December 14, 2-4:30pm
Logan Center, Performance Penthouse

Join Veteran CPS music teacher Pat Pike as she facilitates Holiday jams for the entire family to recite and record. Holiday Music Videos will make the perfect gift to enjoy with your loved ones for many years to come!

This workshop will last approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Recommended for all ages.

Ticket reservations will be released if not redeemed 15 minutes prior to the start of the workshop.

December 14, 2-3pm
Logan Center, Room 603

Join the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute for this early childhood music program, designed as a nurturing musical community for children to sing, play instruments, improvise, and listen to music. Participants play games, songs, and other fun activities while learning about the violin, piano, guitar and other live instruments.

Recommended for ages 2-5.

Maximum Capacity: 20 children.

Reservations recommended.
 
Ticket reservations will be released if not redeemed 15 minutes prior to the start of the workshop.

December 14, 3-4pm
Logan Center, Room 802

Learn how to remix your favorite Holiday Songs and create musical instruments with Master Mix Academy, a DJ performing Ats and Music Production youth development program. Participants will also have an opportunity to develop skills in beats and rhythms, music structure and learning to play together in unison.

Recommended for ages 7 and up. 

Maximum capacity: 18 students.

Reservations are recommended.

Ticket reservations will be released if not redeemed 15 minutes prior to the start of the workshop.

December 14, 3-4pm
Logan Center, Room 603

Join artist Leslye Long for Happy, Cool and Crazy Ornament making. Use words of inspiration for yourself and all who will enjoy your fun abstract creations.

Appropriate for ages 7 and up.

Reservations are recommended.

Maximum capacity: 20

Ticket reservations will be released if not redeemed 15 minutes prior to the start of the workshop.

December 14, 3:15pm & 4:45pm
Logan Center, Room 003

Have you ever wanted to bring your toys to life? This fun workshop offers hands-on experience with the basics of stop-motion animation so you can start making movies at home. Bring your favorite toy to animate!
 
Recommended for ages 6-8 for the 2pm workshop and 9-11 for the 3pm workshop.

Pre-registration is recommended.

Maximum Capacity: 20 children.

Ticket reservations will be released if not redeemed 15 minutes prior to the start of the workshop.

THE 3:15PM WORKSHOP IS CURRENTLY SOLD OUT.

January 12, 2014, 3pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style and often daring repertory choices, over the past two decades the Pacifica Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today.  As the University of Chicago’s Resident Artist, they offer impeccable performances of the finest works written for string quartet.  This season, the spectacular Anthony McGill, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra principal clarinetist and Chicago native, joins the Quartet for a performance of two of the most beloved quintets in the canon.

Mozart: String Quartet in F Major, K. 590
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor, Op. 108
Brahms: String Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

January 18, 2pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

England is a classically traied violinist whose style is a musical gumbo consisting of rhythm, blues, and gospel, jazz and hip-hop.

Recommended for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 for adults & $5 for children under 17.

January 31, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Beethoven: Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11
Verdi/Liszt: Paraphrase on Aida for solo piano
Debussy: Premiere Rhapsodie for clarinet and piano
Kopytman: Kaddish for cello and piano
Brahms: Clarinet Trio, Op. 114

A concert of the Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio reflects both the special gift and originality of the three artists as soloists as well as their marvelous sense of ensemble and love of chamber music. In addition to their shared Israeli roots, these exceptional artists also spent summers in Vermont at the Marlboro Music Festival, where so many of today’s prominent artists were deeply influenced and inspired.

