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Press Releases
CCCC Grossman Ensemble Presents the World Premiere of Eric Nathan’s 'In Between'
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214
The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s
Grossman Ensemble Presents the World Premiere of
Eric Nathan’s In Between, March 4
Program also Includes World Premieres by
Daniel Pesca, Felipe Tovar-Henao, and Ingrid Laubrock
“Nathan’s music moves with bracing intensity and impeccable logic.”
– Boston Classical Review
Chicago, IL (February 10, 2022) — On Friday, March 4, 2022 at 7:30pm, the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s (CCCC) resident Grossman Ensemble presents the world premiere of composer Eric Nathan’s In Between at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center Performance Hall. Led by conductor Timothy Weiss, the Grossman Ensemble will also perform the world premieres New Examples of Confusion by Daniel Pesca, Simulacra by Felipe Tovar-Henao, and Unveiled by Ingrid Laubrock. The concert is presented in partnership with UChicago Presents. Following the performance is a reception in the Gidwitz Lobby of the Logan Center for the Arts where audience members can meet the musicians and composers.
Eric Nathan’s In Between (2022) for ensemble was born out of the unique collaborative and explorative workshop experience afforded by composing for the Grossman Ensemble at the University of Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition. “With this piece,” Nathan explains, “I explore a newfound personal artistic space in my practice in between areas of improvisation, controlled aleatory, spatialized gestural choreography and detailed music notation.” The players invent rustling, feathery sounds and the conductor “paints” gesturally through the ensemble in a music filled with chorale-like singing, with meditative stillness and intricately vibrant musical textures woven throughout.
“The emotional inspiration for the work came from my standing in a forest near my house this fall on a late afternoon,” Nathan says. “As I stood there amidst the trees – these magisterial, quiet, monumental, and seemingly wise beings – I felt their imposing yet comforting presence, and listened to all the motion and movement that seemed to inhabit the ‘quiet’ that surrounded me. It reminded me of a visit I made to my friend’s property in Vermont a few years prior, on an invitation to come and ‘meet’ the trees that are so dear to him. He told me how at his age he now speaks with them and hoped they might speak to me. This has all been a starting point that unlocked my imagination in surprising ways, creating within and between spaces of stillness and activity and listening and singing.”
In Between was commissioned by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition for the Grossman Ensemble, and is dedicated to the Grossman Ensemble, conductor Timothy Weiss, and director and founder Augusta Read Thomas, with admiration and gratitude.
Concert Information
Grossman Ensemble with Tim Weiss, conductor
Friday, March 4, 2022 at 7:30pm
Logan Center for the Arts Performance Hall | 915 E 60th St | Chicago, IL 60637
Tickets: $20 general admission; free for students with ID
Link: https://cccc.uchicago.edu/
INGRID LAUBROCK: Unveiled [World Premiere]
ERIC NATHAN: In Between (2022) [World Premiere]
DANIEL PESCA: New Examples of Confusion [World Premiere]
FELIPE TOVAR-HENAO: Simulacra [World Premiere]
Timothy Weiss, conductor
The Grossman Ensemble
Greg Beyer, percussion
Kate Carter, violin
Hannah Collins, cello
John Corkill, percussion
Katherine Jimoh, clarinet
Dominic Johnson, viola
Ellie Kirk, harp
Tim Munro, flute
Andrew Nogal, oboe
Matthew Oliphant, horn
Daniel Pesca, piano
Taimur Sullivan, saxophone
MingHuan Xu, violin
All event attendees aged 12 must provide proof of vaccination. By exception, visitors who are unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons or due to a sincerely-held religious belief may provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event, or proof of a positive test 14-90 days prior to the event with affirmation that you are not experiencing any symptoms. All attendees aged 2 must wear a face-covering over the nose and mouth at all times. For full details on the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition’s vaccination and masking policies, visit their COVID-19 Updates page.
About Eric Nathan
Eric Nathan’s (b. 1983) music has been called “as diverse as it is arresting” with a “constant vein of ingenuity and expressive depth” (San Francisco Chronicle), “thoughtful and inventive” (The New Yorker), and as “a marvel of musical logic” (Boston Classical Review).
A 2013 Rome Prize Fellow and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, Nathan has been commissioned by leading ensembles and institutions including the New York Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center, Aspen Music Festival, Boston Musica Viva, Collage New Music, The New York Virtuoso Singers, Fromm Music Foundation, Barlow Endowment and University of Chicago’s Grossman Ensemble. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has commissioned three works, including a chamber work, “Why Old Places Matter” (2014) for the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, and two orchestral works, “the space of a door” (2016), that Andris Nelsons and the BSO premiered in November 2016 and commercially released on the Naxos label in 2019, and “Concerto for Orchestra” which Nelsons premiered on the 2019-20 season-opening concerts, and was scheduled to repeat at Tanglewood in summer 2020.
Nathan’s works have also been presented nationally and internationally at the New York Philharmonic’s 2014 and 2016 Biennials, Louvre Museum, Library of Congress, the 2012 and 2013 World Music Days, Emily Dickinson Museum, Nasher Sculpture Center and at the festivals of Aldeburgh, Aspen, Cabrillo, Domaine Forget, MATA, Ravinia Steans Institute, and Tanglewood. In 2019, Yellow Barn featured Nathan’s 50-minute dramatic song cycle, “Some Favored Nook,” created in collaboration with librettist Mark Campbell, on opening night of its 50th anniversary season. Composer portrait concerts of Nathan’s music have been presented by the Berlin Philharmonic’s Scharoun Ensemble Berlin at the American Academy in Rome, by the Hudson Valley Music Club, and at the Tenri Cultural Institute (New York). In April 2020, the Longy School of Music was scheduled to present a portrait concert featuring the premiere of Nathan’s evening-length work, “Missing Words” (postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic).
