Spektral Quartet’s final Chicago performance, celebrating its 12-year history with a party of epic proportions.
CLICK HERE FOR THE NO REGRETS! EVENT PAGE
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
As we approach the concluding months of our final season together, we welcome back three of our earliest collaborators – composer Eliza Brown and Scrag Mountain Music co-founders Mary Bonhag (soprano) and Evan Premo (composer, bass) – for a presentation of three enchanting works that trace the cyclic nature of existence…and the stories we tell in an attempt to find our bearing.
IN-PERSON TICKETS ARE SOLD-OUT
But you can REGISTER for the free livestream!
It might be said that we enter the planetarium for the same reason we enter the concert hall: to be brought in touch with the sublime and the unknown. In both places we make contact with tangible reality and imagined panoramas, and in both places our sense of perspective is expanded exponentially. Expect ENIGMA to do exactly that, and strap in for the marquee event of our 2019/20 season at Chicago’s stunning Adler Planetarium.
It might be said that we enter the planetarium for the same reason we enter the concert hall: to be brought in touch with the sublime and the unknown. In both places we make contact with tangible reality and imagined panoramas, and in both places our sense of perspective is expanded exponentially. Expect ENIGMA to do exactly that, and strap in for the marquee event of our 2019/20 season at Chicago’s stunning Adler Planetarium.
It might be said that we enter the planetarium for the same reason we enter the concert hall: to be brought in touch with the sublime and the unknown. In both places we make contact with tangible reality and imagined panoramas, and in both places our sense of perspective is expanded exponentially. Expect ENIGMA to do exactly that, and strap in for the marquee event of our 2019/20 season at Chicago’s stunning Adler Planetarium.
It might be said that we enter the planetarium for the same reason we enter the concert hall: to be brought in touch with the sublime and the unknown. In both places we make contact with tangible reality and imagined panoramas, and in both places our sense of perspective is expanded exponentially. Expect ENIGMA to do exactly that, and strap in for the marquee event of our 2019/20 season at Chicago’s stunning Adler Planetarium.
Chicago is lucky to call the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands one of its own, and we are tenacious in our admiration for his artistry and ingenuity. So when the Chicago Composers’ Consortium approached us about a celebration of – and tribute to – his music, we eagerly jumped on board. But the real coup is that the creatives behind C3 are writing us 9 brand-new works, all inspired by – or actively mining – elements of Bernard’s new quartet.
We fell for our recent commission from Samuel Adams…hard. It’s energizing and hypnotic and unexpected, and this February, we’re going to bring Sam up on stage with us and unearth what this phenomenal string quartet is all about.
Current is the result of a friendship that deepened during Sam’s tenure as composer-in-residence for our hometown band, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Perhaps the most unusual element of It is that it employs snare drums, but not in the way you might expect.
Buy Tickets for in-person show
Stream Live (donations encouraged)
For this episode of Once More, With Feeling!, we’ve invited the eminently charming Julliard professor and Ainsi la nuit specialist Kendall Briggs to lead our excavation of this extraordinary work. We’ll perform a substantial excerpt at the beginning of the show before inviting Professor Briggs to illuminate our way through the labyrinth. No previous knowledge of this piece, string quartets, or even western classical music is necessary.
Buy Tickets for in-person show
Stream Live (donations encouraged)
We’re back at the Chicago Humanities Festival for an unconventional, ecologically-driven collaboration with acclaimed scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer at Chicago’s historic Café Brauer!
A single piece of music comprises the performance: Plain, Air, composed by Guggenheim fellow Tonia Ko and commissioned by Chamber Music America for us. Created in partnership with Chicago-based land conservation organization Openlands, Plain, Air is both a celebration of – and meditation on – Chicago’s dynamic lakeshore ecology.
When considering possible collaborators for this Humanities Festival appearance, one name quickly surfaced at the top of our list. An enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and author of the New York Times best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer is celebrated internationally for her inviting and evocative perspective on humans’ reciprocal relationship with their environment.
Did you miss our Chicago debut of Nathalie Joachim’s Fanm d’Ayiti? Lucky for you, no less than the Harris Theater is mounting this unforgettable show featuring Nathalie’s deft storytelling and unique sonic concoction of voice, flute, string quartet, recorded interviews, field recordings, and electronics.
