Music Institute Announces 2014-15 Nichols Concert Hall Season

Celebrating 85 years, the Music Institute of Chicago announces the 2014-15 season of its popular Faculty and Guest Artist Series. All concerts take place at the historic Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in the heart of downtown Evanston.

85th Anniversary Opening Concert
Saturday, September 20, 7:30 p.m.
The Music Institute of Chicago's stellar faculty is more than 150 strong. The season opens with a celebration of the Music Institute's 85th anniversary and features an impressive roster of faculty artists performing compositions associated with the number 85, including C.S. Lang's Fanfare, Op. 85 for organ; selections from Schumann's 12 Character Pieces for Small and Big Children, Op. 85 for four-hand piano; Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words for piano, Op. 85; Ravel's String Quartet, L. 85; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Capricho Diabolico, Op. 85; and Stravinsky's Octet.

Jazz Festival: Celebrating the Music of Charlie Parker
The Music Institute of Chicago's fifth annual Jazz Festival celebrates the incredible career and influence of jazz icon Charlie Parker.

Friday, November 7, 7:30 p.m.
The festival opens with a rare performance of music from the legendary Bird with Stringsrecordings with jazz veteran Charles McPherson as saxophone soloist. Also on the program is a newly commissioned work by Jazz at Lincoln Center and Northwestern University mainstay Victor Goines, composed for jazz quartet and strings.

Saturday, November 8, 3 p.m.
The festival continues with a lecture by acclaimed cultural critic and author Stanley Crouch, who discusses his recent book Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker. WBEZ's Richard Steele serves as moderator.

Saturday, November 8, 7:30 p.m.
The closing concert is a bebop extravaganza, featuring Charles McPherson and the Music Institute jazz faculty quintet, with Victor Garcia, Ernie Adams, Jeremy Kahn and Stewart Miller performing Charlie Parker classics, such as "Confirmation," "Moose the Mooch" and "Ornithology."

A special jazz invitational invites high school student jazz ensembles to perform and receive coaching from Charles McPherson and Music Institute jazz faculty.

Community Music Festival
Sunday, April 19-Sunday, May 3, 2015
Two weeks of concerts, master classes, collaborative score-readings and talks mix music lovers and musicians of all ages and levels with some of the greatest professionals. During the festival, Music Institute students perform 100 concerts in local communities at community centers, libraries, senior centers and other grassroots venues.

Cavani Quartet
Sunday, April 19, 3 p.m.
The highly regarded Cavani Quartet, ensemble in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music celebrates its 30th anniversary at Nichols Concert Hall. The program includes the Mendelssohn Octet, also featuring students from the Music Institute's Academy for gifted pre-college musicians.

Ying Quartet
Saturday, May 2, 7:30 p.m.
The Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical order. Quartet-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music, this distinguished Music Institute alumni group performs classic repertoire along with works the quartet has commissioned.

Nichols Concert Hall
Noted architect Solon S. Beman designed the architecturally and acoustically magnificent First Church of Christ, Scientist, located at 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston, in 1912. In 2003, the building was sensitively restored to become Nichols Concert Hall, a state-of-the-art, 550-seat performance space and music education destination, easily accessible to numerous restaurants, on-street and metered parking, and the Davis Street CTA and Metra stations. The converted building, featuring a fully restored, 1914 E. M. Skinner pipe organ, received the Richard H. Driehaus Award for best adaptive use by the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. Each year Nichols Concert Hall reaches approximately 15,000 people and hosts a world-class chamber music series, workshops and master classes, student recitals, and special events.

Music Institute of Chicago
The Music Institute of Chicago is a community music school dedicated to transforming lives through music education. The institution exists to lead everyone in its community toward a lifelong engagement with music. Founded in 1931, the Music Institute has grown to become one of the three largest and most respected community music schools in the nation. Offering musical excellence built on the strength of its distinguished faculty, commitment to quality, and breadth of programs and services, the Music Institute is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts and accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Pre-collegiate Arts Schools (ACCPAS). Each year, the Music Institute's teachers and arts therapists reach thousands of students and clients of all ages and levels of experience. Music Institute locations include Chicago, Evanston, Winnetka, Lincolnshire, Lake Forest, and Downers Grove. In addition, the Music Institute is proud of its longstanding partnership with the Chicago Public Schools through its Arts Link program. The Music Institute offers lessons and classes, creative arts therapy, and concerts through its Community School, Academy, Institute for Therapy through the Arts (ITA), and Nichols Concert Hall.

All concerts take place at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Tickets, except where noted, are $30 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for students, available online or 847.905.1500 ext. 108. All programming is subject to change.