Rafael Vivanco, guitar, and Gisella Milla Adams, soprano, present a concert featuring traditional music from the Viceroyalty of Peru. Rafael Vivanco started playing the guitar at the age of 11 in Peru. He performed regularly at venues in Lima while studying classical guitar with Alonso Acosta Ojeda. He went on to complete his Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar performance at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and his Masters at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He studied with…

Self-taught pianist and composer Jean-Michel Pilc will perform a concert of his original work. Born in 1960 in Paris, now an American citizen, self-taught pianist and composer Jean-Michel Pilc has performed with numerous jazz giants: Roy Haynes, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Jean Toussaint, Rick Margitza, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Daniel Humair, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Lenny White, Chris Potter, John Abercrombie, Mingus Dynasty & Big Band, Lew Soloff, Richard Bona etc. He has also worked with Harry Belafonte, as his…

Paul Dwyer and Julia Siciliano will perform Beethoven Cello Sonatas 2, 5, and 3. German-American cellist Paul Dwyer was born in Munster, Indiana, but spent the most formative years of his life (according to Freud) in Vienna, where he decided to play the double bass, but was told he’s too small. At age eight his family moved to Munich, where Paul spent most of his time playing soccer, running subversive school newspapers and transcribing Metallicasongs for a heavy metal cello quartet he…

Program: J. Brahms Piano Trio no. 2 Op 87 in C major G. Enescu Serenade Lointaine D. Shostakovich Piano Trio no. 2 Op 67 in e minor Scott Gentile, Piano Scott Gentile recently received his Masters Degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music. During his studies there he was the winner of the Chamber Music Live Award, the Legate Award, the Arthur-Balsam Grant, the Maurice-Piress Award for Conducting and the 2017 Concerto Competition. Prior to his time at ACSM,…

Program: Alessandro Rolla CONCERTANTE DUO in E-Flat Major for Violin and Viola, Op. 5 Sebastian Huydts Selected Movements from Delicias de Blancanieves (27 Spanish Fairy Tales) (2015) Justinian Tamusuza MU KKUBO ERY’OMUSAALABA for Clarinet Quartet (1993) (Arr. by Kathryne Pirtle and Florentina Ramniceanu) Antonin Dvorak PIANO QUARTET in E-Flat Major, Op. 87 About the Orion Ensmble: Florentina Ramniceanu, Violin Judy Stone, Cello Kathryne Pirtle, Clarinet Diana Schmück, Piano Recognized as one of Chicago’s finest chamber music groups, the ORION ENSEMBLE…

LING-JU LAI, a native of Taiwan, has garnered consistently favorable reviews for her creative interpretation of Baroque keyboard music, particularly the music of J.S. Bach. Sir András Schiff expresses, “Ms. Lai has a questing musical mind. Her approach is unusual and valuable, a very gifted musician and pianist.” The Baltimore Sun writes, “The depth of the sound sinks in with startling poignancy as Ling-Ju Lai lets the notes linger long in the air…a moment of musical insight to savor.”  Featured…

With his zany, heartfelt songbook of Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and specialty ditties, that ‘one-man parade of entertainment’ Scott Gryder, with the amazing Nick Sula on piano, brings a night of musical mayhem to PianoForte with SIMPLY SCOTTY!

Rising guitarist Tobias James “performs with great energy, musicality, technique and a genuine enthusiasm for the repertoire” (Jason Vieaux, Grammy-Award winning guitarist) and is bursting onto the musical scene with great passion. A native of the Chicago area, Tobias was born into a musical family where he started to play Suzuki classical guitar at age six and Suzuki cello at age eight. After studying guitar at the Northwestern High School Music Institute as a freshman in high school, he decided…