Artelize - A Symphony of Strings and Keys: Northwestern Bienen School's 2024-25 Musical Extravaganza
main-artelize-logo

Loading...

Featured

A Symphony of Strings and Keys: Northwestern Bienen School's 2024-25 Musical Extravaganza

As the Northwestern Bienen School of Music unveils its remarkable 2024-25 season, music enthusiasts are treated to an eclectic symphony of performances that promise to captivate and inspire. With a series of recitals and chamber music events, audiences will experience the brilliance of world-renowned artists like Louis Lortie, the Dover Quartet, and the Miró Quartet, alongside exciting collaborations such as Third Coast Percussion with Jessie Montgomery. This season at Northwestern University’s Evanston, IL campus stands as a testament to the power and diversity of classical music, offering a vibrant tapestry of sound that transcends boundaries and celebrates artistic excellence.

Nov 29, 2024
frame icon Share
1. A Few of Our Favorite Things
Single tickets and subscriptions to the 2024-25 season of Keyboard Conversations are now available.
titleImage
Dec 13, 2024
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

2. Dover Quartet
“The power of the Dover Quartet to communicate a work with awesome sophistication borders on the spiritual…” raves the Calgary Herald. Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last century by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The group’s awards include a sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award. Recent collaborators include pianist Emanuel Ax, harpist Bridget Kibbey, bassist Edgar Meyer, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines, and the quartet has premiered works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.
titleImage
Jan 10, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

3. Third Coast Percussion with Jessie Montgomery
Grammy Award-winning composer and violinist Jessie Montgomery joins the Grammy Award-winning Chicago-based quartet Third Coast Percussion for their first performance of 2025 and the first performance of their new program "Strum, Strike, Bend."
titleImage
Jan 11, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

4. Trio Valtorna
The Danbury News-Times praises Trio Valtorna’s balance of “gentleness and power.” Bringing together the gifts of three internationally recognized artists, Trio Valtorna formed in 2011 when, after performing together at New Mexico’s Music from Angel Fire, violinist Ida Kavafian and horn player Daivd Jolley decided to extend their collaboration, inviting pianist Gilles Vonsattel to complete the ensemble. Highlights of the trio’s recent seasons include performances with Delaware’s Coastal Concerts series, the Birmingham Chamber Music Society, California’s Chamber on the Mountain, and the Auburn Chamber Music Society.
titleImage
Jan 12, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

5. Vertavo String Quartet
“With phenomenal expressive flexibility, the Vertavo moved from warmest sensuality to knife-edge brittleness,” declares The Guardian. Since their founding in 1984, the Vertavo String Quartet has captivated audiences the world over, winning Norway’s Grieg Prize as well as taking First Prize, the Audience Prize, and the Critics’ Prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. The quartet has toured extensively throughout Europe, the US, and Japan, and the group’s collaborations have included pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Leif Ove Andsnes, clarinetist Sabine Meyer, and violinist and violist Isabelle van Keulen. Their 2000 recording of Debussy and Grieg quartets received the Diapason d’Or.
titleImage
Jan 17, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

6. Viano Quartet
In a recent review of the Viano Quartet, the Boston Globe proclaims, “…one stopped listening for influences and just hung on for the thrill of the ride.” Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the group has traveled to major cities around the world, and was named the inaugural June Goldsmith Quartet-in-Residence for Vancouver’s Music in the Morning series. The quartet is also the recipient of the Grand Prize at the 2019 ENKOR International Music Competition, as well as the Haydn Prize and Sidney Griller Award at the 2018 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The group’s collaborations have included pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Inon Barnatan, violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, soprano Hila Plitmann, and clarinetist David Shifrin.
titleImage
Jan 19, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

7. Dudok Quartet Amsterdam
ChicagoClassicalReview.com praises the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam’s “unflappably elegant style” and “sublime, incandescent” playing. 2018 winner of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust award, the quartet has also received the coveted Kersjes Prize (The Netherlands’ highest honor for a chamber ensemble) and numerous Editor’s Choice awards from Gramophone magazine. The ensemble’s recent projects have included the world premiere of the Kaija Saariaho opera Only the Sound Remains with Philippe Jaroussky and the Dutch National Opera, as well as a collaboration with director Rosabel Huguet re-imagining Beethoven’s Op. 132 String Quartet for children. The group’s 2023 release, Circus Dinogad—a project conceived with contralto Hilary Summers and the theorbo and bass clarinet duo of Mike Fentross and Maarten Ornstein—traverses eras and genres, from Renaissance lute songs, folk songs, and lullabies to a newly-composed set of works covering the Seven Deadly Sins.
titleImage
Jan 24, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

8. Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane Duo
Pianist, conductor, and scholar Jeffrey Kahane is in the fifth decade of an expansive and versatile career which has included concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphonies, recitals with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, and collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca, and Calidore String Quartets. Grand Prize winner of the 1983 Arthur Rubinstein International Competition, Jeffrey Kahane performs with his son Gabriel Kahane, a musician and storyteller whose work increasingly exists at the intersection of art and social practice. As a composer, Gabriel Kahane has been commissioned by many of America’s leading arts institutions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Public Theater, which in 2012 presented his musical February House. A frequent collaborator across a range of musical communities, Kahane has worked with an array of artists including Paul Simon, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Shaw, and Chris Thile.
titleImage
Jan 25, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

9. Miró Quartet
Hailed for their “explosive vigor and technical finesse” by the New York Times, the Miró Quartet has garnered first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg International Chamber Music Competition, among others. Highlights of the quartet’s 2023-24 season have included the performance and recording project Here on Earth with pianist Lara Downes, the premiere of a new version of Kevin Puts’s Credo with the Naples Philharmonic, and performances for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and Premiere Performances in Hong Kong.
titleImage
Jan 26, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Northwestern University

10. Louis Lortie, piano
Pianist Louis Lortie appears in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, including London’s Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, Carnegie Hall, Beethovenfest Bonn, and Liszt Festival Raiding. He has established long-term partnerships with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, and Dresden Philharmonic in Europe, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony in the US. Lortie’s vast recording catalogue includes Liszt’s complete Années de pèlerinage, which was named as one of the top ten recordings of 2012 by the New Yorker. Lortie has studied with Yvonne Hubert, with Beethoven specialist Dieter Weber, and with Schnabel disciple Leon Fleisher. In 1984, Lortie won First Prize in the Busoni Competition and was a prizewinner at the Leeds Competition.
titleImage
Jan 31, 2025
Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Evanston, IL · Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall

Conclusion
The Northwestern Bienen School of Music's 2024-25 season is a testament to the richness and diversity of classical music. As audiences gather at Northwestern University, they will be treated to a series of performances that not only highlight the technical prowess of world-class artists but also celebrate the innovative spirit of contemporary music. From the passionate string quartets to the introspective piano recitals, each concert is an invitation to experience the profound emotional journey that music affords. This season promises not just moments of beauty, but also a deeper appreciation for the timeless art of music-making.
frame icon Share
2025 Artelize