“The ensemble recalibrated its sound…to touch on these conflicting emotions and played with the kind of spotless technique that keeps the attention focused.” (The New York Times)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Myth and Awakening

Anna Weesner:  Lift High, Reckon-Fly Low, Come Close
Brett Dean:  Sextet (Old Kings in Exile)
Augusta Read Thomas:  Twilight Butterfly for soprano and piano
John Orfe:  Leviathan for 2 clarinets and piano
Lei Liang: Yuan for saxophone quartet

Performers to include eighth blackbird, Anubis Quartet, and Julia Bentley, mezzo soprano and Daniel Won, clarinet

A program of Chicago “firsts” including:   Old Kings in Exile, a recent work by Australian composer Brett Dean, described as a “masterly achievement” (Daily Telegraph) and co-commissioned by the Nash Ensemble, the Australia Ensemble and eighth blackbird.  Lei Liang’s work for saxophone quartet, performed by the pioneering Anubis Quartet, is “a 15-minute tour de force: a dense example of profound cross-culturalism.” (James Keller, Chamber Music magazine)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Saturday, February 15th, 8pm
Logan Center, Performance Penthouse

REMEMBERING  MABEL

KT SULLIVAN salutes “The Singer’s Singer”  Mabel Mercer with songs introduced by her like   “Love For Sale,”  “Fly Me To The Moon.”, “It Was Worth It”, and  “While We’re Young”.

Frank Sinatra said “Everything I know about  phrasing, I learned from Mabel Mercer”.  

The New Yorker calls KT Sullivan  “as vocally, comically and theatrically assured as contemporary cabaret performers get.”  She  recently appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Brian Stokes Mitchell in Broadway Today, at the Humanities Festival in Chicago with Dave Frishberg. KT has headlined at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, The Spoleto Festival, The Nouvelle Eve in Paris, The Chichester Festival in England and the Adelaide Festival in Australia. She was a guest star on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion and has seven albums in worldwide distribution on the DRG label.   She received the “Mabel Award” for Lifetime Achievement from the Mabel Mercer Foundation and Liza Minnelli presented her with the Manhattan Association of Cabaret & Clubs’ Outstanding Female Vocalist Award.  KT was named one of  the top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America magazine and is married to outstanding Irish-American Steve Downey, President of the New York Browning Society.  In April 2012, KT became the Artistic Director of the Mabel Mercer Foundation. KT's Broadway credits include Suky Tawdry in Three Penny Opera with Sting and the leading role, Lorelei Lee, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Broadway. She also toured nationally as Dolly Tate in Annie Get Your Gun with Cathy Rigby.  KT has guest starred on Police Squad, Night Court, Remington Steele, Hardcastle and McCormick, Simon & Simon, Cabaret 13 with Michael Feinstein and In Performance at the White House with Mary Martin.

Tickets: $40 General Preferred (cabaret seating), $30 General Admission, $10 U of C Students

November 21, 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

“[Thomas’s music] explodes with an extroverted boldness of utterance audiences and musicians alike find challenging yet immediate. It’s music that doesn’t sound like anybody else’s—music that insists you pay attention.” -John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune

Internationally acclaimed composer Augusta Read Thomas composed Resounding Earth for Third Coast Percussion, collecting over 125 bells from around the world to create a beautiful and completely unprecedented sound world.

Burmese spinning bells, Indian “Noah” bells, Japanese rin (“singing bowls”), Thai gongs and many more bells and bell-sounds from around the world are brought together on a single stage to create a powerful new work by one of the most sought-after composers working today.  The program is rounded out by two other works that marry sounds from East and West.

Resounding Earth was commissioned by The University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center with additional funding from The Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts/Department of Music and the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program, with generous funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.

Program: 

7:30 pm Concert Program
Guo Wenjing: Parade
John Cage: Third Construction
Augusta Read Thomas: Resounding Earth

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Saturday, February 22, 2014 - 2:00pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

THIRD COAST PERCUSSION

“The Color of Sound”

Join Chicago’s premiere percussion ensemble for a fun-filled program for all ages. The quartet will bang, scrape, and shake a stage full of instruments including tin cans, glass bottles, a wooden log, and percussion instruments from 5 continents. After the performance, join Third Coast on stage for a chance to play these instruments yourself in their “instrument petting zoo.”

