{"id":2494063,"date":"2026-07-08T21:30:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2494063"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:30:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:30:04","slug":"nostalgia-new-music-highlight-chicago-duo-piano-festival-which-returns-july-12-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/nostalgia-new-music-highlight-chicago-duo-piano-festival-which-returns-july-12-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Nostalgia, new music highlight Chicago Duo Piano Festival, which returns July 12\u201319"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicinst.org\/summer-cdpf26\"><strong>38th annual Chicago Duo Piano Music Festival<\/strong><\/a>, hosted by The Music Institute of Chicago, is coming to town July 12\u201319 with the world premiere of a new work by Music Institute alumna and composer Maddie Stephenson at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The festival\u2019s founders, Claire Aebersold Neiweem and Ralph Neiweem, will play the new piece, titled <em>Through Time<\/em>, at the opening concert at 3 p.m. July 12. Having attended the duo festival throughout her childhood and studied privately under Aebersold Neiweem, Stephenson said the piece draws on feelings of nostalgia. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI was thinking about my time learning from them and my time at the duo fest and thinking about it fondly,\u201d she said, \u201cand I\u2019m nostalgic for it because it was a huge part of my musical growth.\u201d <\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n<aside id=\"bs_zones-42\" class=\"bs_zones clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stephenson described the piece as a \u201cflowing\u201d stream of consciousness, in which a simple theme passed between Claire and Ralph transforms into increasingly rhapsodic passages, but all anchored by a recurring ticking clock-like sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Maddie Stephenson (left) and Claire Aebersold Neiweem together in Door County, which is a favorite vacation spot for both Stephenson\u2019s family and the Neiweems. <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Ralph Neiweem<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aebersold Neiweem said the piece is the festival\u2019s fifth commissioned work and reflects one of its core missions to both build and sustain the repertoire.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe decided that we should have a four-part mission, which is teaching of the wonderful repertoire, performing guest teams, inspiring composers to write music for it and competitions,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another highlight is the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicinst.org\/cpdf26-extravaganza\"><strong>Faculty Extravaganza<\/strong><\/a> on July 14, when Music Institute of Chicago faculty will play a program primarily of American composers in tribute to the 250th anniversary of American independence. Among the composers featured are Aaron Copland, described as the \u201cDean of American composers,\u201d and John Corigliano, who has won five Grammy awards and has a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/music.northwestern.edu\/news\/2026\/john-corigliano-awarded-2026-nemmers-prize-music-composition\"><strong>music residency<\/strong><\/a> slated for May 2027 at Northwestern\u2019s Bienen School of Music.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beyond concerts, the festival includes music coaching, a student recital and a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.musicinst.org\/cdpf26-masterclass\"><strong>guest master class<\/strong><\/a> free to the public led by the EStrella Piano Duo, which consists of Elena Doubovitskaya and Svetlana Belsky.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n<aside id=\"bs_zones-47\" class=\"bs_zones clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"959\" height=\"1024\" data-attachment-id=\"588146\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/estrella-piano-duo-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2.jpeg\" data-orig-size=\"1686,1800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"EStrella Piano Duo 2\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Open to the public, the masterclass held by EStrella Piano Duo will start at 10 a.m. July 18.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-959x1024.jpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-959x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-588146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-959x1024.jpeg 959w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-281x300.jpeg 281w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-768x820.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-1439x1536.jpeg 1439w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-1200x1281.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-780x833.jpeg 780w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-400x427.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2-706x754.jpeg 706w, https:\/\/evanstonroundtable.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/EStrella-Piano-Duo-2.jpeg 1686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 959px) 100vw, 959px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Open to the public, the masterclass taught by EStrella Piano Duo will start at 10 a.m. July 18. The duo consists of Svetlana Belsky, left, and Elena Doubovitskaya.\u00a0 <span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span> Courtesy of EStrella Piano Du<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ralph Neiweem added that for non-music fans, the festival provides an accessible gateway into classical music, as it\u2019s \u201cvisually very interesting\u201d to watch pianists looking at each other from behind two pianos 14 feet away, and to notice the subtle hand and breathing cues between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt can probably seem like magic at first, because there\u2019s all sorts of ways of signaling each other that people aren\u2019t supposed to notice,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Neiweems both started out as soloists, but after meeting at a music festival in Italy, the two formed a piano duo. Three years later, they got married and committed to working full-time as duo piano partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a conventional piano duet, pianists are assigned either the upper, or primo, part or the lower, or secondo, part. But Ralph Neiweem said the two regularly switch their roles. He added that the art is extremely demanding due to the precision each piece requires, and thus it requires years of practice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt has to be exactly together,\u201d he said. \u201cOtherwise, it\u2019s very obvious if it\u2019s not.\u201d <\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-3    \">\n<aside id=\"bs_zones-15\" class=\"bs_zones clearfix\"\/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the couple consistently reworks music from previous festivals, such as Mozart\u2019s <em>Sonata in F Major, K. 497<\/em> \u2014 one of this year\u2019s opening pieces \u2014 the performances never sound the same. Having already reached precision, the duo now works toward blending the piece to better balance out the sound, a process that Claire Aebersold Neiweem describes as \u201cweaving a tapestry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The festival\u2019s commitment to regularly revisiting previous works while also adding new ones has become a defining tradition that draws pianists from all over the world. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stephenson noted that commissioning new works ensures the ongoing evolution of classical music.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s still a living, breathing thing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a museum.\u201d <\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related Stories<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"pmdelayedscript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" data-no-optimize=\"1\" data-no-defer=\"1\" data-no-minify=\"1\">\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n\t\t'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '1211047640844875');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView', {\"page_title\":\"Nostalgia, new music highlight Chicago Duo Piano Festival, which returns July 12\\u201319\",\"user_role\":\"guest\",\"event_url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/evanstonroundtable.com\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08\\\/nostalgia-new-music-highlight-chicago-duo-piano-festival-which-returns-july-12-19\",\"post_type\":\"post\",\"post_id\":588143});\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source evanstonroundtable.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 38th annual Chicago Duo Piano Music Festival, hosted by The Music Institute of Chicago, is coming to town July 12\u201319 with the world premiere of a new work by Music Institute alumna and composer Maddie Stephenson at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave.\u00a0 The festival\u2019s founders, Claire Aebersold Neiweem and Ralph Neiweem, will play [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2494064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[491144,491145,491146,491147,491148,491149,491150,491151,491152,491153,491154,491155],"class_list":["post-2494063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-aaron-copland","tag-chicago-duo-piano-music-festival","tag-claire-neiweem","tag-elena-doubovitskaya","tag-estrella-piano-duo","tag-john-corigliano","tag-maddie-stephenson","tag-nichols-concert-hall","tag-northwesterns-bienen-school-of-music","tag-ralph-neiweem","tag-svetlana-belsky","tag-the-music-institute-of-chicago"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Nostalgia-new-music-highlight-Chicago-Duo-Piano-Festival-which-returns.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2494063"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2494065,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2494063\/revisions\/2494065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2494063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2494063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2494063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}