Music written by women and performed by women

Chicago Composers’ Consortium is delighted to partner once again with Chicago’s own Artemisia Vocal Ensemble in a concert of new works by Chicago composers for unaccompanied womens’ voices, presented at the exquisite Horatio N. May Chapel – a jewel-like performance space in Ravenswood. This concert, planned for 2021 but never presented live due to the pandemic, has finally been rescheduled for its live performance premiere on May 10th: Music by the women of Chicago Composers’ Consortium, performed by the women of Artemisia Ensemble.  Hope you can join us in this architectural and acoustical gem for a unique musical event!

May 10, 2025, 7:00 pm
Horatio N. May Chapel
Rosehill Cemetery
5800 N. Ravenswood
Chicago, Illinois

find it on google maps

Tickets: $30 / $10 students

Artemisia
Kaitlin Foley, soprano
Alexandra Olsavsky, soprano
Diano Lawrence, mezzo-soprano
Guest Artist, Cassidy Smith, mezzo-soprano

Program
ELIZABETH START Uncertain Futures (2021)
KYONG MEE CHOI  Pale Courage (2021)
LAURA SCHWENDINGER  STARS, All those who love you (2021)
KATHLEEN GINTHER  Give Sorrow Words (2021)
MARTHA HORST  Hand Games (2021)

Thanks to our hard-working volunteers, composers, our audience and the the amazing performers!

This was a remarkable performance of an incredibly varied program. Surely, one of the best new music concerts of the year in Chicago, and well attended.

Bravo!

YarnWire

New Music for 2 Pianos & 2 Percussion

April 5, 2025, 7:30 pm
PianoForte Chicago
1335 South Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL

Tickets through PianoForte Chicago: $25/$5

Chicago Composers’ Consortium is thrilled to welcome Yarn/Wire, a phenomenal New York quartet of two pianists and two percussionists, in a program of World Premieres written expressly for Yarn/Wire. Music of five Chicago composers plus the Chicago premiere of Steve Reich’s iconic ‘Quartet’, which Reich calls “one of the more complex I have composed.”

Program:

Ascensions – Timothy Dwight Edwards *

‘After Clouds,…’ – Elizabeth Start *

Au revoir a soi – Timothy Ernest Johnson *

Game of Fibs – Amos Gillespie *

Velocities – K.C. Ginther *

Quartet – Steve Reich (Chicago premiere)

* world premiere

Mark your calendars for two upcoming C3 events this Spring!

Chicago Composers’ Consortium and Yarn/Wire

present

New Music for 2 Pianos & 2 Percussion

April 5, 2025, 7:30 pm
PianoForte Chicago
1335 South Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL

C3 is thrilled to welcome Yarn/Wire, the acclaimed New York-based quartet (pianists Laura Barger and Julia Den Boer, percussionists Russell Greenberg and Sae Hashimoto) in a program of new music for 2 pianos, 2 percussion at the elegant PianoForte Chicago in the South Loop. The program will feature music of five Chicago composers plus the Chicago premiere of Steve Reich’s iconic ‘Quartet’, which Reich calls “one of the more complex I have composed.”

Tickets: $25/$5

Program:
Ascensions – Timothy Dwight Edwards *
‘After Clouds,…’ – Elizabeth Start *
Au revoir a soi – Timothy Ernest Johnson *
Game of Fibs – Amos Gillespie *
Velocities - K.C. Ginther *
Quartet – Steve Reich (Chicago premiere)

* world premiere

Yarn/Wire is a NYC-based piano and percussion quartet dedicated to energetic and insightful performances of today’s most adventurous music, and to the promotion of creative, meaningful live musical experiences in the US and abroad. Yarn/Wire started making music together in 2005, focused from the beginning on creating music in partnership with composers, sound artists, noise musicians and more people around the globe who inspired them. Now, some 18 years later, Yarn/Wire is still guided by the same principles of openness, curiosity, and experimentation. New York Classical Review writes: “Yarn/Wire may well be the most important new music ensemble on the scene today.”

More info on our 2025 Season page.

Chicago Composers’ Consortium and Artemisia Vocal Ensemble

present

Les Voix du Femmes

May 10, 2025, 7:00 pm
Horatio N. May Chapel
Rosehill Cemetery
5800 N. Ravenswood
Chicago, Illinois

We’re delighted to partner once again with Chicago’s Artemisia Vocal Ensemble in a concert of new works by Chicago composers, presented at the intimate and exquisite Horatio N. May Chapel in Ravenswood. This concert, planned for 2021 but never presented live due to the pandemic, has finally been rescheduled for its live performance premiere. Hope you can join us in this architectural and acoustical gem for a unique musical event!