*Due to necessary precautions taken by the presenter regarding the COVID-19 virus, we are sorry to report that this concert has been cancelled*
It might be said that we enter the planetarium for the same reason we enter the concert hall: to be brought in touch with the sublime and the unknown. In both places we make contact with tangible reality and imagined panoramas, and in both places our sense of perspective is expanded exponentially. Expect ENIGMA to do exactly that, and strap in for the marquee event of our 2019/20 season at Chicago’s stunning Adler Planetarium.
This program will be repeated on Friday, June 12. See our calendar for details.
Each of us in Spektral followed a different path into this improbable life as chamber musicians, but one thing we all share is the support from – and unshakable love of – our families. So, as we approach Spektral’s first decade as an ensemble, we figured it was high time you met our nearest and dearest. Clara comes from a musical family and for this show, you’re in for the double-whammy treat of both her mom and dad, violinist James Lyon and cellist Carol Lyon. Maeve’s dad, Alan Feinberg, is noted for giving over 300 premieres by the likes of John Adams, Milton Babbitt, and Steve Reich (you know, no big whoop), so obviously we’re flying him in for this one. Doyle is one of three viola-playing siblings, so strap in for (or at least don’t be scared off by) some viola magic with Rose Armbrust Griffin. And Russ’s mom, piano pedagogue Jill Johnson is at least partially, well maybe mostly, to blame for his deep love of music. Logically she’ll be on hand to duo with him, and to remind him that he doesn’t call often enough.
This concert is FREE and open to the public
*Due to necessary precautions taken by the presenter regarding the COVID-19 virus, we are sorry to report that this concert has been cancelled*
Chicago is lucky to call the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Bernard Rands one of its own, and we are tenacious in our admiration for his artistry and ingenuity. So when the Chicago Composers’ Consortium approached us about a celebration of – and tribute to – his music, we eagerly jumped on board. But the real coup is that the creatives behind C3 are writing us 9 brand-new works, all inspired by – or actively mining – elements of Bernard’s new quartet.
*Due to necessary precautions taken by the presenter regarding the COVID-19 virus, we are sorry to report that this concert has been cancelled*
We’re obsessed with dissolving barriers to entry for new listeners – barriers which seem to cling to classical music like magnets in a super-glue fight – and perhaps no Spektral collaborator embodies that spirit more unflinchingly, or more entertainingly, than Alex Temple. This is a composer unimpressed by accepted musical hierarchies, and one as likely to be riffing on David Lynch as Brahms. We are lucky enough to have come up around the same time as Alex, and when she approached us about writing a piece for us and singer-songwriter Julia Holter, we knew this was going to be a stand-out project.
We’re hooked on composer Lisa R. Coons and choreographer/director Mark DeChiazza because they are risk-takers…but also because The Space Between is a collaboration three years in the making.
This project has us venturing into uncharted territory: a space in which not only our sound, but our bodies and voices interact. One in which we’re not confined by chairs or stands, and the edges of the stage are permeable. Moments of tenderness, solitude, conflict, virtuosity, and discovery abound in this theatrical work – and born from these physical gestures, the sonic landscape spans from the crunch of pure noise to the rapture of ethereal beauty.
We are certainly not alone in our affection and admiration for composer Shulamit Ran, whose illustrious career includes a kind of unofficial deanship of the Chicago new-music community. Despite a Pulitzer Prize win and a list of commissions that reads like a who’s-who of the world’s top orchestras, Shulamit’s generosity as a collaborator – regardless of an ensemble’s age or station – is peerless. Every time we have the good fortune to work with her, we’re reminded of just how effortlessly she walks the line between rigor and encouragement.
Confront your sense of place through the spellbinding music of three exceptional composers.
We feature scores by three of our favorite composers for this enticing episode of our UChicago residency. Shulamit Ran’s virtuosic String Quartet No. 2, “Vistas,” Kotoka Suzuki’s Minyo, and the concert version of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Enigma provide the sonic escapades for this excursion into landscapes both real and imagined.
This concert is FREE and open to the public
We’ve been fans of flutist/singer/composer Nathalie Joachim for ages, but it just so happens that our first collaboration materialized for a project in which she is investigating her Haitian heritage in the most breathtaking way. Through a network of charming in-person interviews, field recordings, and nimble new arrangements of original songs, Nathalie assembles a mesmerizing sonic exhibition of the (largely) unheralded female singers of Haiti. With her grandmother’s voice as the leaping-off point, Fanm d’Ayiti (“Women of Haiti”) celebrates powerful women – in revolution, on stage, or in the home – blending electronics, live recordings, a live string quartet (hi!), and Nathalie’s own voice in an irrepressible and captivating melange.
