Jay Pike and Sixto Franco, Viola Duo
2017-10-21 19:30 - 20:30 UTC | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Program:
Re-tuning, by Ann Southam
Duet for two violas, by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Mechanics, for two violas, by Sixto Franco
Lament, for two violas, by Frank Bridge
Jay Pike studied viola in his home state at the University of Montana, and later at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He has performed with many ensembles in the Chicago area including Chicago Opera Theatre, the Elgin Symphony, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Ensemble Dal Niente. Some highlights include a beautiful production of Bluebeard’s Castle at Thalia Hall with the New Millennium Orchestra, and performing alongside his college teachers and mentors in a String Orchestra of the Rockies concert last fall.
Jay also keeps a busy teaching schedule. In addition to running a Suzuki violin program in Morton Grove, Jay also teaches for The People’s Music School’s new community music program in Back of the Yards, on Chicago’s south side.
Sixto Franco, viola
Mr Franco is an active performer, teacher and composer, having performed in Europe, United States and Mexico. Mr Franco has performed with ensembles such as the Eight Black Bird and the Fifth House ensembles, Camerata Chicago, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Symbiosis Ensemble in LA, and Camerata Musicalis in Spain, Barcelona Symphonic Orchestra, and Shleswig-Holstein Musik Festival Orchestra, among others.
As a former member of the Kaia String Quartet, Sixto Franco has released two albums titled “Latinoamerica” (2015) and “Quartango” (2016). As chamber music performer, Sixto Franco has also appeared at the Latino Music Festival of Chicago performing, Pritzker Theater, Fullerton Hall of the Chicago Arts institute, Mayne Stage, University of Chicago, and has joint artists such as Paquito D´Rivera, Fareed Haque, Ernie Adams, and Rick Ferguson.
Besides his presence in the chamber music and orchestra scene, Mr. Franco has also appeared as soloist in California and his native Spain, performing works of Mozart, Bruch and other contemporary composer. In 2012, composer, Jason Barabba dedicated his duet for viola and clarinet to Mr. Franco who then premiered and recorded the work June of that year in Madrid, Spain.
As a composer, Sixto Franco has written for different mediums such as chamber music, theater and dance. He made his debut on February 2011 premiering his work “Blanco y Negro” in a Cancer Benefit Concert promoted by the Spanish Consulate of Los Angeles and the Symbiosis Ensemble. The “MalArte Association”, Spain, premiered his piece Five “O’clock Tabu” as the sound track for an interdisciplinary theater and dance show with the same title. His last collaboration included the Tiffany Lawsone Dance Company resulting on the creation of “Calm Panic” for solo viola and dancer. Some of his future engagements are: the premiere of his Viola Duet and the world premier of a viola concerto by composer Kevin Hartnett’s viola concerto.
Sixto Franco is a Master Graduate from Thornton School of Music at University of Southern California and has earned a Performance Degree in Chamber Music studies at the Northern Illinois University under the guidance of the Avalon String Quartet. His teachers include Donald McInnes, Ashan Pillai, Anthony Devroye, Hagai Shaham and Midori Goto.

