Four ground-breaking composers. Four world premieres. Dal Niente's 2018-2019 commissioning project is To Be Heard

september 30: Erin Gee

Erin Gee’s award-winning Mouthpiece series, which uses non-traditional vocal sounds to construct intricate sonic landscapes, has garnered the composer international recognition. In this new work for Dal Niente, Gee will approach the sound-world of specific insects, animals and plants, mapping insect and human sound-production techniques on to each other; slices of both will mitigate the identity of the performing sound-body.

February 24: Ted Hearne, Viola Yip

Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker that Ted Hearne's music "holds up as a complex mirror image of an information-saturated, mass-surveillance world, and remains staggering in its impact." In his new work for Dal Niente, Hearne hopes “to mine the triggers - both sonic and cultural - embedded in the signifiers of musical style.”

Meanwhile, Viola Yip’s music explores the resonances between the visual and the sonic. In the Hong Kong and NYC-based composer’s new work for Dal Niente, musicians will interact stage-sized “chandelier” of lights as well as their own instruments, creating a multi-sensory experience that uses space, light, and sound as musical material.

June 3: Anthony Cheung

As part of a co-commission with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dal Niente will premiere a new composition by Anthony Cheung at the LAPhil’s Noon to Midnight Festival June 1st, before returning home to give the work its Chicago premiere.