One reason we are enamored with composer LJ White is that his Zin Zin Zin was one of our breakout new-music pieces, with this feverish, Mos Def-inspired number eventually included on our debut album, Chambers. Because of his borderless approach to music, LJ was our first choice when we got it in our collective head to commission a cover of perhaps the most notorious of all cult classics: The Shaggs’ 1969 head-spinner, My Pal Foot Foot. It’s music so seemingly disorganized that it reaches a new dimension entirely.
PROGRAM
Kotoka Suzuki – Minyo
Franz Schubert – Quartet in A Minor “Rosamunde”
5:00pm — Doors Open
5:15pm — Pre-Concert Conversations
5:45pm — 30-Minute Concert
This concert is FREE and open to the public
We like to close our Chicago concert seasons with a bang: hiring a dance instructor to teach everyone The Hustle at the end of a movement-based show, for example, or filling the hall with Spektral Quartet-branded beach balls at the conclusion of a yacht-rock themed evening…you get the idea.
In the summer of 2017, we landed a plum residency at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. “Plum,” in the sense of phenomenal cuisine and ancient sites. We were so lit up by composer Christopher Trapani’s music that we’ve been scheming for a way to play it ever since. We are all smiles to report that we’re bringing him to Chicago this spring to introduce him to you, and to present you with the world premiere of his Isolario: Book 2. The second chapter in a series, so to speak, Isolario captures the essence of his travels to far-flung islands by way of electronics, the composer’s own field recordings, and prepared instruments (think aluminum foil tucked around our strings, for instance).
Salons are stimulating affairs in which artists of diverse disciplines gather to showcase and expound on their work – and this season, the GRAMMY-nominated Spektral Quartet aims to catapult the best of what the salon has to offer into the 21st century.
In partnership with esteemed Chicago-based artist and organizer Theaster Gates, Spektral will spotlight some of the city’s most charismatic creatives in music, poetry, dance, and visual art in an environment that draws voices and traditions into dynamic conversation with one another.
We are dumbfounded to announce that we will be performing on a Giovanni Granchino violin (1693), a Giorgio Serafin violin (1750), a Matteo Goffriller viola (1727), and a Giuseppe Guarneri cello (1715) for this concert – thanks to the generosity of Bein & Fushi. Our board member, Joe Bein, will open the show with a brief introduction to these superb instruments, and you can read more about this extraordinary loan over on our Blog.
In indie rock and metal, there is an old trope amongst uppity fans that goes something like, “I prefer their earlier work,” but when it comes to Beethoven, devotees largely seem to sway toward the late quartets. The good news is that no one has to choose, but for 2018/19, we’re making our first foray into Ludwig van’s final composition, the enigmatic String Quartet Op. 135.
This concert is FREE and open to the public
Welcome to Spektral's neighborhood!
What if a concert was an opportunity to ignite the body as well as the mind – a chance to work with your hands rather than just folding them in your lap? For this interactive Close Encounters show, we'll provide the musical inspiration as you discover this ancient art form, with guidance provided by the Chicago Mosaic School's master teachers. Be creative alongside us – and exit with your own piece for future archaeologists to uncover.
The Spektral Quartet, twice Grammy-nominated musicians, present an interactive program of classical music for children and their families. Come hear the wonderful musical sounds of Beethoven through the classical music of today as performed by the Chicago Tribune’s 2017 Chicagoans of the Year.
Ages 0-10 with their families. Registration is required. Space is limited.
Ask your librarian
or visit chipublib.org
for more information.
Chicago is an unparalleled domain for composers honing their voice, and our ongoing residency at the University of Chicago continues to foster friendships and incubate partnerships that thrive to this day, drawing together the mutually essential communities of composers, performers, and collaborators. For this stylistically diverse concert, each combination of Spektral +1 (composer), Plus One (collaborator) creates a potent new cocktail of energetic and sonic possibilities.
How would your day be enhanced if it began with sublime music, surrounded by a community of fellow arts lovers? Join us for an inspiring musical experience and revel in sunrise with a concert that inspires meditation, inquiry, and a deeper sense of togetherness, with stunning Lake Michigan as your backdrop. We’ll provide the top-shelf coffee and pastries, and after immersing ourselves in sumptuous morning music, we’ll walk out onto the shoreline together to greet the sun.
PROGRAM
Vocal meditation (led by the composer) Charmaine Lee
Selections from String Quartet in F major Maurice Ravel
Sunrise improvisation Spektral Quartet
