensembles 

• Pianist Andrew Tyson will continue the Bienen School’s Skyline Piano Artist Series at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, at the Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Tyson will perform the music of Scarlatti, Chopin and Ravel, as well as Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” The winner of Switzerland’s 2015 Geza Anda Competition and a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Tyson has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall and the Caramoor Festival. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• Special Event: The Austria-based Mnozil Brass will give a lecture Q&A and performance demonstration at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, at the Ryan Center’s Galvin Recital Hall. Their program will feature pieces from the ensemble’s current North American tour of their hit show “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Between pieces, the players will share stories of the ensemble’s origin and their process for programming and rehearsing, as well as answer questions from the audience. Mnozil Brass is known across the globe for their combination of virtuosity and theatrical wit. A brief video of the group is available online. Tickets are $15 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

• Claire Chase and Guests, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 16, at the Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Bienen School visiting artist Claire Chase will be joined on stage by more than 100 flutists, including three Bienen School graduate students, flutists from the People's Music School and Merit School of Music, members of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and additional Chicago-area flutists to perform Salvatore Sciarrino's monumental “Il cerchio tagliato dei suoni” (“Cutting the Circle of Sounds”). Chase participated in the work's U.S. premiere at the Guggenheim Museum in 2012 and led its critically acclaimed West Coast premiere in 2015 at UCLA's Schoenberg Hall. Marveling that the performance turned the concert hall into “an enormous lung” the Los Angeles Times declared that “it was unlike anything anyone had surely heard before or even ever imagined.” An internationally recognized flutist, new music advocate and musical entrepreneur, Chase is the only flutist to receive a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Ensemble Linea will perform a collection of contemporary music at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 18, at the Ryan Center’s Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. The group’s program includes Raphaël Cendo’s “Rokh I,” Aurélien Dumont’s “fiocchi di silenzio,” Marco Momi’s “Iconica,” Pascal Dusapin’s “Indeed” for trombone, Frédéric Durieux’s “etudes en alternance” 1, 2 and 3, and Yair Klartag’s new work composed for Ensemble Linea. Tickets for the April 18 event are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs. 

• Ensemble Linea returns to the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, to perform music by Bienen School composition students. Ensemble Linea is committed to democratizing contemporary music and aims to cover diverse perspectives, from musical theater to electronic music and from Western European music to Asian and American repertoire. Admission is free for the April 21 event. 

• Alvaro Pierri will conclude this season’s Segovia Classical Guitar Series with works by da Milano, Sor, Ginastera, Torroba, Egberto Gismonti and Barrios at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Pierri began winning prizes in international guitar competitions at the age of 11, including top prizes in the Buenos Aires, Porto Alegre and Radio France competitions. He is a frequent performer at major concert halls in Europe, North and South America and Asia. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs.

• The Dover Quartet -- the Bienen School’s quartet-in-residence -- will perform works by several composers at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, at Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. The quartet will perform Wolf’s “Italian Serenade,” Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 (“Intimate Letters”) and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Major. Since winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2013, the Dover Quartet -- comprised of violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt and cellist Camden Shaw -- has performed throughout Canada, South America, Europe and the United States. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs. Winter Chamber Music Festival subscribers will receive a 20 percent discount.

• Metropolitan Opera star Matthew Polenzani will perform Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. Polenzani will be accompanied by Scottish pianist and Bienen School faculty member and vocal coach Alan Darling. Polenzani’s prestigious honors include the 2004 Richard Tucker Award and the Metropolitan Opera’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award. His 2015-16 season highlights include appearances in “Don Giovanni” at Opéra national de Paris, “Werther” in Munich and Vienna, and “Les pêcheurs de perles” and “Roberto Devereux” at the Met. Tickets for the performance are $25 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs. 

• Polenzani will return to the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall for a Tichio Vocal Master Class at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 1. Tickets for the master class are $10 for the general public and $5 for students with valid IDs.

• Pianist Jeffrey Siegel will perform his Keyboard Conversations program “Musical Pictures” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Siegel’s program includes works by Sibelius and Rachmaninoff, as well as Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” His Keyboard Conversations series features “concerts with commentary” that provide background on the works played and conclude with a brief Q&A session. Aside from these concerts, Siegel has performed as a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and other prestigious ensembles. Tickets are $22 for the general public and $16 for students with valid IDs. 

• The Cheng-Chow Trio will conclude the 2015-16 inaugural season of the Bienen School’s Skyline Piano Artist Series at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall. The trio is comprised of Bienen School faculty member Alan Chow, associate professor of piano, and Oberlin Conservatory faculty members Angela Cheng and Alvin Chow. All three pianists perform worldwide as recitalists and concerto soloists and have won numerous international awards. The program will feature music for four to six hands at one or two pianos. Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with valid IDs. 

For more information on these and any other events, 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.