an evening of world premieres

Saturday April 18, 2026 | 7:30PM CST

The 2025-2026 season is sponsored by the Katherine L. Griem and Anthony G. Montag Charitable Fund.

Details

A beautiful tapestry of sound featuring three world premiere CCO commissions by Chicago-based composers Angel Bat Dawid and Ahmed Al Abaca, and by Brazilian-born composer, Igor Santos. Thanks to special funding, we will also feature world premieres by student composers from MUSIC Inc.!

Don't miss before the downbeat, CCO's free pre-concert talk, at 6:45pm! Enjoy complimentary wine & snacks, meet the composers and learn about the pieces before you experience them.

before the downbeat sponsored by Linda Berna.

Igor Santos

Described as “otherworldly and mysteriously familiar” (Chicago Classical Review), and as “exciting and clear... with a striking boldness" (Luigi Nono Competition Prize), Igor Santos’ music has been performed internationally, by leading musicians such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Talea Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Yarn Wire, Alarm Will Sound, Switch~ Ensemble, the American Composers Orchestra, and The Florida Orchestra.

His work is centered on mimetic relationships between found sounds, acoustic instruments, and recently with video, all of which is dramatized through repetition and the use of microtonal keyboards.

Igor has earned degrees in Music Composition from the University of Chicago, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of South Florida. He has been awarded the Rome Prize (2022), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2023), and has won additional prizes such as the International Ferruccio Busoni Competition, the Luigi Nono International Competition, the RED NOTE Competition, the Salvatore Martirano Award, and was also awarded Best Sound Design from Theater Tampa Bay (for his incidental music).

Igor is a native of Curitiba, Brazil. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Composition at Cornell University.

Ahmed Al Abaca

Ahmed Al Abaca is an African American composer, conductor, songwriter, pianist, and community facilitator. Creating power and possibility through music is the basis of Ahmed’s work. Raised in San Bernardino, CA, Ahmed understands the value of hard work and perseverance in the face of systemic and interpersonal challenges. Therefore, Ahmed believes in genuine community engagement. Serving as Music Director of the South Loop Symphony Orchestra, a community orchestra in the South Loop neighborhood. Ahmed programs largely forgotten or overlooked composers by simply programming music from the 20th and 21st centuries with an emphasis on Black, Women and local composers.

Ahmed has worked with some of Chicago’s finest. From arranging and composing for D-Composed, a premiere all-Black String collective, to conducting/writing for the Chicago Civic Orchestra Fellows. Writing arrangements for Avery R Young, Chicago's poet laureate, to performing with Sam Thousand and Deeply Rooted at the historic Auditorium Theatre. Ahmed has had the pleasure of composing and conducting the orchestra students of Niles West High School. Outside of Chicago, Ahmed’s work has been performed and commissioned by several of america's top orchestras, chamber groups and community orchestras: The Fayetteville Symphony, The Raleigh Civic Chamber Orchestra, The Florida Orchestra, The Atlanta Symphony, The San Jose Chamber Orchestra, The Knox-Galesburg Symphony, Oakland Symphony, The Arlington Philharmonic, Grant Park Music Festival (fellows and orchestra), The Colour of Music Festival Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, The Fort-Dodge Symphony, and the University of Missouri, Columbia Wind ensemble.

Angel Bat Dawid

Angel Bat Dawid is a Black American composer, improviser, clarinetist, pianist, vocalist, educator, and DJ celebrated for her impactful contributions to contemporary jazz and Black cultural expression. Her debut album, *The Oracle* (2019), released via Chicago’s International Anthem, received praise for its deep exploration of Black life, history, and spirituality. In 2024, she premiered her solo clarinet piece, “The Black Queen of Italy Strolls Through Her Garden,” at Villa Medici in Rome. Her diverse works include *Requiem for Jazz*, performed at Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and *Peace: A Suite for Skylanding*, created for the Art Institute of Chicago as part of Yoko Ono’s installation.

As a performer, Angel has played at venues like Carnegie Hall during the Afro-Futurism Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival and a myriad of international festivals. She leads the ensemble *Tha Brothahood*, whose 2020 album *LIVE* was named one of NPR Music’s Best Albums. Her collaborations include André 3000, Bilal, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra), Shabaka Hutchings, and more. As a DJ, she hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio, curating jazz, soul, gospel, hip-hop, and experimental music.

Beyond performance, she teaches “Great Black Music” at schools including Imagine Englewood and Simpson Academy for Young Women. She has composed for Terence Nance’s HBO series *Random Acts of Flyness* and is a clarinetist with Damon Locks’ Black Monument Ensemble. Recognized in Downbeat Magazine’s 2025 Critics Poll as Clarinetist of the Year and Rising Composer of the Year, she was also featured in Pitchfork’s “Pitchfork 25 Next,” served as Winter JazzFest Artist-in-Residence in 2022, and is a 2025 United States Artist Fellow and Artist in Residence at Northwestern University Black Arts Consortium.

Tickets

Fast track your concert experience and buy your tickets in advance online. Student tickets start at just $15 and General Admission tickets start at $35!

Tickets will also be sold at the door.

TICKETS

Location

Concerts are held at the historic & spacious St James Cathedral located at 65 E Huron St, Chicago, IL 60611 on the corner of Rush and Huron in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood. Main entrance is located on Rush St.

St James Cathedral is ADA compliant and has an accessible entrance located on Huron St.

Program

Ahmed Al Abaca - Hummingbird (world premiere*)

Angel Bat Dawid - The Ways of White Folks Clarinet Concerto (world premiere*)

Igor Santos - antiphonals for piano & orchestra (world premiere*)

Student Composers from MUSIC Inc. - Drawn Together: A Series of Graphic Scores (world premiere*)