Musical Tapas Piano Trio Concert
2017-10-22 16:00 - 17:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Selections from piano trios around the world will be performed and paired with food represented from each country in the program.
Franz Schubert – Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929
II- Andante un poco mossa
Franz Joseph Haydn – Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major, “Gypsy”, Hob. XV: 25
IV- Finale: Rondo all’Ongarese. Presto
Bright Sheng (b. 1955) – Four Movements for Piano Trio
III
Mark O’Connor (b. 1961) – Poets and Prophets
I- Man in Black
II- The Tennessee Two
Anton Arensky – Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
III- Elegia. Adagio
Astor Piazzolla – Four Seasons
Otoño Porteño (Autumn)
Invierno Porteño (Winter)
Verano Porteño (Summer)
Sarah Hansen, cello; Katie Cousins, violin; Mickey Chien, piano
Mickey Chien is an accomplished solo pianist who has won top prizes in the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York and the Kankakee Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in Illinois. Also active as a collaborative artist, he has performed throughout the United States and Asia, including appearances at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the National Recital Hall in Taiwan, and the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Illinois. In 2012, he won the Sydney Wright Collaborative Piano Competition. In 2012, he served as guest soloist and collaborative pianist at the Clear Creek Festival in Oregon and as opera coach at the Illinois Lyric Theatre, working with conductor Eduardo Diazmuñoz and renowned tenor Nathan Gunn.
Mr. Chien currently serves as a Collaborative Pianist at Bradley University and as a faculty member at the Performing Art Institute at Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, where he teaches piano masterclasses and group piano classes in addition to coaching chamber ensembles each summer. In 2012 and 2013, he served as Chair of the Champaign Chapter of the Music Teacher National Association. In 2016, he has formed Estampes Musician in Peoria and Champaign-Urbana area, and give masterclasses, performances, and clinics in high schools and universities.
Mr. Chien earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and his Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Literature, with a cognate in a Piano Pedagogy, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Mickey currently resides in the Peoria, Illinois area, where he enjoys making friends with dogs and playing badminton.
Violinist Katie Cousins is a versatile performer and teacher with a passion for an enormous range of musical styles. She has been featured on stages across the U.S. and Europe, and is dedicated to making both classic and new music accessible to a diverse population.
Currently based in Chicago, Katie is a member of the Peoria Symphony. Throughout her musical career, she has also enjoyed performing as a part of the Heartland Festival Orchestra, Chicago Arts Orchestra, the Chicago Composers Orchestra, the Waterbury Symphony, the New Britain Symphony, the Hartford Opera Theater Orchestra, and the Spirit of Broadway Theater outside of New York, among others.
With a special passion for chamber music, Katie has been fortunate enough to spend time in Europe sharing masterpieces of the chamber repertoire with international audiences. She is currently a member of the Living Room Players, a chamber music collective based in Oak Park, and has worked with members of the Emerson, Pacifica, and St. Lawrence String Quartets. In the fall of 2011, she co-founded Isosceles​, a violin-saxophone-piano trio with which she toured across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.
​Katie holds a Master of Music and a Graduate Professional Diploma in Violin Performance from the Hartt School in Hartford, Connecticut. While there, she developed a special interest in contemporary music, leading to her performances with the Hartt School Contemporary Ensemble and the 016 New Music Ensemble, also based in Hartford. In addition, she has had the opportunity to work with great living composers such as William Bolcolm, Jennifer Higdon, and John Corigliano.
​Before completing her graduate studies at Hartt, Katie received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is a strong advocate for the development and strengthening of music programs in schools across the U.S., and has been teaching in private, small group, and classroom settings for over 14 years.
When not performing or teaching, Katie can often be found traveling with loved ones in tow, a good book in hand, and a camera at the ready.
Sarah Hansen is a young and upcoming artist based in Chicago, Illinois. She began her musical education in her hometown of Cincinnati and has since studied and collaborated with leading musicians across the country. Her playing has been featured on stages around the world, from Chicago’s Symphony Center to the Sydney Opera House.
Sarah regularly performs with ensembles throughout the midwest; including the Illinois Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, the Chicago Composers’ Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony, and the Southwest Michigan Symphony. In the 2016-17 concert season, she also appeared as a featured soloist with the Salt Creek Chamber Orchestra, the Bradley University Symphony Orchestra, and on Christ’s Church of Kettering’s Joyful Sounds Series.
In the Fall of 2015, Sarah joined the music faculty at Bradley University in Peoria, IL, where she teaches cello and performs with the faculty new-music chamber ensemble, Peoria Lunaire. Sarah also maintains a private cello studio in Chicago; her students range in level from beginner to pre-professional and in age from elementary school to retirement. She has previously served on faculty at the Chicago School of Music and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.
A dedicated ambassador for the partnership among performers, audiences, and communities, Sarah frequently presents educational concerts, programs, and discussions in a variety of venues and settings. In 2014, she lead a seminar at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago for doctors and medical students looking to better understand the physical demands and challenges facing modern performing artists.
Sarah is a graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music, where she received her Master of Music degree, and The Hartt School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree and was a Laureate in the prestigious Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence. Her primary teachers included Stephen Balderston, Mihai Tetel, and Tom Guth.
Outside of performing and teaching, Sarah spends her time training for her next marathon or triathlon. She also dabbles in art and enjoys exploring Chicago’s many cafés, restaurants, and sidewalk libraries.

Halloween Recital
2017-10-29 14:00 - 17:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Students of Narloch Piano Studio perform.

Second City Winds
2017-11-12 18:30 - 19:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Works by Valerie Coleman, Irving Fine, Gyorgy Ligeti, Gabriel Pierne, and others.
Azusa Inaba, flute
Becca Dora, oboe
Steven Gooden, clarinet
Dana Sherman, horn
Sandra Bailey, bassoon
$10 suggested donation.

Second City Winds is a young, up and coming woodwind quintet in the Chicago area. The group is composed of five professional wind players: Azusa Inaba (flute), Steven Gooden (clarinet), Becca Dora (oboe), Sandra Bailey (bassoon), and Dana Sherman (horn). Now entering their second season, Second City Winds presents classical recitals across the city, incorporating music composed in a wide range of time periods and styles. The group aims to engage the audience through its rousing repertoire and engaging performances. Last season, Second City Winds were one of only twelve groups invited to compete in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Members of the Second City Winds have performed previously with the, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Philharmonic, Chicago Composers Orchestra, Chicago Symphonic Winds, Elgin Symphony, Kwazulu-Natal Philharmonic, Northbrook Symphony, Omaha Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, Sheboygan Symphony, Dubuque Symphony, and Beloit-Janesville Symphony. They each also are active teachers throughout the Chicagoland area.

Reed Trio
2017-11-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Program:
Devil Winds – Greg Simon
Squeezebox – Nathan Hudson
Anyone Lived (world premiere) – Jamie Leigh Sampson
Rondell – Isang Yun

Andy Hudson, clarinet; Ben Roidl-Ward, bassoon; Andrew Nogal, oboe

Schoenberg's Das Buch der hängenden Gärten, Op. 15
2017-11-19 20:30 - 21:30 | Constellation, 3111 N Western Ave., Chicago, IL, United States
Kayleigh Butcher and Christopher Narloch perform Schoenberg’s original song cycle along with 15 newly composed songs by 15 different composers, inspired by the original set. Composers include Bethany Younge, Evan Williams, Steven Rice, Jessie Marino, David Grant, Jenna Lyle, Brian Penkrot, Alex Temple, Jonathan Sokol, Cara Haxo, Elliot Cless, Fredrick Gifford, and Pamela Stein Lynde.

