On October 16, Nova Linea Musica opened its Season 3 Artists-in-Residence series at The CheckOut with First Light, an evening of Ravel, Glière, Chopin, Franck, and Bazzini. Thank you to everyone who joined us. Here are a few highlights, and what's coming next in the series.
Seth Boustead of The CheckOut opened the night, introducing the artists and the program and speaking about the foundational relationship between The CheckOut and Nova Linea Musica.
First Light was a warm and welcome reunion of colleagues: Rabia Brooke, Haddon Kay, and Tamila Salimdjanova shared the stage last season as the Nova Linea Musica Piano Trio. This time they traded partners across duos and solos, in music written between 1835 and 1909.
The evening took its name from Ravel's "Jeux d'eau," which Tamila played alone at the piano to begin the program. Ravel was 26 and still a student of Gabriel Fauré when he wrote it in 1901, and he dedicated it to his teacher. Bright arpeggios and sudden cascades turn the piano into running water caught in sunlight, and at the head of the score Ravel placed a line from the poet Henri de Régnier: a river god laughing at the water that tickles him.
Rabia and Haddon followed with Glière's Eight Pieces for Violin and Cello, Op. 39, a rare thing: substantial music for violin and cello alone, with no piano to fill the harmony. Glière, born in Kyiv and remembered as an early teacher of Sergei Prokofiev, makes a virtue of the bare texture, moving from a Prelude with the contrapuntal poise of Bach through a courtly Gavotte, a tender Berceuse, and a quicksilver Scherzo to a closing Étude that sends both players racing to the finish.
Tamila returned for Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor. No instrumental "ballade" existed before Chopin borrowed the idea from poetry and song, and the result is a story told without words: a hushed introduction, two themes that return again and again transformed, and a Presto con fuoco coda of tremendous force. When Robert Schumann told Chopin it was his favorite of the composer's works, Chopin answered that it was his favorite too.
Haddon then joined Tamila for the Allegro from Franck's Sonata in A Major. Franck wrote the sonata in 1886 as a wedding present for the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, and the cellist Jules Delsart soon made the version for cello and piano, with Franck's approval. The second movement is the sonata's storm, surging piano writing set against long, impassioned lines in the cello.
Rabia and Tamila closed the printed program with Bazzini's "La ronde des lutins" (Dance of the Goblins), the showpiece that has kept its composer's name alive. In just a few minutes it calls for ricochet bowing, left-hand pizzicato, and artificial harmonics at breakneck speed, and it arrived two weeks before Halloween entirely on purpose.
There was one more work still to come: the first three movements of Philip Glass’s Partita for Solo Violin, “Opening,” “Morning Song,” and “Dance No. 1,” announced from the stage and performed by Rabia, a fitting nod to Nova Linea Musica’s Philip Glass at 90 celebration on October 28.
Photos: Eric Snoza | SnoStudios
There was one more work still to come: the first three movements of Philip Glass’s Partita for Solo Violin, “Opening,” “Morning Song,” and “Dance No. 1,” announced from the stage and performed by Rabia, a fitting nod to Nova Linea Musica’s Philip Glass at 90 celebration on October 28.
“It felt truly special to make music again with my dear friends Rabia and Haddon! Over the past year, we have grown together as musicians, continuously inspiring one another. What could be more beautiful than sharing our love for music with each other and our wonderful audiences?”
-Tamila Salimdjanova, piano
Last season, Rabia, Haddon, and Tamila performed together as the Nova Linea Musica Piano Trio. In December they played From Light to Fire at The CheckOut, pairing piano trios by Jennifer Higdon and Lera Auerbach with duos for each pair of players. In January they made their mainstage debut at 11 E Adams with Threads of Melodic Silence, giving the world premiere of Stacy Garrop’s “under the shimmering aspens,” a Nova Linea Musica commission written for the trio. In April they returned to The CheckOut to play the Garrop again, alongside duos and solos by Handel-Halvorsen, Paganini, and Chopin.
This season the trio welcomes cellist Ashley Ryoo, and Haddon continues with Nova Linea Musica as a collaborating artist. First Light brought the three back to The CheckOut, the stage they shared twice last season, for an evening of duos and solos in that same spirit.
A few words from the audience:
"Last night was magical. Being immersed in the music and up close with the artists made for an excellent evening filled with beautiful sounds and conversation."
"Many 'barn-burners' that kept the audience on the edge of their seats."
The Artists-in-Residence series at The CheckOut is the companion to Nova Linea Musica's mainstage concerts at 11 E Adams. This season's residents are violinist Rabia Brooke, pianist Tamila Salimdjanova, and cellist Ashley Ryoo, who together form the Nova Linea Musica Piano Trio.
The CheckOut is the perfect home for the series. First Light drew a neighborhood crowd alongside listeners from across the city, the kind of mixed audience that makes the Artists-in-Residence concerts feel like a gathering as much as a performance.
Across the season, the programs balance beloved classics with new music, including world premieres by Chen Yi and Elizabeth Younan. Each event pairs familiar repertoire with works that are new to Chicago audiences.
All concerts begin at 7:30 PM, with doors at 7:00 PM.
Our thanks to Haddon Kay, Rabia Brooke, and Tamila Salimdjanova for a memorable start to the series, and to Seth Boustead and The CheckOut for welcoming the series and its audience so warmly. We look forward to seeing you at The CheckOut in the new year.
On the mainstage at 11 E Adams, the season continues October 28 with Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration, featuring the world premiere of Alex Weston’s “Through Philip and Lou,” followed on November 18 by Poiesis Quartet: In the Listening, with the world premiere of Iván Enrique Rodríguez’s “Roy’s Address.” Tickets are available here, with a waitlist open for the sold-out Glass celebration.
For notes on the program and the artists, read our concert preview, Fountains, Goblins, and a Ballade.
Full details for every Artists-in-Residence concert are on our Schedule page.
