On May 30, Ensemble Dal Niente closes its Chicago season with four great works never before heard in the United States: a world premiere for mixed ensemble by Igor Santos, written for the ensemble with commissioning support by the Koussevitsky Music Foundation of the Library of Congress, along with pieces by Liza Lim, Luis Fernando Rizo Salom, and Fausto Romitelli. Audience members can enjoy complimentary food and drink in the lobby immediately following the concert.

With the friendly support of

Ensemble Dal Niente performs as part of a residency at the University of Tulsa.

Ensemble Dal Niente performs as part of a residency at the University of North Texas.

Dal Niente returns to Western Michigan University for a concert and residency with student composers.

Dal Niente performs as part of a residency at Appalachian State University.

Dal Niente is delighted to be a part of Composers Now Dialogues in Chicago on August 17: three composers, three ensembles, three performances, and a composer discussion moderated by the great Tania León. We'll be performing The Wild Iris by Kari Watson, alongside performances by the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) and the Grossman Ensemble.

Ensemble Dal Niente presents flutist Emma Hospelhorn along with fellow ensemble members Caitlin Edwards (violin) and Juan Horie (cello) in the gorgeous catacombs space of the Epiphany Center for the Arts.

PROGRAM (* indicates world premiere) 

Aida Shirazi, Whispering in the Wind (2020) for alto flute solo

Igor Santos, flautando (2024)* for alto flute and violin

Hilda Paredes, Chaczidzib (1992) for piccolo solo

Marcos Balter, delete/control/option (2008) for alto flute and cello

Katinka Kleijn, Free Dive (2021) for improvised flutes, filters, and loopers

Emma Hospelhorn, Logrus Voice II (2024)*

PROGRAM NOTES

Whispering in the Wind (2020)
This short piece is based on an excerpt from a poem by 14th century Iranian classical poet, Hafez. The English translation of the excerpt is as follows:

“When the snare of the tress was loosened from around the lover’s heart,

The lover whispers to Saba wind (east wind, wind of the lovers) to conceal their secret."          

—Aida Shirazi

flautando (2024) * (world premiere)

flautando was commissioned by Emma Hospelhorn for her solo concert at Ensemble Dal Niente’s Presents series. Written for alto flute and violin, the piece explores the fusion of these instruments through shared materials, range, and techniques, including the violin technique “flautando” (a combination of precise control of bow speed and pressure that generates a flute-like sound).The work is structured around fragments of a song by Jackson do Pandeiro called "Canto da Ema," nodding to the commissioner’s first name.

Dedicated to both Emma and Caitlin Edwards, who will premiere the work, "flautando" is an exploration of timbral unity and musical nostalgia.

—Igor Santos

Chaczidzib (1992)

The title of the piece is the name of a red chest bird in Maya and it is taken from an ancient Mayan prophecy:

“The bird Ek Buc, which is the bird dressed in black and the Chaczidzib, the bird dressed in red, the former representing the conqueror and the latter the Indian, would have an encounter, that refers to the war which would be held. The black bird would be wounded and blood would be shed. The idea of blood prevails in the prophecy and its symbol is the red bird. The Ek Buc would go towards the sea, while the red bird would sing farwell. This is the expression of hope that one day this disgraceful age would come to an end”.

– Amerindmaya by Luis Rosado Vega

—Hilda Paredes

delete/control/option (2008)

Part of a collection written between 2007 and 2009 named after computing syntax, delete/control/option is based on the incongruities between voluntary and involuntary actions. Its fragile and meditative surface disguises its quiet virtuosity in which sonic complexity is born not from the written idea but from the physical attempt at recreating it. delete/control/ option was commissioned by Boston's New Gallery Music Series, and it is dedicated to Sarah Brady and Sarah Bob, with admiration and gratitude.  

—Marcos Balter

Free Dive (2021)

Free Dive for flutes, filters and loop pedals was inspired by the existence of the human mammalian dive reflex. Freediving requires a specific kind of meditative state, and free divers feel that they interact more naturally with the animal sea world without dive equipment. Being underwater both physically and aurally always brings me to a different mental state, as does imagining it. With the help of electronic filters, I searched for a process that made a musician descend in a psychological sea and, on the bottom, experience an environment with a kind of almost daunting freedom, and see what they would find.

—Katinka Kleijn

Logrus Voice II (2024) *

Inspired by a fictional chaos construct whose voice changes timbre, gender, and affect from syllable to syllable, my improvised Logrus Voice series juxtaposes fragments from wildly different techniques and playing styles.

—Emma Hospelhorn

Join Dal Niente for our spring fundraiser, featuring an evening of food, drinks, music, silent auction, and camaraderie with the artists, staff and board of your favorite new music ensemble. Musical performances will include Toru Takemitsu’s gorgeous Rain Spell for flute, clarinet, harp, piano, and vibraphone, along with solo works by Andile Khumalo and Anthony R. Green, and a brand new work for improvising game players by the ensemble’s own Constance Volk.

VIP Hour at 7:30, doors at 8, show at 8:30!

VIP tickets are $75 and include drink ticket and access to the special VIP hour at 7:30.

All tickets include savory pies from Honeydoe Authentic Mediterranean Kitchen and cash bar.

Program

7:30pm VIP time with artists
8:00pm General Seating
8:30pm Concert

Andile Khumalo, Schau-fe[r]n-ster II (2021) for solo piano

Anthony R. Green, Movements in Movement and Sound (2019) for vibraphone and objects

-Break-

Constance Volk, PLAY US (2024) for performers and audience

-Break-

  Toru Takemitsu, Rain Spell (1982) for flute, clarinet, piano, harp, percussion

Performers

Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, soprano
Emma Hospelhorn, flute
Katherine Jimoh, clarinet
Zachary Good, clarinet
Ben Melsky, harp
Kyle Flens, percussion
Mabel Kwan, piano

Dal Niente performs a program of chamber works as part of a three-day residency at San Francisco State University. There will be a pre-concert talk at 2pm.

Dal Niente returns to Carleton College to perform Suzanne Farrin’s opera Dolce la morte, based on the love poetry of Michelangelo and scored for countertenor and ensemble (oboe, bassoon, harp, violin, viola, cello, double bass).

Dal Niente performs as a featured guest ensemble at the Red Note New Music Festival, with a curated concert at 11am, as well as a concert of student works at 8pm.

Dal Niente returns to the 2024 Frequency Festival with a program featuring the world premiere of Transom, a large-scale new work from Louis Goldford, commissioned for Dal Niente by the Fromm Foundation. Also on the program are Lei Liang’s glassine, skittering Listening for Blossoms (2013) for flute, harp, violin, viola, double bass and piano; a new orchestration by Kari Watson, winner of the 2023 Kranichstein Music Prize; and Carlos Carrillo’s dancing, magnetic Observaciones Obreras for violin and piano, as well as Wang Lu’s After some remarks by CW on his work for harp and clarinet.

Program

Kari Watson, a door has no inside
Wang Lu, After some remarks by CW on his work
Lei Liang, Listening for Blossoms
Carlos Carrillo, Observaciones Obreras
Louis Goldford, Transom (world premiere)