Haiga Duo
2017-12-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
About the Haiga Duo
The Haiga Duo is a joint venture created by Jason Chen [piano and accordion] and Eric Hollander [viola and poetry]. Jason and Eric have been performing together across the United States since 2011. The duo is most interested in adapting literary and poetic forms into musical compositions. Our recent projects include a musical Renku, a collection of prayers, and an exploration of the memoir form. Some past projects have had to do with the procedural intricacies of reading/performing musical notation.
Between the two members of the Haiga Duo, extensive scholastic and immersive experience in poetics and music has kindled an intense desire to reveal the inner core of what is foreign art for both. We have conducted a significant amount of research on traditional Japanese form poetry, American folk music, historical accordion folklore and testimony, and many other crevices of the casual regions of music and poetry. In addition, we have participated in several prestigious contemporary music programs, including the Lucerne Festival Academy, Gamper New Music Festival, BANFF, and more. Recently, we were selected as Wildacres Artists in Residence as a composition/performance duo.

What to Expect
Our current project is centered around the theme of ‘memoir’. We are gathering memories from various members of specific communities and codifying their responses into a piece of performative art [spoken word/poetry with music]. This is still a work-in-progress; we hope to continue collecting more ‘accordion stories’ or memories from anyone willing to share!

Amazonland Chamber Players
2017-12-08 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Alison Tatum, violin; Sarah Hansen, cello; Scott Griffin, piano
Program
Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20 by Pablo de Sarasate
Andante from Cello Sonata, Op. 19 by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Carol of the Bells by Mykola Lentovych, arr. Scott Griffen
-break-
Piano Trio No. 4, Op. 90 “Dumky” by Antonín Dvořák
About Amazonland Chamber Players
One evening in the fall of 2012, Alison walked up to Sarah in a classroom at DePaul University and said, “Hey, let’s be friends.” Sarah said “Um, ok,” and gave her a weird look. Five years later found the two trapped in Alison’s car for 19 hours, navigating a 400-mile traffic jam on the way home to Chicago from viewing the Great Solar Eclipse in the path of totality near the southern tip of Illinois. In between singing camp songs, listening to Mahler’s Second Symphony (twice), taking selfies, and drinking innumerable cups of coffee, the two decided to make their occasional performances as a string duo into a regular event, and the group Amazonland Chamber Players was born. They quickly reached out to other musician friends to join in the fun and gave their first official show as a string trio a few weeks later in their most frequent venue, Spiegelberg Landscape Design’s “Amazonland” garden.
Bios:
Violinist Alison Tatum is an active freelance performer and teaching artist in the Chicago area. An avid chamber musician, Alison is a founding member of Amazonland Chamber Players and the string quartet, Amethyst Ensemble. Alison can often be found in pit orchestras at various theatre establishments around Chicago. Alison began her musical studies at a young age in her native Kansas City, Missouri and is a graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her teachers include Dr. Olga Dubossarskaya Kaler, Eva Szekely, and Dr. Tony Brandolino. Alison maintains an active private studio at several locations in Chicago.
Cellist Sarah Hansen began her musical education in her hometown of Cincinnati and has since studied and collaborated with leading musicians across the country. Sarah regularly performs as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician. She is also on the music faculty at Bradley University, where she teaches cello and performs with the resident faculty chamber ensemble. Sarah is graduate of DePaul University’s School of Music in Chicago and The Hartt School of Music in Connecticut. Outside of performing and teaching, Sarah dabbles in running marathons, making artsy things and exploring Chicago’s many cafés, restaurants, and sidewalk libraries.
Scott Griffin, a native of Florida, has been playing the piano as long as anyone can remember. An active participant in piano festivals and recitals, he has received awards at the regional and national levels. After graduating from the Moody Bible Institute in piano performance, Scott became pianist for The Moody Church, where he also toured China, Norway, Sweden, Romania, Spain, France and Morocco. More recently, he has teamed-up with Alan Curtis Tripp to present duo piano concerts throughout the country, and is currently keyboardist for the Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago. At home in many musical styles, Scott loves to perform, arrange and improvise.

Holiday Recital
2017-12-17 15:00 - 17:00 | Minnekirken, 2614 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago, IL, 60647, United States

Zafa Collective at Constellation
2018-01-28 20:30 - 21:30 | Constellation, 3111 N Western Ave., Chicago, IL, United States
PROGRAM
Nina Young Meditation
Eliza Brown – Figure to Ground
Joan Tower – Those Harbor Lights
Kaija Saariaho – Terrestre
Missy Mazzoli – Still Life with Avalanche
Hannah Christiansen – violin
Emelinda Escobar – violin
Yelley Taylor – viola
Audrey Q Snyder – cello
Nicole Frankel – flutes
Andy Hudson – clarinets
Josh Graham – percussion
Christopher Narloch – piano
Autumn Selover – harp
The Zafa Collective was founded upon the idea that classical music should be inclusive and accessible both in terms of programming and performance, and actively seeks music from outside the canon of Western art music and from a wide variety of aesthetics. Now in their second season, Zafa is a Sponsored Artist of High Concept Labs, and has premiered works by composers including Michal Massoud, Theo Chandler, Connor Singh Vanderbeek, Erin Cameron, and Derek Tywoniuk. The Collective has worked closely with numerous other composers, including Ellen Ruth Harrison, Eliza Brown, Roger Zare, and Sato Matsui, and has performed throughout Chicago in a wide range of venues. This season’s collaborations include the Chicago premiere of Laura Kaminsky’s chamber opera As One with Chicago Fringe Opera as well as programs with the Chinese Fine Arts Society and the Poetry Foundation.