Nathan’s orchestral music has additionally been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and orchestras of Charleston, Charlotte, Daejeon, Louisville, Milwaukee, Omaha, Portland as well as A Far Cry, Aspen Music Festival and New York Classical Players. Chamber ensembles have performed Nathan’s work, such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Dal Niente, JACK Quartet, and American Brass Quintet. In addition, Nathan’s music has been performed by sopranos Tony Arnold, Jessica Rivera, Lucy Shelton and Dawn Upshaw; violinists Jennifer Koh and Stefan Jackiw; baritone William Sharp; and pianists Gloria Cheng, Gilbert Kalish and Molly Morkoski.
Nathan began a four-year appointment as Composer-in-Residence with the New England Philharmonic in the 2019-20 season. He has previously served as Composer-in-Residence at the Chelsea Music Festival (New York) and Chamber Music Campania (Italy). Nathan has completed artist residencies at Yellow Barn, Copland House and the American Academy in Rome, and will be a fellow at Civitella Ranieri Foundation in 2022. Nathan has been honored with awards including ASCAP’s Rudolf Nissim Prize, four ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, BMI’s William Schuman Prize, Aspen Music Festival’s Jacob Druckman Prize, a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Leonard Bernstein Fellowship from the Tanglewood Music Center.
In 2015, Albany Records released a debut album of Nathan’s solo and chamber music, “Multitude, Solitude: Eric Nathan,” produced by Grammy-winning producer Judith Sherman, featuring the Momenta Quartet, trombonist Joseph Alessi, violist Samuel Rhodes, oboist Peggy Pearson, pianist Mei Rui, and trumpeter Hugo Moreno. (Le) Poisson Rouge presented a CD release concert of Nathan's music in October 2015. In 2019, Chelsea Music Festival Records released “Eric Nathan: Dancing with J.S. Bach,” featuring conductor Ken-David Masur in Nathan’s two suites of orchestrations of Bach keyboard works. In May 2020, Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project released a portrait album of Nathan’s orchestral and large ensemble music on the BMOP Sound label. Nathan’s music has additionally been released on Bridge Records.
Nathan is also a passionate educator and advocate for contemporary composers. He serves as Associate Professor of Music in composition and theory at Brown University's Department of Music. At Brown, he teaches a variety of subjects from composition to popular music history that engage students with and without backgrounds in music. In 2018, he was awarded Brown University's most prestigious award for junior faculty, the Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship, that recognizes excellence in teaching. He has additionally served as David S. Josephson Assistant Professor at Brown, Visiting Assistant Professor at Williams College and has taught composition at the New York Philharmonic’s Composer’s Bridge program and at Yellow Barn’s Young Artists Program.
Nathan completed his doctorate studying at Cornell with Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra and Kevin Ernste, his masters from Indiana University studying with Claude Baker and Sven-David Sandström, his B.A. from Yale College where he studied with Kathryn Alexander, John Halle, Matthew Suttor and trumpeter Allan Dean, and a diploma from the Pre-College Division of The Juilliard School where he studied composition with Ira Taxin. Nathan additionally was a composition fellow at Tanglewood, Aspen, Aldeburgh and the Composers Conference.
For more information, visit http://www.ericnathanmusic.
About the Grossman Ensemble
The Grossman Ensemble, hailed as “some of the best contemporary players in the city” (Chicago Reader) with performances that have “filled the evening with wonder and, at times, awe” (Third Coast Review), is the resident supergroup at the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition. The Ensemble comprises musicians of the highest caliber whose passion is to perform music with a sensitive understanding, meticulous preparation, and abundant rehearsal time. World premiere works are developed over several weeks, during a series of unique workshopping rehearsals that focus on the interaction between composers, musicians, and conductors. This process allows the music time to grow in the mind of the composer and to fully inhabit the minds of the players.
The Ensemble is a key component of the CCCC’s performance series, preparing and performing 12 world premiere works by University of Chicago faculty, students, and guest composers each season. In August 2020, Fountain of Time, the ensemble’s debut album was released on the Center’s imprint, CCCC Records. The album features five premiere performances from the ensemble’s first two seasons by composers Shulamit Ran, Anthony Cheung, David Dzubay, Tonia Ko, and David Clay Mettens. I CARE IF YOU LISTEN said the album shows the Ensemble's "wonderful promise as a group in addition to promoting the rare process they employ in inviting composers and conductors to participate in the rehearsal and workshop process.”
The Grossman Ensemble is made possible by generous support from the Sanford J. Grossman Charitable Trust.
About the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition
The Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition (CCCC) is a dynamic, collaborative, and interdisciplinary environment for the creation, performance, and study of new music at the University of Chicago. The Center brings exemplary professional and student composers and artists together to collaborate and share their talents by creating and presenting innovative works that will shape the future of contemporary music. The CCCC presents an annual concert series featuring performances of world premiere works by leading and emerging composers. The CCCC is home to the resident Grossman Ensemble, a supergroup of Chicago’s contemporary musicians with a unique creative rehearsal process focused on the interaction between composers, musicians, and conductors.
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Photo Credit: Luyuan Nathan
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