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

February 28, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Andrea Marcon, conductor
Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor

Porpora: Overture from Il Germanico
Porpora: Mira in cielo
             Si pietoso il tuo labbro (Semiramide riconosciuta)
Leo: Overture from L'Olimpiade
Porpora: Nel già bramoso petto (Ifigenia in Aulide)
             Come nave in ria tempesta (Semiramide d' Assiria)
Porpora: Dall´amor piu sventurato (Orfeo)
              Le limpid´onde (Ifigenia in Aulide)              
Cimarosa: La Tempesta, in tempo di Ciaccona           
Porpora: Alto Giove (Polifemo - from autograph version)            
             Nell´attendere il mio bene (Polifemo)

Rival of Handel and teacher of Haydn and Farinelli, Nicola Porpora was a celebrated Neapolitan composer and singing teacher.  The charismatic, impeccable and award-winning Philippe Jaroussky makes his Chicago debut with the Venice Baroque Orchestra, one of Europe’s premier ensembles devoted to period instrument performance.  Together they champion Porpora’s music.  Instrumental gems by other Italian composers feature the VBO’s virtuosity and round out this delightful program that brings the warmth of Italy to a Chicago winter evening.

“The musicians attack their instruments with vigor, using all of the tools at their disposal to create a multisensory experience.” (The New York Times)

“You could hear Jaroussky’s luscious tones sail up from the stage below with heartrending precision, his often-naked voice rippling, diving, and soaring.” (The New York Times)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

March 2, 3pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
5850 South Woodlawn Ave

Minnesota gem VocalEssence (famous as the voices of A Prairie Home Companion, but in real life a world class professional choir that regularly offers new American work) sings a world première of Tim Takach alongside sacred works of Benjamin Britten and his contemporaries that are rarely heard in concert.

Running Time: Appx. 2 hours with one intermission. Doors open at 2pm.

Tickets: $20 General Admission

Sunday, March 2, 2014 @ 3pm
Logan Center, Performance Penthouse

New Music for Violin and Piano

Miranda Cuckson, violin

Ning Yu, piano

Iannis Xenakis:  Dikhthas
Unsuk Chin:  three selective etudes
Jae-Goo Lee: noi-I (I)
Sofia Gubaidulina:  Dancer on a Tightrope
Georg Friedrich Haas:  de terrae fine
Mario Davidovsky:  Duo Capriccioso

Fearless violinist Miranda Cuckson (“undeniable musicality…she plays with such beauty and assurance”—Allan Kozinn, New York Times) and Boucourechliev Prize-winning pianist Ning Yu present a program of contemporary violin and piano music in the spectacular and intimate Logan Performance Penthouse.

Seating for this performance will be General Admission.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

Friday, March 7th, 7:30pm
Logan Center, Performance Hall

Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet; Sam Harris, piano; Harish Raghavan, bass; Charles Altura, guitar; Justin Brown, drums

            The Ambrose Akinmusire Project, latest works

Winner of the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Competition, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire records on the prestigious Blue Note label.  Named by the L.A. Times as one of the 2011 “Faces to Watch,” Akinmusire has collaborated with the leading artists of contemporary jazz, including Vijay Iyer, Stefon Harris, Christian McBride and his mentor, Jason Moran.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

March 14-16, 2014
Mandel Hall
1131 E 57th St

Gilbert and Sullivan's canonic comic operetta drops anchor at Mandel Hall with the 40-member University Chamber Orchestra and new stage director Charlie Marie McGrath. The satirical Victorian tale sets adrift aristocratic airs in honor of true love. The score includes: "I'm Called Little Buttercup," "When I Was a Lad," "I Am the Captain of the Pinafore" and many others that will have you singing from the masts.

Appropriate for all ages.

Tickets: $50 Donors, $20 General, $5 Students and Children

Approximate run time: 120 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.

All orders including student tickets will be held at Will Call. A valid student ID will be required to pick up the tickets.

