Four Score Festival to Highlight Chinese and Polish Composers, 3/6 & 13

The Music Institute of Chicago's Four Score Festival, which annually highlights contemporary music, this year focuses on new music from Poland on March 6 and China on March 13. In addition, the festival puts the spotlight on the winner of its Generation Next Young Composer's Competition and other young composers in a free performance on March 11. All performances take place at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston.

The March 6 concert features works by Polish composers Marta Ptaszy?ska, an award-winning composer and professor at the University of Chicago, and the late Henryk Górecki, described as "a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during the post-Stalin cultural thaw."

The March 13 concert includes compositions by husband and wife Zhou Long and Chen Yi, both on faculty in the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Composition program.

Both concerts will be performed by MIC faculty Julia Bentley (mezzo-soprano), David Cunliffe (cello), Sang Mee Lee (violin), Patrice Michaels (soprano), Desiree Ruhstrat (violin), James Setapen (conductor and Academy program director), and Abraham Stokman (piano, Four Score Festival director), along with MIC President and CEO Mark George (piano), Director of Performance Activities Fiona Queen (piano and opera gongs), Assistant Director of Performance Activities Sam Nordlund (cello) and students in MIC's Academy String Orchestra. Guest artists include Dominick Johnson (viola), Kevin Kosnik (percussion), Christie Miller (clarinet), Caroline Pittman (flute), Masahito Sugihara (saxophone), and members of the Fifth House Ensemble.

On March 11, a free concert will showcase the winner of MIC's Generation Next Young Composer's Competition, which MIC created in 2006 to encourage and promote the development of young composers. The program also will feature works from the MIC Composer's Lab Program, directed by MIC composer-in-residenc Mischa Zupko, and performances by young composers from the studio of Chicago-based composer Seth Boustead. New this year, MIC has partnered with 98.7 WFMT to record the performance for future broadcast on the popular radio program INTRODUCTIONS, which celebrates talented pre-college classical musicians.

The Music Institute of Chicago (MIC) believes that music has the power to sustain and nourish the human spirit; therefore, our mission is to provide the foundation for lifelong engagement with music. As one of the three largest and most respected community music schools in the nation, MIC's musical excellence is built on the strength of our distinguished faculty, commitment to quality, and breadth of programs and services. Founded in 1931, MIC is one of the oldest community music schools in Illinois. MIC is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. Each year, our world-class music teachers and arts therapists provide the highest quality arts education to more than 5,000 students of all ability levels, from birth to 100 years of age at campuses in Evanston, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Lincolnshire, and Winnetka. MIC also offers lessons and programs at Steinway of Chicago stores in Northbrook and Downers Grove and early childhood and community engagement programs throughout the Chicago area and the North Shore. MIC's Nichols Concert Hall education/performance center, located in downtown Evanston, reaches approximately 14,000 people each year. MIC community engagement and partnership programs reach an additional 6,500 Chicago Public School students annually.
 
MIC offers lessons, classes, and programs through four distinct areas: Community School, The Academy, Creative Arts Therapy (Institute for Therapy through the Arts), and Nichols Concert Hall.
 
Tickets for the Four Score Festival concerts-Music of Contemporary Polish Composers on Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m. and Music of Contemporary Chinese Composers on Sunday, March 13 at 3 p.m., both at MIC's Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston-are $25 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students, available at musicinst.org or 847.905.1500 ext. 108. The Young Composer's Concert on Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at Nichols Concert Hall is free.

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