Mabel Kwan and KG Price
2018-02-01 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Program:
Mabel Kwan performs:
Jean-Philipe Rameau, Gavotte et six Doubles
Rebecca Saunders, Shadow
KG Price perfoms:
Three Interruptions Via Piano
improv, + more works tba
Bios:
Chicago-based, Austin-born pianist Mabel Kwan performs with the new music collective Ensemble Dal Niente, the improvising group Restroy, and as one half of the synth duo Mega Laverne and Shirley. She has commissioned and premiered new works for piano and clavichord which can be heard on her solo albums one poetic switch and Inventions. She has performed nationally and internationally, including concerts at Ravinia, Millennium Park, Library of Congress, and the Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music. Mabel is a 2017 3Arts awardee.
KG, composer, performer and percussionist, has been an active artist for 17 years. With a Bachelors of Music in Composition from SUNY Fredonia, he has composed works for theatre, the concert hall, galleries and bar-room and DIY venues. KG performs across genres ranging from classical to polka, hip-hop to sound-art. His work has been heard on numerous college radio stations, the Toronto/Buffalo area PBS station WNED, and was featured on the televised PBS children’s special ‘’Pocket Adventures’’. He is the composer, percussionist and a singer for his band The Lucky Bikes and their children’s project, The Lucky Trikes.
In addition to composing and arranging original songs and acting as music director for The Lucky Trikes, KG performs a repertoire of solo works with electro-acoustic percussion and a turntablist project, Musicology. He has appeared at the Museum of Contemporarily Art Chicago with the Merce Cunningham Dancers on the opening day of MCA’s 2017 Merce Cunningham: Common Time exhibition and for Make Music Chicago as well as at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo. He recently composed, curated and served as music director for Theatre Y’s 2016 production of MacBeth at The Chopin Theater, part of Shakespeare 400 in Chicago. An active player in the free jazz and experimental music scene and can be heard regularly at local venues including Elastic Arts, Hungry Brain, The Owl, Cafe Mustache, Myopic Books, Beat Kitchen and The Whistler and a variety of galleries and DIY spaces. Kyle has been a central participant in a series of public workshops in 2015-2016 and will perform in the new epic opera by Christopher Preissing, Thunder, Perfect Mind and is the stage manager and percussionist for Articular Facet, another Chicago-based open culture opera collective. He resides in Chicago where he produces events for other artists and sells his handmade jewelry.

Ursa Ensemble
2018-02-09 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Program:
Hindemith: Duo for Viola and Cello
Schnelle Achtel
Igor Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale, Suite for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano
The Soldier’s March
The Soldier’s Violin
The Little Concert
Tango-Waltz-Ragtime
The Devil’s Dance
Beethoven: Duet mit zwei obligaten Augengläsern, WoO 32
Allegro
Minuetto
Jordan Jenkins: If/Then/Else**
**World Premier
Hailed as a group that provides a “much needed voice in the discourse of art music’s place and role in American culture,” Ursa Ensemble strives to present uncommon music to our audiences in unique ways, in unconventional places, and with individual interpretations. Ursa Ensemble has performed at a variety of locations across the Midwest including Constellation Chicago, Pritzker Pavilion, Intuit: Center for Outsider and Intuitive Art, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, the DANK Haus, Tavern of Fine Arts, The Musical Offering, PianoForte Studios, The Green Mill Jazz Lounge, Half Price Books, and the Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church. Their unique Collaboration in Concert (CIC) series has led the Ursas into all sorts of arenas, allowing them to work with and perform for an extremely diverse audience: elementary school students at Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School; college students at Harold Washington College in the Loop; and young writers at 826CHI. Past CIC events have involved collaborations with artists from a wide array of expertises, including photographer Michael Schoeneweis, author Michael San Gabino, printmaker Sarah Adams, abstract creator Shawn Lucas, and painters Melanie Brown and Joel Javier.
The Ursa Ensemble consists of some of the best young musicians in the Chicago area, all of whom are dedicated performers and artist-teachers. Violinist and Artistic Director Rachel Brown is the Associate Principal Second Violin of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and has given over a dozen world premieres of contemporary solo and ensemble works. She teaches violin lessons, chamber music, music theory, and music history at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and Harold Washington College. Pianist Jonathan Hannau is also dedicated to his solo project, the Rocking Chair Series, which involves commissions of short solo piano works presented alongside an interview with the composer in an effort to create an inviting atmosphere for the audience as they listen to a wide variety of musical styles. His toy piano duo, The Plucky Plunkers, recently was selected as Ensemble In Residence at the International Toy Piano Festival. He also teaches at Access Contemporary Music. Nicholas Jeffery holds the Principal Violist position with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, and maintains a private studio in addition to teaching at the Chicago Academy for the Arts. Cellist Veronica Nettles focuses on performance in classical chamber music (she was a founding member of the Kaia String quartet) and world music collaborations (she is a member of a Cuban Charangas ensemble). Also, she maintains a private studio at the DePaul University Community Music Division. Joe Sanchez, clarinetist, is a founding member of the Vandoren-Sponsored Lake Effect Clarinet Quartet, and he can be heard regularly with a cross-continental spread of orchestras, ranging from the Las Vegas to the Kalamazoo Symphony! In addition to this, he teaches woodwind students at Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School.

