Chicago’s “most adventurous, disciplined, and focused experimental music group”
Chicago’s critically acclaimed experimental music ensemble,a•pe•ri•od•ic, makes its first appearance on the East coast with a performance at Boston’s Goethe Institut featuring music written for the ensemble by Wandelweiser composers Jürg Frey and Michael Pisaro, along with works by Catherine Lamb, Kunsu Shim, and Nomi Epstein.
Specializing in notated, acoustic, experimental music, a•pe•ri•od•ic‘s repertoire explores the indeterminacy of various musical elements including instrumentation, structure, pitch, and/or duration. Drawn to works of sparseness, contemplation, and quietude, this "daring group" (Chicago Reader) has a history of interpreting distinctive pieces using a collaborative rehearsal process, deriving meaning and intention from oblique prose scores with great sensitivity.
Founded in 2010, a•pe•ri•od•ic is an intersectional, member-run ensemble producing concerts of experimental music that encourage focused listening. Hailed as Chicago’s “most adventurous, disciplined, and focused experimental music group” by Peter Margasak, the ensemble carefully selects creative work by local and international artists of all genders whose works take diverse approaches to composition. The collaborative creation process among the ensemble members and with the featured composers challenges conventional ideas of power relationships in “classical” music-making: each work is an exploratory process encouraging new technique with both traditional and unconventional instruments and probing the relationship between notated and improvised sound.
In addition to presenting its own concerts, the ensemble has participated in many of the city’s most prestigious new music festivals with concerts at the Logan Center for Performing Arts, The Arts Club of Chicago, Constellation, Elastic Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Chicago Cultural Center, and High Concept Labs, in addition to local galleries and more intimate venues. a•pe•ri•od•ic has toured the Midwest with experimental music, premiered numerous works by young, mid-career and more established composers, and welcomed many international composers to Chicago to work with the ensemble.
Founded and directed by Nomi Epstein, the ensemble has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by composers such as Michael Pisaro, Catherine Lamb, Eva-Maria Houben, Jürg Frey, Christian Wolff, Heather Frasch, Tim Parkinson, Magnus Granberg, and Pauline Oliveros. a•pe•ri•od•ic released its debut album,more or less, featuring the music of Jürg Frey, in 2014, and its second album,for a•pe•ri•od•icin 2019, both under New Focus Recordings. a•pe•ri•od•ic has received funding from the Swiss Arts Council, the Earle Brown Foundation, the Goethe Institute, and the Foundation of Contemporary Arts.
Program
Jürg Frey: Fragile Balance (commissioned by a•pe•ri•od•ic, 2014)
Nomi Epstein: combine, juxtapose, delayed overlap (2013/2017)
Kunsu Shim: Happy for no reason (2000)
Michael Pisaro: festhalten/loslassen (commissioned by a•pe•ri•od•ic, 2013)
Cat Lamb: line/shadow (2011)
This concert is partially supported by New Music Inc.
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