Join us for three fabulous events
Cyberpairings • Electronic Music • February 9
Duo Cortona • new works for violin and mezzo-soprano • April 4
Axiom Brass • new music for brass quintet • May 23
Cyberpairings
February 9, 2024, 7:30 • Columbia College Chicago, Sherwood Recital Hall, 1312 S Michigan Ave, Chicago
Registration is not necessary. Admission is Free. Donations are encouraged.
Our 2024 Season opens with an array of compositions that build bridges between acoustic and musical sounds and even between art forms. Featuring the work of Canadian composer Kotoka Suzuki as well as her compatriot colleagues pianist Megumi Masaki, composer Brent Lee and visual artist Sigi Torinus. The concert also includes Chicago composers and artists.
Suzuki’s 2023 work Vista features ice as a sound element in addition to piano and video by Chicago video artist Antonia Contro. Kari Watson unites the human voice with modular synthesis; Shelby Lock digitally conjures images from actual nightmares, and Kyong Mee Choi achieves a thoughtful and present sensibility to integrating the violin into her unique sonic world. One thing these composers have in common, aside from their significant artistic breadth, is their distinct and tactile and exciting distinct aesthetic approaches to their art. These facets unify the concert’s diverse program.
Composers
- Kotoka Suzuki — Vista (2022) for piano, video and ice and Blue Rising (2019) for piano and transducers
- Brent Lee and Sigi Torinus — Always, Sideways (2023) for piano, live electronics and visuals
- Kyong Mee Choi — Flowering Dandelion (2020) for violin and electronics
- Kari Watson — utterance for modular synthesizer, video and synthesized voice
- Shelby Lock — PANDog audio/video
Performers
- Megumi Masaki, piano
- Brent Lee, digital processing
- Sigi Toriuus, visuals
- Sarah Plum, violin
- Kari Watson, modular synthesizer
Duo Cortona
April 4, 2024 • the Sanctuary at Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S Ashland
Duo Cortona is a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to the creation of works for its unique instrumentation: mezzo-soprano and violin. This ensemble explores 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. New pieces by Laura Schwendinger, Kathleen Ginther, Lawrence Axelrod and others.
Duo Cortona was founded at the Cortona Sessions for New Music by husband and wife team 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
Axiom Brass
May 23, 2024 • the Sanctuary at Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S Ashland
Chicago-based Axiom Brass designs concert experiences for audiences that stretch the imagination and expand sensibilities. 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. May’s repertoire will include quintets by Augusta Read Thomas, Valeria Gisel Valle Martinez (Chile), Vuma Levin (South Africa), Timothy Johnson, Amos Gillespie, Elizabeth Start, Timothy Dwight Edwards and the winner of our 2024 Composers Competition.