Magnus Villanueva, piano
2018-02-17 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Magnus Villanueva performs a solo piano recital.
Alexander Scriabin: Étude Op 42. No. 5 in C# minor
György Ligeti: Cordes a vide, Arc-en-ciel
Claude Debussy: La cathédrale engloutie, Les tierces alternées, Les collines d’Anacapri
Olivier Messiaen: Cloches d’angoisse et larmes d’adieu, Un reflet dans le vent
Kaija Saariaho: Ballade (2005), Maurice Ravel: Ondine

Violin student recital
2018-02-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Students of Alison Tatum and other teachers perform.

Houndstooth String Quartet and Mala
2018-02-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Houndstooth String Quartet:
Five Scenes for String Quartet – Liza SobelCatalyzation – Craig Davis-PinsonSelections from 44 Harmonies [IV, XII, XL] – John Cage
https://www.houndstoothsq.com/
Mala, Swiss singer/songwriter, performs original music.
http://www.malamusic.ch/

Magnus Villanueva, piano
2018-02-24 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Magnus Villanueva performs a solo piano recital.
Alexander Scriabin: Étude Op 42. No. 5 in C# minor
György Ligeti: Musica ricercata
Maurice Ravel: Ondine
György Ligeti: Fem, White on White
Maurice Ravel: Alborada del Gracioso

Violin student recital
2018-02-25 11:00 - 12:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Students of Brittany Nelson, Rachel Brown, and Christopher Narloch perform.

Binary Canary
2018-03-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Binary Canary
Kyle Hutchins, saxophone & Ted Moore, laptop
Binary Canary is a collaborative improvisation ensemble featuring laptopist Ted Moore and saxophonist Kyle Hutchins. Their work together since 2013 has included solo and chamber music, free and structured improvisations, and interactive multimedia. Their 2015 album ‘click/blow’ was reviewed as “a full on noise-jazz symphony” (Raised by Gypsies) and a “display [of] individual virtuosity and group musicianship… well worth the listen” (Signals for Images). They have been featured at conferences, festivals, and on series such as the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), New York City Electronic Music Festival (NYCEMF), Electroacoustic Barndance (EABD), North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), Music Now at the University of North Texas, New Horizons Music Festival (NHMF), Association for Technology in Music Instruction (ATMI), Ars Electroacoustica, The New Ruckus, Patrick’s Cabaret, Punk-Ass Classical, Skewed Visions, and as guest artists at universities across the country.
—
Ted Moore is a composer, improviser, intermedia artist, and educator based in Chicago. His work focuses on fusing the sonic, visual, physical, and acoustic aspects of performance and sound, often through the integration of technology. Ted’s work has been reviewed as “an impressive achievement both artistically and technically” (Jay Gabler, VitaMN), “wonderfully creepy” (Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet), and “epic” (Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press). Ted’s work has been premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, The Dream Songs Project, Yarn/Wire, Splinter Reeds, Quince Vocal Ensemble, AVIDduo, and others, and has been performed across the country including at The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Spectrum (NYC), Root Signals Electronic Music Festival (Statesboro, GA), and the Electroacoustic Barn Dance (Fredericksburg, VA), among others.
Ted also frequently performs solo on electronics using his laptop, modular synthesizer systems, resonant physical objects, lighting equipment, and video projection. He has been featured as an installation artist by the Northern Spark Festival (Minneapolis), Studio 300 Festival of Digital Art and Music (Lexington, KY), St. Paul Public Library, TC Make (Minneapolis). As an improviser, Ted is one half of Binary Canary, a woodwinds-laptop improvisation duo alongside saxophonist Kyle Hutchins. In collaboration with Scott Miller, he curated and performed in the free improvisation series Ars Electroacoustica in Minneapolis. As a theater artist, Ted has worked with many independent companies, notably with Skewed Visions and Savage Umbrella. He has taught in a variety of capacities, including at The Walden School’s Young Musicians Program and Creative Musicians Retreat (Dublin, NH), MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis), Slam Academy (Minneapolis), and McNally Smith College of Music (St. Paul).
Currently Ted is pursuing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Chicago.
—
Praised for his “formidable technique” and “enviable uniformity of tone” (The Saxophone Symposium) and described as a “skilled improviser, no doubt about it” (I Care If You Listen), Jeffery Kyle Hutchins is a concert saxophonist, chamber musician, improviser, pedagogue, and performance artist who focuses on the creation and promotion of contemporary music and interdisciplinary media. His work emphasizes close collaboration with composers and artists to create adventurous programming, often incorporating the body, the voice, the instrument, technology, and space. He has performed concerts in Asia, Europe, and North America, and has participated in the creation of more than 100 new works.
His performances have been broadcast on Fresh Ink hosted by Neva Pilgrim on WCNY-FM (New York) and Nova hosted by Bernard Clarke on Raidió Teilifís Éireann lyric fm (Ireland). He performs regularly on festivals, conferences, and series for contemporary, experimental, and electroacoustic music, including Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt (IMD), the New York City Electronic Music Festival (NYCEMF), the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS), the New Music Gathering, the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference (NASA), the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the International Workshop for Musical Metacreation (MuMe) at the International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC), the Electroacoustic Barndance (EABD), the New Horizons Music Festival (NHMF), MNmade, the New Ruckus, Old Wood New Sounds, Punk-Ass Classical, and Zeitgeist New Music Cabaret. Hutchins has recorded for numerous record labels including Avid Sound Records, Emeritus Records, GIA Publications, Farpoint Recordings, and Klavier Records, and has won competition prizes and grants from DOWNBEAT, New Music USA, the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC), Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), and the Mu Phi Epsilon Foundation, among others.
In 2015, Hutchins received the Doctor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, where he studied with renowned saxophonist Eugene Rousseau. There he was a recipient of the prestigious Berneking Fellowship and served as Instructor of Saxophone. He received degrees in Music Education and Saxophone Performance from the University of North Texas, where he studied with Eric Nestler.
Jeffery Kyle Hutchins is a Yamaha Performing Artist, E. Rousseau Mouthpiece Artist, and Légère Artist. ​

