Nova Linea Musica presents Poiesis Quartet

Nova Linea Musica an innovative chamber music series and new-music incubator, continues its 2026-27 season with a performance by one of the most promising up-and-coming string quartets today, Poiesis Quartet. The program will feature the world premiere of a newly commissioned Nova Linea Musica work by Iván Enrique Rodríguez. Poiesis Quartet: In the Listening takes place Wednesday, November 18 at 6:30 PM at 11 E. Adams St. Tickets are $50 with a limited number of $10 student tickets available. Like all Nova Linea Musica events, the performance will be followed by a moderated Q&A with the performers and the commissioned composer before the audience and artists are treated to an elegant catered reception. Tickets are now available at novalineamusica.org.

Poiesis Quartet won the Grand Prize and the Canadian Commission Prize at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition, one of the most prestigious platforms for emerging quartets. In the Listening features three works from the Quartet’s commissioning project A Love Letter to the Queer Community, which centers the voices of queer and trans composers of color connected to Oberlin, including Calvin Ray Shawler’s Order, Max Lang’s commonplace little perils, and Maya Irizarry Lambright’s forest of taldeni.

At the heart of the evening is the world premiere of a Nova Linea Musica commission by Puerto Rican composer Iván Enrique Rodríguez, whose music draws on themes of social justice, cultural identity, and the depth of human experience. A recipient of the ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Award who holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, Rodríguez will be in attendance to celebrate the premiere. The evening closes with Jeff Scott’s Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified, a tribute to four queer revolutionaries that Poiesis premiered at Caramoor in July 2026, gathering the threads of the program into a final, resonant statement.

“Poiesis Quartet is one of the most exciting early-career string quartets performing today,” said Nova Linea Musica Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat. “Following their acclaimed 2024 debut album and their win at Banff in 2025, Poiesis is rapidly becoming a fixture on the chamber music scene. We are thrilled to bring this talented ensemble to our audiences in Chicago.”

“Just like Nova Linea Musica, Poiesis Quartet is dedicated to commissioning and debuting new work,” added Nova Linea Musica President and Executive Director Michele Mohammadi. “At every Nova Linea Musica concert, we ask the performers which composer they would like to commission for the evening’s world premiere. There is something magical that happens when an audience hears a brand-new piece for the first time, especially with the composer in their midst. We look forward to adding Iván Enrique Rodríguez to the growing roster of composers we have commissioned so far, and we can’t wait to have him join us for the world premiere of his new work.”

About Poiesis Quartet

Formed at Oberlin Conservatory in 2022, Poiesis is the recipient of the 2026 Cleveland Quartet Award and won the Grand Prize and Canadian Commission Prize at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The name Poiesis comes from the Greek poiein: to make, to bring something into being that has never existed before. The quartet has built its identity around that idea, focusing on expanding the string quartet repertoire through close collaboration with emerging composers. Their 2024 debut album as we are on Bright Shiny Things was praised by Cleveland Classical for its "bottomless depth," and they have given world premieres of works by Brian Raphael Nabors, Kitty Brazelton, Cara Haxo, and Kevin Lau, among others. A 2025 performance at Caramoor was named one of The New York Times’ Best Classical Performances of the year.

Poiesis Quartet comprises violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Coco Mi, violist Jasper de Boor, and cellist Drew Dansby. The Quartet is currently the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet at the Curtis Institute of Music and was the 2025–26 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor. It previously served as Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where it studied with the Ariel Quartet. The 2026–27 season includes the Quartet’s Lucerne Festival debut, two European tours, and appearances at Strathmore and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Cleveland Quartet Award will bring Poiesis to a consortium of eight American presenters, including Carnegie Hall.

About Nova Linea Musica

Nova Linea Musica is a Chicago-based contemporary classical chamber music presenter, concert series, and new music incubator. Founded in 2024 by President and Executive Director Michele Mohammadi, it is a catalyst for the creation and promotion of new music through commissions, live performances, and audio and video recordings featuring emerging and established artists, with 28 works commissioned across its first three seasons. Its Artistic Director is violinist Desirée Ruhstrat, a member of the violin faculty at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. For more information, visit novalineamusica.org.