Avant Music News

January 2011
Jan 17, 2:00 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Ecstatic Music Festival Marathon
Jan 19, 7:29 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
The Chiara String Quartet, Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson
Jan 20, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
So Percussion & Dan Deacon
Jan 22, 7:29 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Craig Wedren, Jefferson Friedman & ACME
Jan 30, 2:00 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Alarm Will Sound & Face the Music

February 2011
Feb 10, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
New Sounds Live: Bang on a Can All-Stars 2011 People’s Commissioning Fund Concert
Feb 19, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Roomful of Teeth with William Brittelle, Caleb Burhans & Merrill Garbus
Feb 24, 7:29 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
New Sounds Live: Newspeak & Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society with Vijay Iyer & Nicole Lizee

March 2011
Mar 03, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Judd Greenstein (The Yehudim) & Olga Bell (Bell)
Mar 09, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Nadia Sirota & Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) with Special Guests
Mar 12, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Clogs & Brooklyn Youth Chorus
Mar 16, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
Sarah Kirkland Snider & yMusic with Special Guest
Mar 31, 7:30 pm | Kaufman Center Presentation:
New Sounds Live: So Percussion & Bobby Previte with John Medeski & Zeena Parkins

In the past few years Chicago has become a hot spot for upstart classical-music ensembles specializing in the work of new composers and worthy but obscure pieces from the past. Some of these groups are adventurous in more than their repertoire choices: last year, for instance, Fulcrum Point presented George Antheil’s Ballet Mecanique (1924) with a lineup that included three giant airplane propellers. (Not everybody is so faithful to the original staging.) Tonight another of the city’s most interesting groups, Fifth House Ensemble, will perform Olivier Messiaen’s chamber-music classic Quartet for the End of Time (1940) in the Adler’s Sky Theater, against a backdrop of dazzling celestial images from the planetarium’s vast collection.

On Friday, September 10th, Firehouse 12 will open its 2010 Fall Jazz Series with a two-set performance by acclaimed cornetist/composer Taylor Ho Bynum‘s primary ensemble, the Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet. This special event, which also marks the launch of Bynum’s two-week Acoustic Bicycle Tour across New England, focuses on a brand new book of music made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s 2010 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The five year-old group’s newly revamped lineup features Jim Hobbs (alto saxophone), Bill Lowe (bass trombone), Mary Halvorson (guitar), Ben Wolfe (bass) and Tomas Fujiwara (drums).