Ment Consort
2018-03-10 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Ment Consort
Presents
A Baroque Menagerie
The Ment Consort is an early music quartet formed in Chicago in 2015 with the intention
of presenting the experimental and revolutionary music of the 17th
and 18th centuries in a way that sounds new and fresh. Through historical performances on period instruments, Ment considers how baroque composers stretched the boundaries of the instruments, techniques, and
musical genres of their time.
The core members of the group consist of Kiyoe Matsuura on baroque violin, Morgan
Little on baroque cello, Jason Moy on harpsichord, and Mary Arendt, soprano voice. The Ment
Consort has collaborated with esteemed harpsichordists Alexander Weimann and Ketil Haugsand
and has presented full length programs of music from France, Italy, and Germany. The Ment
Consort will perform in Rochester this June as part of the Pegasus Rising Early Music Series. As
the members of the group are no longer all locally based, we are looking forward to the unique
opportunity to reunite this winter and present our music to Chicago area audiences once again.
Program
“A Baroque Menagerie”
Program Duration: approximately 45 minutes
The MENT Consort explores the phenomenon of animal sounds in music from the
Baroque. Each piece on this program mimics the sounds, behaviors, or personalities of specific
animals, from birds to amphibians to mammals, using creative and innovative compositional
techniques of that time period. We hope that many of the pieces will be new or unfamiliar to the
average audience member.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1623-1680)
Violin Sonata in A Minor, “Cu-Cu”
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
“Qual Farfalletta” from Partenope, HWV 27
“Oh! That I On Wings Could Rise” from Theodora, HWV 68
Maurizio Cazzati (1616-1678)
“La Pellicana,” op. 55
Pietro Torri (1650-1737)
“Son Rosignolo”
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
“Seele, lerne dich erkennen”
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704)
Sonata Representativa in A Major
Allegro
Nachtigal (Nightingale)
CuCu (Cuckoo)
Fresch (Frog)
Die Henn & Der Hann (Cock & Hen)
Die Wachtel (Quail)
Die Katz (Cat)
Musqetir Mars (Musketeer’s March)
Allemande

Cello student recital
2018-03-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Students of cellist Veronica Nettles Kolegas perform.

Esther Nyberg
2018-03-24 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Esther Nyberg performs a solo piano recital of Muczynski, Beethoven, and Granados.
Dream Cycle, Op. 44 – Robert Muczynski (1929-2010)
I. Allegro moderato
II. Allegro risoluto
III. Andante maestoso
IV. Allegro
Piano Sonata No. 21 in C Major, Op. 53 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Introduzione: Adagio molto
III. Rondo. Allegretto moderato — Prestissimo
Seis Piezas Sobre Cantos Populares Españoles – Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
Preludio
I. Añoranza
II. Ecos de la parranda
III. Vascongada
IV. Marcha oriental
V. Zambra
VI. Zapateado

Yoshiko Arahata & Josh Graham
2018-03-29 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Yoshiko Arahata, piano
Josh Graham, percussion
Program:
“Red Arc/Blue Veil” – John Luther Adams
“C” – Hannah Lash
“New work for vibes and piano” – Sean Calhoun *World premiere!*
Solo de Vibraphone from “Livre de Claviers” – Philippe Manoury
Solo work for Piano – Yoshiko Arahata

