2018-19 Concert Series

The Center will present a concert concert series including: 40 world premieres, seven guest composers who have been commissioned for new compositons, three guest ensembles, a new resident ensemble, and a series of open rehearsals and interactive experiences.

Saturday, October 13, 2018 / 7:30 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall* 
Yarn/Wire 
The genre-bending percussion and piano quartet, described as “fascinating and exciting, with playing that is precise and full of purpose . . .” (George Grella, Brooklyn Rail), performs Les Monde des Rondes et des Carrés, a 2015 work by Japanese composer Misato Mochizuki, and Feld, a recent work by German composer and conductor Enno Poppe. The program also includes two world premieres by UChicago composers Will Myers and David Clay Mettens.
$15, students free with ID 

Thursday, November 8, 2018 / 7 PM / Logan Center Penthouse 
Tyshawn Sorey Trio Composer/drummer 
Tyshawn Sorey is widely considered to be among the most important young artists at the intersection between composed and improvised music. He is one of the most in-demand drummers on the modern jazz scene -- known for his impossibly virtuosic technique and his mind-boggling ability to effortlessly master even the most difficult written scores -- but is also one of a rare breed of jazz musicians who is pursuing composition as seriously as performance.
Free, no tickets required

Saturday, November 10, 2018 / 9 AM - 4 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall
Grossman Ensemble Open Rehearsal
The Grossman Ensemble rehearses and workshops music by Sam Pluta, David Rakowski, Shulamit Ran, and Tonia Ko in an interactive open rehearsal offering unique access to the creative process. 
9 am - 10:30 am: David Rakowski
10:45 am - 12 pm: Shulamit Ran
Lunch Break
1 pm - 2:20 pm: Tonia Ko
2:35 pm - 4 pm: Sam Pluta
Free, no tickets required

Friday, December 7, 2018 / 7:30 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall*
Grossman Ensemble
Ben Bolter, conductor
Ben Bolter, co-director of Northwestern University’s Contemporary Music Ensemble and Associate director of the NU Institute for New Music, conducts the debut performance of the Grossman Ensemble. The performance includes world premiere works by Assistant Professor of Composition at UChicago and electronics performer Sam Pluta, Professor of Composition at Brandeis University and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist David Rakowski, UChicago Andrew MacLeish Distinguished Service Professor Emerita Shulamit Ran, and CCCC Postdoctoral Researcher Tonia Ko.

Watch the preview video

The audience is invited to a post-concert reception in the Gidwitz Lobby with the artists and composers. 
$15, students free with ID

Sunday, January 13, 2019 / 8:30 PM / Constellation
Spektral+1, Plus One
An exciting partnership between University of Chicago graduate composers, Spektral Quartet, and a fantastic group of guest performers, SPEKTRAL+1, PLUS ONE showcases six new works that reimagine and expand the string quartet through the addition of a unique fifth collaborator. Performers including bassoonist Ben Roidl-Ward, percussionist Doug Perkins, cellist Hannah Collins, clarinetist Katie Schoepflin, and guitarist Jesse Langen join the inimitable Spektral Quartet to premiere works by Darlene Castro, Baldwin Giang, Maria Kaoutzani, Joungbum Lee, David Clay Mettens, and Will Myers at Constellation, one of Chicago’s premiere new music venues.
Free

Tuesday, February 5, 2019 / 8 PM / Chicago Symphony Center 
Civic Orchestra of Chicago
A partnership offering the rare opportunity for nine UChicago composers - Rodrigo Bussad Cesar, Pierce Gradone, Jack Hughes, Alison Yun-Fei Jiang, Maria Kaoutzani, Joungbum Lee, David Clay Mettens, Theodore Moore, and Will Myers - to create new works to be premiered by the nation's most outstanding young professional musicians. Unfortunately due to weather related circumstances, the concert where the works were to be premiered was cancelled. Composers, Civic Orchestra musicians, conductor Cliff Colnot, and a world-class engineer came together in Orchestra Hall for multi-day recording sessions to rehearse and record the new works, which resulted each composer receiving very high-quality archival recordings. 

Saturday, February 16, 2019 / 9 AM - 4 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall
Grossman Ensemble Open Rehearsal
The Grossman Ensemble rehearses and workshops music by Chen Yi, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Rodrigo Bussad, and Jack Hughes in an interactive open rehearsal offering unique access to the creative process. 
Free, no tickets required

Friday, March 15, 2019 / 7:30 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall*
Grossman Ensemble
James Baker, conductor
The Grossman Ensemble presents works by Chen Yi, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and University of Chicago graduate composers Rodrigo Bussad and Jack Hughes. James Baker, Music Director and Conductor of the Composers Conference at Wellesley College and Director of the Percussion Ensemble at Mannes College of Music, conducts the performance.
$15, students free with ID 

Friday, April 12, 2019 / 8:30 PM / Hairpin Arts Center
Spaces Inside Spaces
~NOIS saxophone quartet premieres new works by UChicago composers connecting music and performance to the design and architecture traditions of Chicago. By creatively staging the multiple works throughout the Hairpin Arts Center gallery in the historic Morris B. Sachs building at Logan Square, the composers and musicians engage with physical space and architecture as a compositional parameter. Commissioned lighting design accentuates the space and sonic qualities of the music, both of which lead the audience through a continuously flowing, immersive aesthetic experience.
Free

Thursday & Friday, May 2 & 3, 2019 / Logan Center Penthouse
CHIMEfest 2019: Live Electronics Symposium
The CHIME Studio presents CHIMEFest 2019, a meeting of electronics performers and improvisers from around the globe, with leading artists and researchers from the United States, the UK, and Europe.

Free, no tickets required

Presented by the CHIME Studio, Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition, and the Arts, Science & Culture Initiative.

Friday, May 10, 2019 / 8 PM / Fulton Recital Hall
UChicago Composers Concert with Ensemble Dal Niente
Ensemble Dal Niente performs the world premieres of works by University of Chicago composers, including undergraduates Paul Beckman, Elle Jensen, and Reiny Rolock, graduate students Austin Simonds and Yuting Tan, with a work by Postdoctoral Researcher Tonia Ko. Michael Lewanski will conduct the concert.
Free, no tickets required

Saturday, May 11, 2019 / 9 AM - 4 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall
Grossman Ensemble Open Rehearsal
The Grossman Ensemble rehearses and workshops music by Kate Soper, Steve Lehman, Joungbum Lee, and David Dzubay in an interactive open rehearsal offering unique access to the creative process. 
Free, no tickets required

Friday, June 7, 2019 / 7:30 PM / Logan Center Performance Hall*
Grossman Ensemble
David Dzubay, conductor
In the final concert of the season, the Grossman Ensemble presents four world premiere works by acclaimed soprano Kate Soper, a Pulitzer Prize finalist whose works have been commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood Music Center; Steve Lehman, whose most recent album was called the #1 Jazz Album of the year by NPR Music and the Los Angeles Times, UChicago composer Joungbum Lee, and David Dzubay, Professor of Music, Chair of the Composition Department, and director of the New Music Ensemble at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, who will also conduct the concert.
$15, students free with ID 

* indicates concert is part of the subscription package