Tickets: $25/$5

Chicago Composers Consortium with Axiom Brass
May 23, 2024 
7:30 pm

The Sanctuary at Epiphany Center for the Arts
201 S Ashland Ave
Chicago, Illinois
312-421-4600
Tickets: $20 / $10 students

https://epiphanychi.com/events/chicago-composers-consortium-presents-brassworks-c3-with-axiom-brass/

Please join C3 and Chicago’s phenomenal Axiom Brass for a concert of new music for brass quintet! Axiom brings a fresh batch of international world premieres from Vancouver back to Chicago for this concert, along with quintets by Amos Gillespie, Timothy Johnson, Elizabeth Start and Augusta Read Thomas, plus the winning quintet from the 2024 C3 Composition Competition by Maxwell Franko.

Axiom Brass

Dorival Puccini, Jr., trumpet

Christopher Scanlon, trumpet

Alex Laskey, horn

Corey Sansolo, trombone

Serena Voltz, tuba

Program 

KEVIN DAY, Fantasia III for Brass Quintet (2021)

AMOS BILLESPIE, People in the Park (2021)

AUGUSTA READ THOMAS, Aura Tenebris (Radiant Darkness) (2024)

VALERIA GISEL VALLE MARTINEZ, Krypos 29, Red Metal (2024)

TIMOTHY ERNEST JOHNSON, Insuppressible (2024)

EVAN WILLIAMS, Lux Aeterna (2013)

MAXWELL FRANKO, A Light Shining in Darness: lamplight (2020)

ELIZABETH J. START, Somewhere Above Their Heads (2024)

VUMA LEVIN, Platinum (2023)

Described as “exceptional ambassadors for classical music” and “innovative programmers”, Chicago-based Axiom Brass designs concert experiences for audiences that stretch the imagination and expand sensibilities. Their concert programs regularly pair original works by composers such as Augusta Read Thomas, George Walker, and Joan Tower with early musical translations by Barbara Strozzi, Claudia Francesca Rusca, Leonora Duarte, and rousing tangos by Astor Piazzolla. As strong advocates for the creation and performance of “living music”, the ensemble actively engages with their audiences to showcase the importance of performing the music of living composers. Axiom has presented concerts all over the world, including the Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Gallo Center for the Arts in California, Shenzhen Concert Hall in China, and Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis in Portugal.

The only brass ensemble to ever win the Fischoff Educator Award, Axiom creates custom- tailored workshops and residency activities for presenters and their communities. The group’s commitment to education and their interactive teaching style has led to residencies at the Grand Tetons Music Festival and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, as well as being featured as ensemble-in-residence for the National Brass Symposium. Axiom has presented concerts all over the world, including Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, Gallo Center for the Arts in California, Shenzhen Concert Hall in China, and Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis in Portugal.

2024 marks the premiere of the Heavy Metal Suite, a multi-year collaborative concert with the Future Minerals Working Group at the University of British Columbia, featuring eight internationally acclaimed composers from seven different countries around the globe. This trans-disciplinary partnership provides a new perspective about the foundational elements needed to support society’s renewable energy transition, with hopes that it will open a broad global conversation and inspire listeners to think differently about the future of Earth’s mineral resources. axiombrass.com

Chicago Composers Consortium with Duo Cortona
April 4, 2024 
7:30 pm

The Sanctuary at Epiphany Center for the Arts
201 S Ashland Ave
Chicago, Illinois
312-421-4600
Tickets: $20 / $10 students

On April 4, the collaboration between Chicago Composers’ Consortium and the international ensemble Duo Cortona comes to fruition with the Chicago debut of Duo Cortona, the husband and wife team of violinist Ari Streisfeld (founding member, Jack Quartet) and mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway (“…the highlight of the concert”, New York Times).

Come join us for a program of new music for voice and violin by composers Lawrence Axelrod, Kathleen Ginther, Eric Moe, Laura Schwendinger and Annika K. Socolofsky.

Duo Cortona is a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of works for its unique instrumentation: mezzo-soprano and violin, and to exploring new sounds and possibilities for its intimate, expressive, and vital combination. Duo Cortona works to establish a new and thus far unexplored repertoire, pursuing the endless possibilities of this union, and creating opportunities for both established and emerging composers through commissions, competitions, educational workshops, university residencies, and major concert performances.

Duo Cortona was founded at the Cortona Sessions for New Music by Ari Streisfeld and Rachel Calloway. Recent and upcoming performances include the Southern Exposure Series for New Music, East Carolina New Music Initiative, University of Wisconsin, College of Charleston, New Music New College, the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Resonant Bodies Festival, The Stone, the SONiC Festival, New Music on the Point, and Contemporary Undercurrent of Song Project (Princeton). duocortona.com

Chicago Composers’ Consortium (C3) promotes the creation and performance of new music with a primary focus on composers and musicians from the Chicago area and the Midwest. As a presenter of contemporary music in Chicago for over thirty years, C3 has consistently found new ways to introduce audiences to what is new and exciting in music and to engage, educate and involve the community in an ongoing relationship of musical exploration.

What sets C3 apart from other contemporary music organizations is a history of innovative composer-generated collaborative projects and a commitment to adventurous programming, including the presentation of works composers deserving of a larger audience. c3composers.org

PROGRAM:

Shall I Compare thee to a summer’s Day
A Cat’s Cradle and other Catly Musings by Laura Schwendinger

Epousailles  by Kathleen Ginther

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Lawrence Axelrod

The Frontierswomen by Eric Moe, Mikko Harvey, poet

It is what it is
Sticks and Stones
Who am I to Say? by Annika K. Socolofsky

And don’t miss our May 23 concert with Axiom Brass!