Riley Nicholson
2018-03-30 20:00 - 22:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
D. Riley Nicholson: Shimmer for piano, electronics, and projections
Ted Moore: feedback ix for electronics and objects
About Shimmer:
Shimmer is a 50 minute musical work by composer-pianist D. Riley Nicholson for piano and electronics. Nicholson worked closely with sound designer Zach Miley to record, sculpt, and create an interface suitable for live electro-acoustic performance. Shimmer is performed by Nicholson alongside projected visuals created specifically for the production by artist Robby Gilson.
To shimmer is to reflect a wavering or distorted visual image, to tremolo a fitful light. To shimmer is to flicker and allow the complexity of a beautiful light to evolve, to open up the possibility of an object viewed from multiple perspectives simultaneously. From a different angle, Nicholson explores Shimmer as a highly personal verb: We are remembered by how we reflected the light around us. We didn’t create our light, but we do choose to spread and magnify it in a myriad of directions. Shimmer reflects these ideas as a repetitive tremor of shaking, mesmerizing, aural glare.
About feedback ix:
Ted Moore will present his work, feedback ix which explores physical materials, resonant properties of space, and the system of air molecules that is often overlooked when one hears music or sound. By amplifying large PVC tubes harmonic and melodic contours emerge from the physics of sound. Moore explores resonant properties molded in expressive ways, often through the use of digital manipulation, presenting both harmonic and inharmonic spectra.
Bios:
D. Riley Nicholson has composed for a wide range of ensembles and performance venues including music for contemporary ballet, theater, orchestral music, wind band, chamber music, vocal music, and electronic music. Riley feels comfortable writing for electric guitar one day and string orchestra the next; his music can be described as metaphorically rich, innovative, and modern, but never inaccessible or overly esoteric.
Fascinated and committed to working with artists outside of music as well as within, collaborations include original music for Hot Air Music Festival, Post:Ballet, Switchboard Music, Ballet Memphis’s Cecily Khuner, Three Penny Theater, Cello Street Quartet, Amaranth Quartet, SFCM New Music ensemble, Balmoral Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Roar, San Francisco Conservatory of Music Percussion Ensemble, University of Memphis Percussion Ensemble and many other talented artists and organizations.
Riley was the recipient of the Horizons Foundation grant in support of his work One, for large string orchestra, which headlined Hot Air Music Festival on March 6th, 2016, and received another Horizons grant in support of his Shimmer production. His music has been featured on I Care if You Listen TV and will be featured on Not Art Records 2017 Mixtape.
Riley has a M.M. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, a B.M. in percussion performance, and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Memphis.
https://www.rileynicholson.com/
Ted Moore is a composer, improviser, intermedia artist, and educator based in Chicago. His work focuses on fusing the sonic, visual, physical, and acoustic aspects of performance and sound, often through the integration of technology. Ted’s work has been reviewed as “an impressive achievement both artistically and technically” (Jay Gabler, VitaMN), “wonderfully creepy” (Matthew Everett, TC Daily Planet), and “epic” (Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press). Ted’s work has been premiered by the International Contemporary Ensemble, Spektral Quartet, The Dream Songs Project, Yarn/Wire, Splinter Reeds, Quince Vocal Ensemble, AVIDduo, and others, and has been performed across the country including at The Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Spectrum (NYC), Root Signals Electronic Music Festival (Statesboro, GA), and the Electroacoustic Barn Dance (Fredericksburg, VA), among others.
Ted also frequently performs solo on electronics using his laptop, modular synthesizer systems, resonant physical objects, lighting equipment, and video projection. He has been featured as an installation artist by the Northern Spark Festival (Minneapolis), Studio 300 Festival of Digital Art and Music (Lexington, KY), St. Paul Public Library, TC Make (Minneapolis). As an improviser, Ted is one half of Binary Canary, a woodwinds-laptop improvisation duo alongside saxophonist Kyle Hutchins. As a theater artist, Ted has worked with many independent companies, notably with Skewed Visions and Savage Umbrella.
http://www.tedmooremusic.com/

Spring Recital
2018-04-08 15:00 - 17:00 | St. Benedict Church, 2215 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, IL, 60618, United States

Morton Feldman Trio
2018-04-13 20:00 - 21:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Hannah Christiansen (violin) Molly Rife (cello) and Christopher Narloch (piano) perform Morton Feldman’s rarely performed 80-minute Trio, written in 1980.

