LIVE FROM NICHOLS CONCERT HALL Chamber Music Concert Series Begins April 11

The Music Institute of Chicago opens its concert home to family homes worldwide through the presentation of "Live from Nichols Concert Hall," a free chamber music series April 11-May 2 streamed live from its historic Nichols Concert Hall. This series is part of the Music Institute's 90th anniversary year, which celebrates innovation, access, and excellence in music education, service to the community, and music performance.

President and CEO Mark George described the new series, saying, "One of the Music Institute's great strengths is our amazing network of professional musicians, so many of whom concertize worldwide. Another is the warm, intimate atmosphere and amazing acoustics of Nichols Concert Hall. Although the pandemic has curtailed our ability to gather in person, we are excited to share this new series of inspiring performances to a much broader audience, no longer limited by location."

The concert lineup is as follows:

Chen String Quartet

Sunday, April 11, 3 p.m. CDT
Beethoven String Quartets, Op. 18

No. 1 in F Major

No. 2 in G Major

No. 3 in D Major

No. 4 in C minor

CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen and his wife, Laura Park Chen, on violin and their children Beatrice Chen on viola and Noah Chen on cello, have been playing together for six years. Committed to community outreach, they regularly play at Chicago-area retirement homes and hospitals. Robert Chen has been concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1999. Laura Chen is a former member of the first violin section of both Lyric Opera and Grant Park Symphony. Beatrice Chen is a viola student at the Curtis Institute of Music. Noah Chen is a student of Clara Kim at Juilliard Pre-College.

Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem

Sunday, April 18, 3 p.m. CDT

Schubert: Rondo in A Major,a??D. 951

Schubert: Divertissement à la Hongroise, D. 818

Liszt: Bénédiction de Dieu dans la Solitude

Liszt: Les Préludes (Poeme Symphonique)

Celebrating 40 years as a piano duo, Music Institute artists in residence and faculty members Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem enjoy an international career as proponents of music for both piano duet and two keyboards. They have appeared with orchestras internationally, including the Chicago Philharmonic and the Vienna Tonkünstler, and performed in recitals throughout the U.S. and Europe. They have commissioned significant new works for the piano duo, including pieces by Joseph Turrin and Patrick Byers. The duo's CDs on the Summit label include Four Hand Reflections and music of Brahms and Schubert. They are founders of the Music Institute's Chicago Duo Piano Festival and the Chicago International Duo Piano Competition.

Third Coast Percussion

Sunday, April 25, 3 p.m. CDT

Clarice Assad (arr. Third Coast Percussion): The Heroa??

Devonté Hynes: Perfectly Voiceless

Gemma Peacocke: Death Wisha??

Jlin: movements froma??Perspective

Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy Award-winning, Chicago-based percussion quartet. For 15 years, the ensemble has created exciting anda??unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. Third Coasta??Percussion maintains a busy tour schedule, with past performances in 35 ofa??the 50 states and Washington, D.C., plus international tour dates in Canada,a??Colombia, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland,a??Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.

Chen String Quartet

Sunday, May 2, 3 p.m. CDT

Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 18

No. 5 in A Major

No. 6 in B flat Major

Beethoven String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132

III. Molto adagio

WFMT, celebrating 70 years in 2021 as one of the world's most respected classical music radio stations, will air the audio from each concert on its program Live from WFMT on Mondays, May 3-24 at 8 p.m. CDT. Said WFMT Vice President and General Manager George Preston, "We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the Music Institute throughout our respective special anniversary seasons."

"Live from Nichols Concert Hall" takes place Sundays, April 11-May 2, at 3 p.m. CDT.
Performances are free and open to the public and stream live from Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Under current pandemic restrictions, access will be entirely virtual. For information, visit musicinst.org/nch-live. All programming is subject to change.

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