Music Institute of Chicago

Close the gap and sit up close to thoroughly enjoy Copland's Sextet for string quartet, clarinet, and piano featuring special guest artist, former CSO Principal Clarinetist, Larry Combs. A giant on the international music scene, Combs is less than six degrees from any major performer who comes to mind.

The Music Institute's resident duo, Aebersold and Neiweem are the founders of the Chicago Duo Piano Festival. Praised by Gramophone magazine as "utterly charming…warmly affectionate, Aebersold and Neiweem play like one very dexterous and refined twenty-fingered pianist."

One of the festival's most popular and delightful events, our artist faculty performs a mixed program of piano duos by a variety of composers.

Protegees of the legendary piano duo Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir, the Kotlyar-Shifrin Piano Duo is one of the most sophisticated and in-demand ensembles among the new generation of Israeli musicians.

Stravinsky's narrated septet, "L'Histoire du Soldat" follows the story of a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil for a book that predicts the future of the economy. WFMT's Carl Grapentine lends his devilish voice to the narrated part, while Rachel Barton Pine masters the electrifying violin solo. This 90th anniversary performance features the choreographed story through the acclaimed mime artistry of T. Daniel and Laurie Willets. The team also joins MIC duo-pianists-in-residence, Claire Aebersold and Ralph Neiweem, in a visually stunning pantomime based on Jean Cocteau's script to Milhaud's "Le Boeuf sur le Toit."

Featuring works by 19th Century Romantic composers.

MIC rounds out the season with a collaborative performance of Mendelssohn's festive Octet. This season marks the 25th anniversary of the celebrated violin-viola duo of Ani and Ida Kavafian. In a tribute to Mendelssohn, who was just 16 when he wrote this masterpiece, the Kavafian Duo will perform with a group of MIC's award-winning Academy students. Eight is enough, but you'll want more! *Please note the date and time. This concert is out of sequence!

Break from the ordinary. Quintet Attacca proves why you should, by definition of the word attacca, not hesitate. This award-winning Ensemble-in-Residence goes five-for-five with MIC artist faculty, performing quintet works by composers including Joseph Jongen and Derek Bermel.

9:00 AM: Kids activities & open house. 10:00 AM Concert. In honor of our 16th (and tallest) president, MIC presents the words of Abraham Lincoln as you've never heard them before-set to music performed by MIC ensemble-in-residence, the Lincoln Trio, and narrated by Ravinia Festival President & CEO, Welz Kauffman. This piece is a winning work in Ravinia's recent commission competition. Also on the program: MIC spins the yarn of Rumpelstilskin, the tale of an evil gnome and a young girl who is given the impossible task of weaving straw into gold.

Featuring works by 19th and 20th Century French composers.

Regarded as one of the most important and celebrated composers of our time, John Corigliano has won many awards throughout his career, including The Pulizter Prize in Music, Academy Award, Grammy Award, Grawemeyer Award, and George Peabody Award. In orchestral, chamber, opera and film work, he has won global acclaim for his highly expressive and compelling compositions as well as his kaleidoscopic, ever-expanding technique.

ART EXHIBIT» 2:00 pm
“Marvelous Inventions”
San Francisco artist Peggy Gyulai exhibits paintings based on the compositions of John Corigliano

PRE-CONCERT TALK WITH JOHN CORIGLIANO» 2:45 pm

CONCERT PROGRAM » 3:00 pm

Sonata for Violin and Piano
Rachel Barton Pine, violin
Matthew Hagle, piano

Chiaroscuro
KLANG Contemporary Ensemble:
Fiona Queen and Kay Kim, pianos

String Quartet No. 1
The Corigliano String Quartet

Etude Fantasy for Solo Piano
Abraham Stokman, piano

Cabaret Songs
Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano
Abraham Stokman, piano

PRE-SCREENING PERFORMANCE » 7:00 pm
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine performs the“Caprices” from Corigliano's score to “The Red Violin”

FILM SCREENING (free) » 7:30 pm
“The Red Violin” ~MPAA Rating: R

A former student of George Crumb and Oliver Knussen, Argentinean-born composer Osvaldo Golijov has established himself in the inner circle of today’s most sought-after composers. His music is an ecstatically beautiful hybrid of Spanish and Mediterranean influences and reflects a range of human conditions and emotions rising from the cultural clash and mesh of the time.

Art Exhibit » 6:30 pm
“Visions of Sound and Poetry”
Peggy Gyulai exhibits paintings based on the compositions of Osvaldo Golijov.

PRE-CONCERT TALK WITH PEGGY GYULAI» 6:45 pm

CONCERT PROGRAM » 7:30 pm

Omaramor
Amy Barston, cello

Salvador
Amy Barston, cello
Abraham Stokman, piano
Sean Kopp, vibraphone

Last Round
The MIC Academy Chamber Players
James Setapen, conductor

How Slow the Wind
Julia Bentley, soprano
Christie Miller, clarinet
Sang Mee Lee and Eugenia Wie, violins
Kristin Figard, viola
Samuel Nordlund, cello

Yiddishbbuk
Sang Mee Lee and Eugenia Wie, violins
Kristin Figard, viola
Samuel Nordlund, cello

Lullaby and Doina
Caroline Pittman, flute
Christie Miller, clarinet
Sang Mee Lee, violin
Kristin Figard, viola
Samuel Nordlund, cello
John Tuck, bass

Levante
Abraham Stokman, piano

George Crumb's reputation as a composer of hauntingly beautiful scores has made him one of the most frequently performed composers in today's musical world. The winner of a 2001 Grammy Award and the 1968 Pulitzer Prize in Music, Crumb continues to compose new scores that enrich the musical lives of those who come in contact with his profoundly humanistic art.

