Rabia Brooke and Tamila Salimdjanova, joined by cellist Haddon Kay, open the series Friday, Oct. 16, at The CheckOut
Rabia Brooke, Haddon Kay and Tamila Salimdjanova. Photos courtesy of the artists.
CHICAGO: Just over two weeks after its sold-out season opener at 11 E Adams, Nova Linea Musica turns to its second stage. On Friday, Oct. 16, First Light opens the Artists-in-Residence series at The CheckOut, as violinist Rabia Brooke and pianist Tamila Salimdjanova are joined by cellist Haddon Kay.
Where the mainstage brings visiting ensembles to Chicago, the Artists-in-Residence series belongs to the musicians who perform with Nova Linea Musica season after season. Across five concerts it moves freely between core repertoire and new work. First Light sets that course with music that shimmers, sings and, by the end, races.
First Light is also a reunion. Last season, Rabia Brooke, Haddon Kay and Tamila Salimdjanova shared the stage as the NLM Piano Trio, building the kind of musical trust that only comes from a season of rehearsing and performing side by side. This fall, last year's trio mates come back together for a celebration of the masters, from Ravel and Chopin to Glière, Franck and Bazzini, trading partners across duos and solos that show each player in a new light.
The evening opens with water. Ravel's Jeux d'eau, written in 1901 and dedicated to his teacher Gabriel Fauré, turns the piano into a fountain, and Tamila Salimdjanova sets the tone with its cascades of light.
From there, Rabia Brooke and Haddon Kay take up Reinhold Glière's Eight Pieces, Op. 39, a set of miniatures for violin and cello by the Kyiv-born composer remembered, among much else, as an early composition teacher of Sergei Prokofiev. Glière writes for the two instruments as equals, trading melody and accompaniment in short, characterful movements that range from songlike to playful.
Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor follows, one of the great narrative works for solo piano: a story told without words that builds to one of the most dramatic codas in the repertoire.
Haddon Kay and Tamila Salimdjanova then turn to the stormy second movement, Allegro, of César Franck's Sonata in A major, heard here in its version for cello. Franck wrote the sonata in 1886 as a wedding gift for the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. The cello version, by Jules Delsart, was made with Franck's approval and has become one of the most beloved transcriptions in the chamber repertoire.
The evening closes with Antonio Bazzini's La ronde des lutins (Dance of the Goblins), for Rabia Brooke and Tamila Salimdjanova. It is a showpiece in every sense, full of flying spiccato, left-hand pizzicato and harmonics, and a fitting send-off into the night.
Rabia Brooke, violin, moves with equal conviction between Beethoven, Brahms and Bach and the music of her own time, and is a committed advocate for expanding the violin repertoire through new commissions. Recent highlights include the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Orchestra of the North Bohemian Theatre in the Czech Republic and a fall 2026 tour of Germany and Switzerland with pianist Claire Huangci, alongside appearances at Carnegie Hall, Chicago's Orchestra Hall and the Ravinia Festival. A Chicago native and graduate of The Juilliard School, she is Nova Linea Musica's founding Artist-in-Residence and violinist of the NLM Piano Trio.
Haddon Kay, cello, is one of the rising stars of his generation, admired for his lyricism and musical eloquence. He won Third Prize at the 2024 George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest, performing the Dvořák Concerto with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra in the final, and is a founding member of the Galvin Cello Quartet, winner of the Concert Artists Guild's 2022 Victor Elmaleh Competition. Born and raised in the Chicago area, he is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts at Northwestern's Bienen School of Music with Hans Jørgen Jensen and has been selected for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Bowers Program for 2027-2030.
Tamila Salimdjanova, piano, won First Prize and the Audience Award at the BNDES International Piano Competition in Rio de Janeiro and has been a semifinalist at the Arthur Rubinstein, Leeds and Montreal International Piano Competitions. Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, she made her orchestral debut at nine and has since appeared in recital at the Radio France Festival in Montpellier, Salle Cortot in Paris and St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Northwestern University, is pianist of the NLM Piano Trio and teaches on the piano faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago.
"The Artists-in-Residence series is where our audience gets to know these musicians across a whole season," said Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director of Nova Linea Musica. "First Light is a chance to hear them at their most brilliant, in music that rewards being heard live."
On the mainstage, the season continues Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 11 E Adams with Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration, featuring the world premiere of Alex Weston's Through Philip and Lou.
First Light Friday, Oct. 16, 2026 The CheckOut Doors 7:00 PM | Concert 7:30 PM
Tickets and details on the Nova Linea Musica Schedule page.