March 22, 2pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo of Eth-Noh-Tec weave music, dance, and rhythmic dialogue, to inspire the imagination and to bring their stories alive.

Run time: 60 minutes.

Appropriate for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 General, $5 Children under 17

April 4, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Rockefeller Chapel

Marie & Marion: Motets and Songs from the Montpellier Codex

“Pure, simple and stunning” (The Denver Post) describes the four rarified voices of Anonymous 4. The acclaimed quartet returns to Rockefeller Chapel with a program of 13^th century motets from the Montpellier Codex.  Marie & Marion examines fin amours—images, metaphors, turns of phrase—as applied to both earthly love (Marion) and devotion to the Virgin Mary. It summarizes the ethos of an entire age in Western civilization, wrapped in music of endless variety and exotic beauty.

“[N]o matter the style, the group has a knack for bringing out the music’s ritual comforting in its formality while intriguing in its mystery.” (Boston Globe)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

April 5, 2014 at 8pm
Logan Center, Performance Penthouse

BERLIN IN SWINGTIME

Celebrated chanteuse Spider Saloff will present a rare performance that explores the life and songs of Irving Berlin with Chicago's Jeremy Kahn at the piano.

SPIDER SALOFF

Among her 6 concert offerings, Spider Saloff''s, "The Memory of All That" is one of the rare officially sanctioned acts of the Gershwin Centennial.

As a guest vocalist, Ms. Saloff has performed with symphony orchestras across the country. She had the honor of preforming the American Premiere of "So This Is Love", a newly discovered song by the great Billy Strayhorn. Saloff received a special citation for her musical contributions from NARAS (the presenter of the Grammy Awards). Spider Saloff has recorded and performed with jazz luminaries as the late great Les Paul, and current stars, Michael Feinstein, Mark Murphy and Dick Hyman.

Television and radio credits include: THE BONNIE HUNT SHOW (CBS), THE STEVE BASKERVILLE SHOW (CBS), CENTERSTAGE (PBS), ARTBEAT (PBS), WORDS & MUSIC (syndicated series, 57 episodes), a one-hour feature on the NOTEWORTHY WOMEN series (Public Radio), and STUDS TERKEL (WMFT), (www.spidersaloff.com)

Tickets: $40 General Preferred (cabaret seating), $30 General Admission, $10 U of C Students

April 13, 3pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
5850 South Woodlawn Ave

James MacMillan has redefined sacred choral music in our time. His massive St. John Passion for large orchestra, double choral forces, and baritone soloist is performed in partnership with the Northwestern Bienen School of Music under the direction of choral visionary Donald Nally. 

Running Time: Appx. 2 hours with one intermission. Doors open at 2pm.

Tickets: $20 General Admission

April 13, 2014, 3pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style and often daring repertory choices, over the past two decades the Pacifica Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. As the University of Chicago’s Resident Artist, they offer impeccable performances of the finest works written for string quartet. This season, the spectacular Anthony McGill, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra principal clarinetist and Chicago native, joins the Quartet for a performance of two of the most beloved quintets in the canon.

Anthony McGill, clarinet

Mozart: Quintet for clarinet and strings in A Major, K. 581
Brahms: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

April 16, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Rockefeller Chapel

Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ

Under the baton of conductor Patrick Quigley, Grammy^®-nominated choir Seraphic Fire (“supple, effortless tone and perfect blend” – ClevelandClassical.com) and Chicago's own Spektral Quartet (“style, soul and seriousness” – Chicago Classical Review) join forces to perform Josef Haydn's Seven Last Words of Christ, a powerful, deeply moving work that tells the story of the crucifixion through music, during Holy Week.  The piece comprises an introduction, seven slow movements corresponding to the seven phrases spoken by Christ on the cross, and a musical depiction of the earthquake following the crucifixion.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

April 25, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Chicago recital debut

Mozart: Sonata in D Major, K. 576
Beethoven: Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13, Pathétique
Chopin: Nocturne in A-flat Major, Op. 32
              Two polonaises, Op. 40
              Three mazurkas, Op. 63
              Scherzo no. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39

In 2005 Rafal Blechacz was the uncontested winner of the 15^th Frederic Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, garnering not only the Grand Prize, but also all four of the special prizes (mazurka, polonaise, concerto and sonata) and the Competition’s audience prize.   Now with an exclusive Deutsche Grammophon recording contract, much acclaim and numerous awards (including Esso Klassik Awards, 2012 and 2008; Fryderyk awards, 2010 and 2008), Blechacz makes his Chicago debut.

