Over two days in February, the Bienen School’s Contemporary Music Ensemble presents a program honoring the profound artistic dialogue and enduring friendship between Yoko Ono and John Cage — two visionaries whose radical ideas reshaped the boundaries of music, performance and conceptual art. The performances take place on Northwestern’s Evanston campus and at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
“I’ve been fascinated by Ono and Cage for years: their personal and artistic relationship, and the transformative effect that their ideas had on the avante-garde, in both the art and pop music worlds,” explains Contemporary Music Ensemble co-conductor Alan Pierson. “I’m thrilled to get to develop this program about their story and legacy in dialogue with the Museum of Contemporary Art, and their ‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ exhibition.”
Winter programming continues with a visit to the Bienen School by the TAK Ensemble for workshop rehearsals of new music by composition students, followed by an evening performance premiering the works.
In March, the Contemporary Music Ensemble performs music by Pulitzer Prize-winning guest composer Raven Chacon at Evanston’s Alice Millar Chapel.
Contemporary Music Ensemble co-conductor Ben Bolter says that Chacon “continues to astonish me with his direct and unorthodox approach to live performance. He constantly looks at the relevant spaces in which we perform as integral and crucial to the presentation itself.”
Program details follow:
Friday, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m.
Galvin Recital Hall, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
Alan Pierson and Ben Bolter, conductors
Tickets: $8 general public, $5 students
The ensemble celebrates the friendship and artistic connection between avant-garde greats Yoko Ono and John Cage in this program featuring Ono’s “Sky Piece to Jesus Christ” and “Pieces for Orchestra”; Matt Marks’ arrangement of The Beatles’ and Ono’s “Revolution 9”; and John Cage’s String Quartet in Four Parts, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and “Song Books.”
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m.
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Edlis Neeson Theater, 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago
Alan Pierson and Ben Bolter, conductors
Tickets: $30 general public, $24 seniors, $10 teachers and students
The ensemble concludes the Museum of Contemporary Art’s two-day celebration of Yoko Ono’s birthday, held at the closing of the MCA exhibit “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind.” The program features Ono’s “Sky Piece to Jesus Christ” and “Pieces for Orchestra”; Matt Marks’s arrangement of The Beatles’ and Ono’s “Revolution 9”; and John Cage’s String Quartet in Four Parts, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and “Song Books.”
Friday, Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m.
McClintock Choral and Recital Room, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
Laura Cocks, flute
Madison Greenstone, clarinet
Charlotte Mundy, voice
Marina Kifferstein, violin
Ellery Trafford, percussion
Tickets: Free
Following an afternoon of workshops with Bienen composition students, the TAK Ensemble premieres their pieces in a public performance.
Saturday, Mar. 7, 7 p.m.
Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, Evanston
Raven Chacon, guest composer
Ben Bolter and Shihan Jin, conductors
Michaela Marchi, vocalist
Presented in partnership with the Center for Native Futures and the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research Tickets: Free
The program includes Raven Chacon’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning “Voiceless Mass” as well as his “Owl Song.” “Voiceless Mass” utilizes a house of worship with musicians spread out across the space, employing its architecture to illustrate the complex legacy of the Catholic Church and its treatment of Native Americans. Also on the program are György Ligeti’s Organ Study No. 1: “Harmonies” and Jessie Cox’s “Quantify.”
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