8:30pm.

You can watch the livestream HERE.

If you watch the livestream, please support the artists by purchasing a livestream ticket.

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Frequency Series Presents: Kurtág@100: Chicago Festival of György Kurtág

Kafka Fragments op. 24 (1987)

Dan Galat (violin) and Liza Sobel Crane (soprano)

Selections from Játékok (Games)

Shi-An Costello (piano)

Brefs Messages 1 Fanfare á Olivier Cuendet for trumpet and trombone

Summa der Sprüche des P.B. Péter Bornemisza for contrabass and trumpet

Hommage a John Cage for contrabass and trumpet

6 pieces for trombone and piano

Einige Sätze aus der Sudelbuchern Georg Christoph Lichtenbergs for mezzo soprano and 2 trumpets, french horn and contrabass

In memoriam György Zilcz (1975) for 5 brass

Fulcrum Point New Music Project:

Stephen Burns, Artistic Director/trumpet

Rebecca Oliverio, trumpet

Momo Hasselbring Seko, French horn

Kirk Ferguson, trombone

Robyn Smith, trombone

Kevin Harrison, tuba

Predrag Kovčević, musicologist - Pre Concert Talk

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Born in 1926, György Kurtág is one of Europe’s most important living composers and, at 100, remains actively engaged in composing new music. Deeply connected to Hungarian musical traditions while drawing on the broader history of classical music, Kurtág’s intensely expressive works have earned him an international reputation as one of the defining composers of his generation. Across the three programs, audiences will encounter the remarkable variety of Kurtág’s music, from intimate miniatures to expansive chamber works, unusual instrumental combinations, and virtuosic performance techniques. The festival features more than 300 minutes of music, including works that are rarely heard together and rarely performed in the United States. The festival brings together an exceptional roster of performers, including Stephen Burns, trumpet, Shi-An Costello, piano, Liza Sobel Crane, soprano, Kirk Ferguson, Trombone, Dan Galat, violin, Zachary Good, clarinet, Jonathan Hannau, piano, Kevin Harrison, tuba, Myra Hinrichs, violin, Sasha Ishov, flute, Predrag Kovčević, musicologist / Rebecca Oliverio, trumpet, Kelly Quesada, cello, Momo Hasselbring Seko, french horn, Robyn Smith, trombone, Ilana Waniuk, violin, Will Yager, double bass. The festival is a collaboration among Fulcrum Point Music, New Music Chicago, Constellation's Frequency Series, Experimental Sound Studio, and Bridgeport Music Collective, with support from the Tulipán Foundation’s Cultural Connection Award and Illinois Arts Council..

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Liza Sobel Crane is a soprano and composer based in Chicago. She is thrilled to be one of the cofounders and organizers of the Chicago György Kurtág Festival. As a singer, Liza regularly performs both standard and new repertoire, including her own music. She frequently performs music by living emerging composers, and numerous composers have written pieces for her. Composers’ music she has performed include: Nathaniel Canfield, Nicholas Cline, Jonathan Hannau, Chung Eun Kim, Tyler Kramlich, Tom Peterson, Maxwell Ramage, Tom Schneller, Alex Taylor, Jasmine Thomasian, Zachary Wadsworth, and Ben Zucker. In addition, she regularly collaborated with the late Walter Hilse, composer, organist, and professor at Manhattan School of Music, who composed twelve pieces for Liza. Liza sang in Rutgers University's Opera Program. She also attended the Castleton Artists Training Seminar festival, founded by the late Maestro Lorin Maazel. Liza performed a recital of new music by Chicago based composers and George Crumb's Apparition with pianist Jonathan Hannau at Constellation as part of the Ear Taxi Festival. Last season, Liza performed a concert of new vocal chamber music for soprano and piano trio.

As a composer, her music is often influenced by social issues. Venues her music has been performed in include Carnegie Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Symphony Space, Bang on a Can, Aspen, Creative Lab, Aldeburgh Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Norfolk New Music Workshop, Brevard, Lakes Area Music Festival, and Bowdoin. Performers that have played her music include: Orchestra of St. Luke's, Minnesota Orchestra, Ensemble Dal Niente, Thalea Quartet, Spektral Quartet, Cygnus Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, Nouveau Classical Project, and Ekmeles. Her string trio Soaring was featured on the PBS special Songs About Buildings and Moods, which pairs new music inspired by architecture. Liza was a Fulbright scholar to the UK.

Liza studied at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music (DMA), Rutgers University’s Mason Gross Conservatory (MA); Cornell University (BA with honors), and Manhattan School of Music. For more information, please see her website, lizasobel.com

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Dan Galat is a Chicago-based violinist and violist, a classically trained performer comfortable across a wide range of styles and techniques. Working primarily with living composers, Dan is a founding member of Missing Piece, a Chicago based musical ensemble that has commissioned over forty new musical works. Dan has recently performed with Fulcrum Point New Music, Crossing Borders Music, Access Contemporary Music, Chicago Composers Orchestra (concertmaster), Manuel Cinema, Sigur Ros, Louisiana Philharmonic and Illinoise - an dance adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’ album. He has received grants from New Music USA, Illinois Arts Council and Chicago DCASE for his creative musical work. 

Dan completed his BM and MM at Indiana University studying with Kevork Mardirossian, Joseph Swensen, and Desiree Ruhstrat. Dan is a dedicated teacher of the instrument and is on faculty at Merit School of Music as conductor and teacher. Dan is a founder of the Bridgeport Music Collective, an artist-run space for performance, education and music therapy in his home neighborhood of Bridgeport on Chicago’s South Side. On November 6th, Dan will be releasing an album GOTTA DO MORE of creative string music with collaborators heroes, interlopers on 1473.  

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Described as “…a tour de force…” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), pianist Shi-An Costello has trailblazed a path truly unique, with repertoire that spans the aesthetic sensibilities of four centuries, from J.S. Bach to Franz Schubert, from Chopin to Brian Ferneyhough, to include "speaking pianist" repertoire, and the most current of musical styles. Costello currently works as a session pianist for IFC Films, IMAX Films, and independent Chicagoland productions, and in the classical/contemporary classical realm, has performed with members of Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Toronto, Minnesota, Milwaukee, Winnipeg, Honolulu, and Thunder Bay Symphonies, the Lyric Opera Orchestra of Chicago, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Dal Niente and Sound Icon. Shi-An is currently staff pianist for DePaul University and the Musical Pathways Initiative of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others.

The festival is a collaboration among Fulcrum Point Music, New Music Chicago, Constellation, Experimental Sound Studio, and Bridgeport Music Collective, with support from the Tulipán Foundation’s Cultural Connection Award and Illinois Arts Council.