“Blechacz’s playing was a revelation. The clarity, the finesse, the discipline with tempo and dynamics and the maturity of it were striking.” (Gramophone)

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

April 26, 2014, 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

10^th Anniversary with Patricia Barber

Pacifica Quartet
Lisa Kaplan, piano
Nicholas Photinos, cello
Nicholas Reed, percussion

Marta Ptaszynska: Space Model for solo percussion
Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Habil-Sayagy for cello and prepared piano
Elena Firsova: String Quartet No. 11 “Purgatorium”
Patricia Barber Quartet

The 10^th anniversary celebration of the Contempo Double Bill puts the work of top creative women in music from around the world front and center stage.  The intrepid jazz artist Patricia Barber leads her quartet in the second half.

“Cross Diane Krall with Susan Sontag and you get Patricia Barber, whose throaty, come-hither vocals and coolly incisive piano are displayed to devastating effect.” (Time magazine)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

May 2, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Mandel Hall, 1131 E 57th St

Haydn: String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76, No. 2, “Quinten”
Krzysztof Penderecki: String Quartet No. 3: Leaves from an unwritten diary
Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in
Verdi: String Quartet in E Minor

Celebrating its 30^th anniversary season, the Shanghai Quartet has become one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles and is renowned for its passionate musicality, impressive technique and multicultural innovations.  Capping a season of celebrations, including Chicago Presents’ 70^th and Giuseppe Verdi’s 200^th, the Shanghai closes an elegant program with Verdi’s one and only string quartet, written during a production delay of his opera Aida.

“The Shanghai cohesively blends the music’s pulsing rhythms and thrusting figurations with intelligence and grace.” (The New York Times)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

May 9, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Enjoy music by some of today’s finest young composers, performed by Contempo’s resident ensembles, eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet.  Programs will include dissertation works by UChicago doctoral candidates in composition.

Tickets are complimentarly but reservations are suggested.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

May 16, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Roosevelt University, Ganz Hall

Enjoy music by some of today’s finest young composers, performed by Contempo’s resident ensembles, eighth blackbird and the Pacifica Quartet.  Programs will include dissertation works by UChicago doctoral candidates in composition.

Tickets are complimentary but reservations are recommended.

Click here to visit the University of Chicago Presents website.

Julie and Parker Hall Annual Jazz Concert

May 30, 2014 @ 7:30pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Variations on the Great American Songbook

Jazz piano lovers won’t want to miss this special double bill treat.  The legendary and versatile Dick Hyman brings his “uplifting elegance and jaw-dropping chops” (NPR) to a selection of solo jazz piano works.  Then Bill Charlap, regarded as one of the premiere interpreters of the Great American Songbook, and his long-standing trio partners take the stage for their interpretations on “America’s classical music.”

“Charlap ranges over the keyboard with nimble, crisply swinging lines, subtly layered textures, dense chords, and spiky interjections.” (TIME Magazine)

Click here to visit the Chicago Presents website.

Online and phone orders include a $1 handling fee per ticket.

May 31, 2pm
Logan Center Performance Hall

Storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston and string jazz musician John Blake Jr. come together to perform "Fiddlin' with Stories," a performance of four stories that reinforces community values and keeps history alive.

Run Time: appx. one hour.

Appropriate for ages 6 and up.

Tickets: $10 Adults, $5 Children under 17.