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Sunday

October 5, 2024

wandering | reminiscence

7:30PM Central Time
St. James Cathedral | 65 E Huron St, Chicago

Diverse & eclectic music by living composers Leah Asher, Oswald Huynh, Marcus Norris & Jonathan Hannau.

*Tickets will also be sold at the door. Join us for a free pre-concert talk at 6:45pm! 


The 2023-2024 season is sponsored by the Katherine L. Griem and Anthony G. Montag Charitable Fund.



Leah Asher - Travelogue for 10 or more performers


Violinist/violist, composer, and visual artist Leah Asher is an avid performer of contemporary music and creator of new artistic works. Leah has been a member of The Rhythm Method string quartet, an innovative ensemble of composer-performers, since 2016. A sought after performer and collaborator, Leah can be found performing as a regular guest with New York-based ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and S.E.M. Ensemble. She is also the co-creator of Meaningless Work, an interdisciplinary performance collaboration with Nicolee Kuester.


Leah maintains an international career with performances presented by the Lucerne Festival, Lake George Music Festival, Omaha One Festival, MATA Festival, TriBeCA New Music, Festspillene i Nord Norge, Music Mondays, and Codes d’accès. Leah has equally enjoyed performing at such celebrated venues as The Wiener Musikverein, Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre, and the KKL Lucerne, as well as smaller, more intimate venues such as The Owl Music Parlor, Kimaira, Echoraum, the cell theatre, Konsthall C, and JACK. Leah has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Leah formerly served as solo violist of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and co-principal viola of the Arctic Philharmonic.


As a composer, Leah has been commissioned by several ensembles, including andPlay, Chartreuse, Periapsis, NorthArc Percussion Group, The Great Learning Orchestra, Du.0, and solo artists such as Meaghan Burke, Tristan McKay, and Jennifer Torrence. Recent releases include Leah’s solo album ‘Retreat into Afters’ (SCRIPTS Records), and The Rhythm Method’s self-titled debut album (Gold Bolus Recordings). Leah joined the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as of 2022.


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Oswald Huỳnh - Beauty Despite Daylight


Oswald Huỳnh is a Vietnamese American composer whose music navigates Vietnamese aesthetics and tradition, language and translation, and the relationship between heritage and identity. His work is characterized by intricate contrasts of timbre and interweaving textures that are rooted in narrative, culture, and memory.


As a composer, Huỳnh has collaborated with artists such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, American Composers Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Pacific Chamber Orchestra, Quatuor Bozzini, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Music From Copland House, Tacet(i) Ensemble, [Switch~ Ensemble], Del Sol String Quartet, Fear No Music, IU New Music Ensemble, deaf rabbit duo, percussionist Payton MacDonald, composer/clarinetist Yoshiaki Onishi, and saxophonist Leo Schlaifer. He is the winner of the Luigi Nono International Composition Prize (Italy), New England Philharmonic Call for Scores Competition, Musiqa Emerging Composer Commission, IPO Classical Evolve Composer Competition, Black Bayou Composition Award, and has received recognition from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, New York Youth Symphony, Society of Composers, and ASCAP. Huỳnh will serve as the Composer-in-Residence with the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra for their 2023/24 season, and a Composer-in-Residence with the Louisville Orchestra for their 2024/25 season as part of their Creator Corps program.


Huỳnh holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lewis & Clark College and a Master of Music from University of Missouri. His principal teachers include Texu Kim, Carolina Heredia, Stefan Freund, and Michael Johanson.


Program Notes:

Like many people during the pandemic, I spent much of those years alone and isolated from my friends and family. Weekend outings with my family were replaced with online activities like playing Mario Kart with my sister and watching NBA games with my brother. Although these were things we had previously done together in person, there was a newfound significance that acted as a sort of therapy for me. In retrospect, these were the moments that prevented me from falling apart. Beauty despite daylight examines these themes of home and kinship, drawing from ru con—traditional Vietnamese lullabies—which acts as the foundation for this work. The untitled song I quote is interwoven throughout the entire piece, first fragmented into several motifs and then presented in its full form.


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Marcus Norris - My Idols Are Dead


Dr. Marcus Norris’ first foray into making music came in the form of producing rap beats on pirated software, installed on a Windows 98 computer that he Macgyvered together from spare parts while lying on the floor of his childhood bedroom. Though he came to composing concert music later, he transferred that same imagination and ingenuity to writing music of all kinds. This cross-genre mastery resulted in Beyoncé asking Marcus to orchestrate several songs for her and 50-piece orchestra as part of her surprise 2023 Dubai return to live performance. Miss Tina Knowles-Lawson also chose Marcus as Music Director for the 2022 Wearable Art Gala, with Marcus and South Side Symphony performing as the on-stage orchestra accompanying Chloe & Halle Bailey, Andra Day, and more.


Marcus founded South Side Symphony in 2020, which he describes as “like if Quincy Jones grew up on 90s R&B and Rap.” The ensemble recorded their first live album in 2023 through a weekend of three sold-out shows in North Hollywood. As a composer for film & tv, he recently completed the score for Apple’s highly anticipated drama mini-series Lady in the Lake starring Natalie Portman and directed by Alma Har’el and the Boston Herald praised his “impressively orchestral score” for the 2022 feature film “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.” starring Regina Hall & Sterling K. Brown, written and directed by Adamma Ebo.


Program Notes:

My idols are dead.
My choices were blind.
I’ve never heard God.
The voices were Mine.


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Jonathan Hannau - Three Pieces for Orchestra


Jonathan Hannau is a Chicago-based composer and pianist devoted to the surreal, minimal, abstract, and colorful possibilities of music. He actively embraces eclecticism and explores concepts of narrative, drama, and stark expression by evoking a kaleidoscopic range of timbres.


As a pianist he has been praised for his delicate, refined touch, his capable handling of the extremes of dynamic shape, and his uncanny knack for navigating complex polyrhythms. His multi-style performance history has helped foster a unique approach to piano performance, pushing the limits of what is possible on the instrument.


He has released 2 full length albums of original piano music, one of which earned a DCASE grant from the city of Chicago in 2021.


A regular collaborator, he has performed most notably with Ensemble Dal Niente, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, and the Chicago Wind Symphony, along with numerous artists throughout the city of Chicago and abroad. In early 2024 he made his Chicago classical music radio debut on WFMT (98.7) with violinist Hannah Christiansen. He is one half of the piano percussion duo, “Flannau Duo”, and is also now the pianist in the newly formed chamber ensemble “Mycelium New Music” which will premiere its season in 2024-2025. He looks forward to continuing his role as Associate Artistic Director of the Chicago Composers Orchestra.


Program Notes:
Three Pieces for Orchestra consist of arrangements of my original piano music. Each movement focuses on the beauty of the earth, experienced from the perspective of  a lone traveler who is journeying in a world reclaimed by nature. It’s a call for caring for our planet and bringing awareness to the gross exploitation of and commodifying of our only liveable habitat.

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