Art Exhibit » 6:30 pm
“Keeping Score: Portraits of George”
Graphic scores by George Crumb accompany an exhibit of compositional-influenced paintings by San Francisco artist Peggy Gyulai.

PRE-CONCERT DISCUSSION » 6:45 pm
Special guest: Andrew Patner

CONCERT PROGRAM » 7:30 pm
The Music of George Crumb

Music for a Summer Evening “Makrokosmos III”
KLANG Contemporary Ensemble:
Amy Briggs and Fiona Queen, pianos
Sean Connors and Sean Kopp, percussion

Black Angels
Jasmine Lin and Sang Mee Lee, violins
Kristin Figard, viola, Jacob Braun, cello

Four Nocturnes
Desirée Ruhstrat, violin
Matthew Hagle, piano

American Songbook II (selections)
Barbara Ann Martin, soprano
Abraham Stokman, piano
Brett Baxter, Gregory Beyers,
Sean Kopp, and Doug Maiwurm, percussion
Stephen Burns, conductor

Just as rare. Get keyed-up for this spectacular ten grand piano salute to Steinway of Chicago. Bach's Concerto for Four Harpsichords features a quartet of MIC's top faculty pianists and a special guest, Steinway's L1037 from the documentary film Note by Note. Other multi-piano works include Mozart's Triple Concerto and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, performed by 20 pianists in "surround-sound." Enjoy a special FREE screening of the film Note by Note, The Making of Steinway L1037, on Thursday, February 5 at 6:30 pm with special guest speaker and documentary film director, Ben Niles.

Praised by the Miami Herald for their "phenomenal talent…virtuosity and eclat, "Susan and Sarah Wang are the silver medal winners of the 2008 Murray Dranoff Competition.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Martin Luther King, Jr

Communal singing played a vital role in the Civil Rights Movement, helping to propel a mass movement for social justice and individual rights for African Americans in America. The transmission and performance of resistance songs was a powerful, non-violent communicative force that transcended the Civil Rights Movements to influence subsequent movements in the United States.

SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER »
4:00-4:50 pm (followed by a 15-20 minute intermission)
Art Norman, NBC5 News Anchor and Reporter

CONCERT PROGRAM »
5:10-6:00 pm
The Brotherhood Chorale of the Apostolic Church of God

FILM SCREENING »
7:30-8:30 pm
Martin Luther King Jr. - I Have a Dream (1986)
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most famous speech is presented in its entirety, along with scenes of the civil rights struggle throughout the 1960s.

EXHIBIT »
open from 3:00-10 pm (Kogan/Blome interview » 3:15 pm)
Featuring nationally-acclaimed sculptor, Erik Blome, whose award-winning works include representations of such icons as Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King Jr.

“Art is not always made to pander, please and present what is expected. Sometimes it is about the feel of the clay and the overall power of the piece both in body language and mood and gravitas. Or, about a new personal interpretation that is meaningful to an artist and eventually is seen (not always at first sight) for the truthful symbol that it is.”
~Erik Blome

Donations made through the January Series benefit the William Warfield Endowed Scholarship Fund. This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.

A look at music in response to various political events in history--symbolizing protest, providing testament, and in some cases, acting as a catalyst for change.

Learn about the art, music, and poetry of the Holocaust, including the extraordinary story of composer, conductor, and former president of the Music Institute of Chicago, Dr. Herbert Zipper.

Lincoln Trio ignites the stage this season as they celebrate the Lincoln Bicentennial. Joined by Ravinia Festival President and CEO, Welz Kauffman as narrator, this red-hot group will perform a commissioned "Lincoln" work as well as Mendelssohn's moving Trio No.2 in C minor, Op. 66.

Featuring works by Max Reger & Julius Reubke

Do a double-take when violinist Almita Vamos collaborates with her sister, pianist Eugenia Monacelli, in a concert of works by Stravinsky, Mozart, and Ravel. Husband Roland Vamos joins the program for duo works by Robert Lombardo and Augusta Read Thomas.

Featuring works by African-American composers

9:00 AM: Kids activities & open house. 10:00 AM Concert. Composer Jim Stephenson will introduce you to the instruments of the symphony orchestra and lead the audience through the creation of a new work. Don't miss the world premiere of your very own piece of music!

Don't miss this spectacular opening season concert featuring esteemed organ soloist, Frederick Swann, National President of the American Guild of Organists. Mr. Swann's career includes pinnacle posts at Riverside Church in New York City, Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, and First Congregational Church of Los Angeles.

Live from Nichols Concert Hall at the Music Institute of Chicago, WFMT’s Introductions program presents its first organ show featuring two talented young organists: Adam Gruber and MIC student, John Kearin.

This event is free and open to the public. No RSVP necessary. Please be seated by 10:45 am, latecomers will be seated during applause.

Learn More »

The Chicago Duo Piano Festival welcomes an exciting young duo from the University of Chicago. Works by Mozart, Stravinsky, and William White.

Celebrate with a concert for EISMA (Evanston In School Music Association), featuring ragtime pianist, Reginald Robinson (2004 John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship ‘Genius Grant’ recipient) and the Music Institute of Chicago’s Ensemble-in-Residence, Orquestra de Samba. Evanston Escola de Samba (in collaboration with Youth Organizations Umbrella and Good News Partners of Chicago) will kick off the event with a workshop in Brazilian percussion and samba dance.