7:30 pm. Sherwood, Columbia College Chicago • 1312 S Michigan Ave in Chicago
Free admission, no registration necessary • donation suggested
Street parking on S Michigan Ave

Join us in the South Loop this Friday, February 9, 7:30 pm to hear the music of Kotoka Suzuki, Kyong Mee Choi, Brent Lee, Shelby Lock and Kari Watson and the video work of Sigi Torinus and Antonia Contro as Chicago Composers’ Consortium kicks off its 2024 Season with Cyberpairings, a concert of works that pair live performance with electronic music — sound with visual art.

Program

Vista (2022) for piano, video and ice by Kotoka Suzuki — video by Antonia Contro — animation by Joseph Merideth — pianist Megumi Masaki
Always, Sideways (2023) for piano, live electronics and visuals by composer Brent Lee and visual artist Sigi Torinus — pianist Megumi Masaki
Flowering Dandelion (2020) for violin and electronics by Kyong Mee Choi — violinist, Sarah Plum
utterance (2024) for modular synthesizer, video and synthesized voice by Kari Watson
PANDog (2022) audio/video by Shelby Lock
Blue Rising (2019) for piano and transducers by Kotoka Suzuki — pianist Megumi Masaki

Continue Reading →

Our 2024 Season

For details about our concerts: Cyberpairings, Duo Cortona and Axiom Brass, see our 2024 season page.

Axiom Brass Competition for Brass Quintet – Deadline Extended

For our May 23 concert, the Chicago Composers’ Consortium seeks works for brass quintet by composers of any age or nationality whose work is not widely known. Compositions may have been previously performed. Our intent is to promote the work of composers whose work is not widely known. Details here.

The deadline has been extended to February 1, 2024.

What a great night! Thank you so much to Black Oak Ensemble and Mary Stolper for their spectacular performances on Thursday night! And congratulations to C3 composers on the World Premieres of their terrific new works!

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!

Two titans of Chicago chamber music are about to join forces for a one-performance-only concert on May 18th!

Join us at the Sanctuary at Epiphany Center for the Arts as Chicago Composers’ Consortium presents the exciting Black Oak Ensemble (violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli, cellist David Cunliffe) in a unique collaboration with legendary Chicago flutist Mary Stolper for a concert of new music for string trio and flute.

Works include ‘East Wind’ by Chicago’s world-renowned Shulamit Ran plus premieres by C3 composers Martha Horst, Timothy Dwight Edwards, Elizabeth Start, Kathleen Ginther, Laura Schwendinger, and Amos Gillespie.

Hope you can make it!

Thursday, May 18, 2023

Concert at 7:00 pm
Doors open at 5:00 for Golden Hour
Epiphany Center For The Arts: The Sanctuary
201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607

AGE REQUIREMENT: Must be 21+

Tickets: $20 – General Admission | $10 – Student | Buy Tickets! * | Event Page: Epiphany Center For The Arts *

* ‘Service charges apply to ALL ticket purchases (online and box office)’ – Credit card only at door.

____________________________

Praised for its “insightful, committed, and masterful performances” (Classics Today) and “fierce eloquence” (London Times), Chicago’s Black Oak Ensemble is one of the most innovating and exciting chamber ensembles on the international stage. As passionate advocates of new works, Black Oak has commissioned and premiered string trios from composers such as Michael Nyman, David Ludwig, Mischa Zupko, and Conrad Tao. Their debut album, “Silenced Voices”, brings to light astonishing music written in concentration camps by Jewish composers, most of whom lost their lives in the Holocaust. Black Oak’s latest CD release, “Avant l’orage,” a double album of French string trios, reached #1 in the Billboard Classical Charts in July 2022 and was featured as Album of the week on Symphony Hall Sirius XM.

Flutist Mary Stolper is a frequent soloist and chamber music performer who has made guest appearances throughout the United States and Europe. She is well known to Chicago audiences as Principal Flute of the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque and Fulcrum Point and has performed across Europe with the Chicago Symphony, the Czech National Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta. A tireless champion of contemporary music for the flute, Ms. Stolper has premiered and recorded new works by dozens of American composers, including Chicago’s Shulamit Ran, whose ‘East Wind’ for flute solo will be featured on tonight’s program.

Chicago Composer’s Consortium has produced hundreds of concerts and events in Chicago and throughout the Midwest, presenting the works of emerging and established composers alike and partnering with other musicians and ensembles in the creation of unique musical events. C3 has a rich history of innovative composer-generated collaborative projects and a commitment to adventurous programming, including the presentation of works by little known and emerging composers deserving of a larger audience. As a presenter of contemporary American music for almost thirty-five years, C3 has consistently found new ways to introduce its audience to what is new and exciting in music and to engage the community in an ongoing relationship of musical exploration.