Kathy D Hey / November 2, 2025 / Classical Music Reviews
I felt an extra sense of excitement about going to Guarneri Hall on a windy evening. Nova Linea Musica presents the finest chamber music experience in Chicago, and the performers have always been virtuosic. The quartet Owls took center stage on Wednesday. I previewed their music available online and hoped they were just as dynamic in person. I was not disappointed.
Owls (no definite article) is a string quartet made up of musicians who have established themselves individually as players and composers of new classical music. I always wonder why I haven't heard of some of the musicians presented at Nova Linea Musica, and it turns out I have listened to them and was unaware of who was who. They are violinist Alexi Keeney, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellists Gabriel Cabezas and Paul Wiancko. Individually, they have performed with orchestras in America and internationally. As a group, they perform about four times a year, and they have developed an intimate familiarity with inside jokes and camaraderie that is evident when they play.
The program opened with a composition from Owls member Paul Wianko, based on Isamu Noguchi's stone sculptures, that inspired Vox Petra (2018). The sculptures combine smooth and jagged surfaces, and the composition is a beguiling potion of textural pizzicatos and layered crescendos, emulating smooth and discordant surfaces. Combinations of tempos worked extraordinarily well with these players. Also, they used the bows as percussion in the bridges and strings of the instruments. What I heard and felt was a sense of spatial floating and bouncing on various surfaces. It was wonderfully atmospheric and stimulating for the senses.
The following composition was Rəqs (2015) from Azerbaijani composer Franghiz Ali-Zadeh. Rəqs translates to dances in English, and it was music that I could "see" people dancing to. Ali-Zadeh uses a unique Azerbaijani modal system called mugham, which, to my ears, sounds similar to klezmer. Rəqs is pronounced like 'rocks', and I connected it to the first piece based on the textural feel and varied tempos. The quartet was having a blast playing it. I thought they were going to levitate out of their seats with their physicality. The music and instruments were more than extensions of each player. They were the music with the instruments as fully integrated appendages.
After playing what I call a barn burner, the group segued into Baroque music—François Couperin's Les Baricades Mistérieuses. The music was a soft landing after the wild tempos and modal varieties of the opening pieces. I had not heard of Couperin before hearing him played by the Owls. They played the lilting, intricate melodies as beautifully as the more complex, whirling newer compositions. They followed Couperin with Ricercar from Trollstilt by Monica Mugan and Dan Trueman. This composition follows the harmonic baroque style, but more in a folk music vein. I thought that it was like a fugue and later discovered that the term ricercar was the precursor to the fugue style. It was beautifully played and well-placed in the program before Aegolius by Gabriella Smith.
Nova Linea Musica (NLM) has commissioned a piece for every concert it has sponsored at Guarneri Hall. NLM is an incubator for new classical music in Chicago, in addition to hosting residencies for gifted musicians who are already on the world stage. Gabriella Smith met Owls member Ayane Kosaza when they were students at the Curtis Institute of Music. Aegolius is actually a genus of owl whose song Smith heard while at a music festival in Paris. Smith took the owl calls and formed them into music with a homage to Joseph Hayden in the mix. I found it to be a lovely composition, minimalist compared to the openers. It was an aptly named composition beautifully played by Owls.
Quartet member Paul Wiancko had two compositions in the program. He also spoke most beautifully about his admiration for his fellow musicians and thanked them. That was another testament to the intimate and beautiful connection among Owls. Wiancko's composition When the Night uses the notes from the first three words of "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King. It is a gorgeous composition, using the three notes as a motif that expands into a beautiful, layered piece rooted in the lower register of the strings. I dug the mix of what is called "dusty soul" mixed into something new and even more atmospheric. "Stand by Me" is a spare, quiet walk at dusk, whereas When the Night expands into a joyful night-sky journey.
The finale was Good Medicine by minimalist composer Terry Riley. Owls played Good Medicine with subtlety and varying tempos. I would describe this composition as joyous minimalism, built on a low, droning cello motif and segueing into a whirling soundscape. It was the perfect ending to an evening spent in the presence of such incredible musicianship and friendship. The audience was appreciative with enthusiastic applause and a second curtain call to a standing ovation. I am not an autopilot riser at every concert. Owls was spectacular and I would have loved an encore.
Nova Linea Musica presented Owls on October 29 at Guarneri Hall, 11 East Adams St. NLM's second season features twice as many concerts as the premiere season. December will feature Catalyst Quartet presenting Against All Odds. They will be playing a commission from cellist and composer Andrea Casarrubios. For tickets and more information, please visit novalineamusica.org.