Carolyn Enger, piano
2018-04-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Carolyn Enger performs a solo piano recital, “Resonance”
$10 Suggested Donation
Program:
Trois Gymnopédies – Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Gustave Le Gray – Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
Prélude pour piano, “La colombe” – Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Sonata in G major, Op. 78, D. 894, I. Molto moderato e cantabile – Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Auf einem anderen Blatt – Wolfgang Rihm (b. 1952)
Les feuilles blancs – Pia Møller Johansen (b. 1988)
Nunataks – John Luther Adams (b. 1953)
Rêverie – Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Biography:
Pianist Carolyn Enger has gained critical acclaim for her lyrical and dynamic playing, her deeply felt interpretations of works from Beethoven and Schubert to contemporary music, and her warm personal approach. In addition to an active performance schedule, Ms. Enger has enjoyed remarkable success as a recording artist, particularly with her 2013 release of piano music by Ned Rorem, Piano Album I, on Naxos Records. Renowned critic Laurence Vittes wrote in his review for Gramophone (2/2014): “Enger raises the miniatures to a higher level by taking the time and care to capture the emotional impact each must have had when their dedicatees read their inscription and title, and then heard the music for the first time.” The album was also selected by Anthony Tommasini as one of the “Best in Classical Recordings” by The New York Times.
Recent highlights include a performance at Michaelis Kirche in Erfurt, Germany; a Chicago residency with recitals at several Steinway Galleries, the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Theological Seminary, the PianoForte Foundation and a masterclass broadcast on WFMT; performances at the National Gallery in Oslo, Norway; the Jewish Heritage Museum of Monmouth County in New Jersey; the Chelmsford Center for the Arts in Massachusetts; the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.; and a variety of recitals in the Tri-State area.
With a keen sense of history and identity, Ms. Enger views music in the context of the unfolding of human affairs, past and present, leading her to design programs that relate the music she performs to the times in which it was composed. Currently these interests have stirred Ms. Enger to plan and present a multimedia concert program, The Mischlinge Exposé, set during the World War II period, combining music, literature and images that focus on the haunting memories of the lives of Mischlinge – half-Jews – in Germany before, during, and after the Holocaust, an experience reflected in Ms. Enger’s own family history. Ms. Enger will present her ambitious The Mischlinge Exposé throughout New York, New Jersey, Iowa, Texas, Arizona, Illinois and Massachusetts, and has commissioned and premiered a new work written by the acclaimed composer Bruce Adolphe especially for this project.
An active recitalist with engagements throughout the United States and beyond, Ms. Enger has performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, The National Gallery of Art, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Nantucket Musical Arts Society, The Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Tenri Cultural Institute. A recent collaboration with renowned illustrator and writer Maira Kalman featured Ms. Enger’s playing as part of “Maira Kalman Selects”, an exhibition curated by Ms. Kalman at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. Ms. Enger’s dedication to bringing music to new audiences has motivated her to perform in accessible civic spaces such as Israel’s Bet Yad Lebanim in Nahariya, the Felicja Blumental Music Center in Tel Aviv and, in New York City, at St. Peter’s Church and the Donnell Library Center. Ms. Enger’s community engagement performances have left presenters and audiences, in the words of Cheryl Wylen, Program Director of the Backstage at the Y Concert Series, “in complete awe of her passion, skill and genuine warmth.”
Ms. Enger is a Steinway Artist.

Ursa Ensemble
2018-05-04 19:30 - 20:30 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Program:
Contrasts, Sz. 111, BB. 116 – Béla Bartók
6 Ways of Looking Through a Prism – Jonathan Hannau (world premier)
Violin Sonata No. 1, Sz. 75, BB. 84 – Béla Bartók

William Smith and Paul Witkamp
2018-05-11 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
William Smith and Paul Witkamp play a duo acoustic guitar program.
Program:
William Smith (b. 1989) – Sonata a la Fernando Sor
Vivace
Moderato
Presto
Carlo Domeniconi (b. 1947) – Circus Music
The Argentine Knife Throwers
Spanish Riders on Greek Horses
The Wax Museum
The Duck Race
Plik, the Flea of the Andes
The Ural Magic Voice and the Don Cossacks
The Fire Brigade “On Ice”
The Yogi who Disappears through the Key Hole
The Orchestra Says Good-Bye
Astor Piazzola (1921-1992) – Libertango
Carlo Domeniconi – Prana
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968) – Sonatina Canonica
Mosso, grazioso e leggero
Tempo di Siciliana (Andantino)
Fandango en rondeau
Manuel de Falla y Matheu (1876-1946) – Spanish Dance
From La Vida Breve
Bios:
William Smith is a guitarist, teacher, and composer in the Chicago area. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in music performance from Ball State University and Masters of Music Performance from DePaul University. William has taught guitar privately on the Northside of Chicago since 2014. Additionally he teaches, composes, and performs through Resonance – an educational program he co-founded in 2016.
Paul Witkamp grew up in rural Indiana and was first introduced to guitar in middle school. Though he received training, it wasn’t until pursuing his bachelor’s degree in recording technology that he was exposed to classical guitar. He continued his his studies at Ball State University and earned his masters in classical guitar performance. Currently, Paul teaches private classical guitar lessons for Sherwood Community School and Merit School of Music.
William and Paul have played together as a classical duo (among other projects) since they met at Ball State University while perusing their undergraduate degrees. They’ve performed a variety of works ranging from the early Renaissance to the freshly composed. They bring to their performance an eclectic program, dynamic energy, and subtle, yet tasteful notes of innocent bromance.

Liz Pearse, voice
2018-05-16 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Liz Pearse performs a solo voice recital while accompanying herself at the piano!
Betsy Jolas – “Mon ami”
LJ White – “Labor Day”
Florence Price – “Night”
Hugo Wolf – “Verschwiegene Liebe”
Hanns Eisler – “An den kleinen Radioapparat”
Benjamin Britten – “Nocturne” from On This Island
Kurt Weill – “Youkali”
Robert Schumann – “Mondnacht”
Sergei Rachmaninov – “The Lilacs”
William Grant Still – “The Breath of a Rose”
Francis Poulenc – “La carpe” from Le bestiaire
Katherine Pukinskis – The Sea Cow (world premiere)
Christopher Burns – selections from number opera (partial premiere)
http://www.lizpearse.com/

Narloch Plays Glass II
2018-05-18 20:00 - 21:00 | Narloch Piano Studio, 4636 N Francisco Ave, Chicago, IL, United States
Christopher Narloch performs Philip Glass Solo Piano Etudes Volume 2, (#11-20).
Here is the recording of last year’s concert of Volume 1:
https://soundcloud.com/narlochpiano/philip-glass-etudes-1-10-live
