Kaufman Music Center Announces Fall Schedule For Ecstatic Music, New Piano Dialogues and More

Kaufman Music Center's Ecstatic Music series returns this fall, opening with an exciting pair of online concerts.

All Fall 2020 Kaufman Music Center performances are online, filmed in safe, socially distanced locations observing health and safety protocols.

Wednesday, September 30 (7 pm Eastern): Dawid Sivad Scott Trio

Composer, improviser, clarinetist, and pianist Angel Bat Dawid - a mainstream of Chicago's creative music scene - performs with pianist Anaiet Sivad and bassist Brooklynn Skye Scott. Dawid was named "2019's brightest new jazz star" by The Guardian; her acclaimed albums Oracle and Transitions East were both released by International Anthem Recording Co., a Chicago-born recording company that produces and promotes progressive media. This premiere broadcast was filmed especially for Ecstatic Music at the spectacular St. Benedict the African church in Englewood, Illinois.

Thursday, December 10 (7 pm): Bell Orchestre

Kaufman Music Center presents Montreal's Bell Orchestre, captured in the premiere broadcast of a unique concert video filmed in the Canadian countryside where they created and recorded their forthcoming album, House Music. Bell Orchestre consists of six musical mavericks, including Arcade Fire members Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry, who, on their critically-acclaimed first two albums, have shifted the boundaries of instrumental music. The group cites such diverse influences as Talk Talk, Lee 'Scratch' Parry, and Arvo Pärt, which come together to form a contemporary sound, as if Debussy had composed his fragile impressionism with the knowledge of the ecstatic possibility of a pop concert.

Tickets for these concerts are $15, available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org. Additional Ecstatic Music shows will be announced this fall.

This fall, Kaufman Music Center is pleased to introduce Piano Dialogues, a new online concert series exploring the whole range of the instrument. These intimate recitals, safely produced and filmed in Merkin Hall with top quality audio and video, feature leading players in programs that spark dialogues between old and new repertoire. Online Q & A sessions follow each concert.

Tuesday, November 10 (7 pm): Orli Shaham plays Mozart and Beethoven

Hailed as a "first rate Mozartean" by the Chicago Tribune, Orli Shaham performs the first of a pair of recitals exploring the deep musical connections between her favorite Mozart piano sonatas and other beloved works for the keyboard. In this program, Ms. Shaham reveals the connections between Mozart's intense Sonata No. 14 in C minor and Beethoven's moving "Pathétique," which shows the influence of that particular Mozart work.

Orli Shaham has established an international reputation as one of today's most gifted pianists, admired for her interpretations of both standard and modern repertoire. She has performed with many of the major orchestras around the world, and in recital from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. She is Artistic Director of Pacific Symphony's chamber series (Costa Mesa, California) and Artistic Director of the interactive children's concert series, Orli Shaham's Bach Yard, which she founded in 2010. In 2020, Ms. Shaham and the Kaufman Music Center produced Bach Yard Playdates, an interactive video series available online.

Wednesday, December 16 (7 pm): Adam Tendler plays Christian Wolff and Schumann

Adam Tendler premieres FANTAIL, a new major work by iconic American composer Christian Wolff. Commissioned by the pianist, FANTAIL is a 22 movement, unofficial response to Robert Schumann's Carnaval, and like Schumann's legendary set, a tour of Wolff's musical laboratory and universe. Tendler will intersperse Wolff's FANTAIL with Schumann's Carnaval in a mash-up that puts both complete works, and their composers, in a fresh dialogue - reframing, blurring, even challenging our notions of what is classical and what is contemporary.

A recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and a "remarkable and insightful musician" (Los Angeles Times) "joyfully rocking out at his keyboard" (New York Times), pianist Adam Tendler is an internationally recognized interpreter of living, modern and classical composers. A pioneer of DIY culture in concert music, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty United States as part of a grassroots tour he called America 88x50, which became the subject of his memoir, 88x50, a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award nominee.

Tickets are $15, available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org. Additional concerts in the series will be announced this fall.

Kaufman Music Center's Tuesday Matinees is back this fall, presenting an exciting lineup of young classical performers. These rising artists have won some of the most prestigious international prizes, scoring successes with audiences in major concert halls around the globe.

Tuesday, November 24 (2 pm Eastern): Rolston String Quartet plays Haydn, Ligeti, and Grieg

With their debut recording, Souvenirs, recently named BBC Music Magazine "recording of the month," Canada's Rolston String Quartet continues to receive acclamation and recognition for their musical excellence. As the 2018 recipient and first international ensemble chosen for the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America, their accolades and awards precede them. In 2016, a monumental year, they won First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition, Grand Prize at the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and Astral's National Auditions.

Tuesday, December 22 (2 pm): Rubén Rengel plays Ysaÿe, Penderecki, Coleridge-Taylor, and Poulenc, plus Venezuelan folk repertoire

Described as an "excellent soloist" of "great virtuosity" (NY Concert Review), with performances depicted as "thrilling" (Boston Globe), violinist Rubén Rengel is quickly gaining recognition as a remarkably gifted artist. Rubén has appeared as a soloist with the Symphonies of Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, New Jersey, Vermont, Oakland and Venezuela. He was the winner of the Robert F. Smith Prize at the 2018 Sphinx Competition and has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Library of Congress. As an avid chamber musician, he has performed with artists such as Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, David Shifrin, Joel Krosnick, Timothy Eddy, and Gilbert Kalish. In addition to classical music, Rubén has extensive experience performing Venezuelan folk music and Jazz. He also has a strong interest in the art of conducting and enjoys performing as a violist. Currently, Rubén is a Fellow at Carnegie Hall's Ensemble Connect.

Tickets to these concerts are $15, available at kaufmanmusiccenter.org. Further Tuesday Matinees concerts will be announced this fall.