Welcome to the first large-ensemble show of our Chicago season! Join Ensemble Dal Niente for an evening of fresh new music, movement, and sound, featuring works by Wang Lu, Leilehua Lanzilotti, George Lewis, and Carolyn Chen. The centerpiece of the evening will be the world premiere of a composition by Wang Lu, for soprano Amanda DeBoer Bartlett and ensemble. Commissioned by the ensemble with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, this is the first large ensemble work written for Dal Niente by Wang, whose music “reflects urban environmental sounds, linguistic intonation and contours, traditional Chinese music, and freely improvised practices.”
Listeners will also enjoy George Lewis’ ebullient, virtuosic violin solo Melodies for Miles, performed by Theo Ramsey; Carolyn Chen’s play-like how to assemble for six voices; and Leilehua Lanzilotti's beyond the accident of time for percussion and voices, which honors Isamu Noguchi’s never fully-realized Bell Tower for Hiroshima, 1950 (partially reconstructed 1986).
Program:
Wang Lu, New Work* (2025) for soprano and ensemble
George Lewis, Melodies for Miles (2023) for solo violin
Carolyn Chen, how to assemble a (2012) for 6 performers
Leilehua Lanzilotti, beyond the accident of time (2019) for percussion and voices
Performers:
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, soprano
Zach Good, clarinet
Mabel Kwan, piano
Ben Melsky, harp
Kyle Flens, percussion
Theo Ramsey, violin
Juan Horie, cello
Michael Lewanski, conductor
With thanks to:
Ernst Von Siemens Music Foundation
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts