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Writer's pictureAmy Wurtz

Performer Bios for New Music at the Green Mill, 5/5/24

Here is the entire program, followed by information about the performers.



New Music at the Green Mill


Sunday, May 5, 2024

4:00 pm



Program



Ben Zucker Xenoweave (for Peter Garland) Ben Zucker, vibraphone

Daniel Lewis, vibraphone


Ari Scott Descending Ari Scott, cello


Amy Wurtz Winter Ari Scott, cello

Jason Hurlbut, violin

Amy Wurtz, piano


Danny Clay see-saw Missing Piece Dan Galat, Violin

Kelly Quesada, cello


Myra Hinrichs Unseen Wildfire Missing Piece




Pause




Jeff Morris On the Electrodynamics of Moving Cellists William Jason Raynovich, 

cello, electronics


George Flynn Gentle Musings Wurtz-Berger Duo


Trevor Patricia Watkin Driving Music Wurtz-Berger Duo


Laura Elise Schwendinger Rapture Wurtz-Berger Duo

Alyson Berger, cello

Amy Wurtz, piano


Amos Gillespie The Rockhopper Anna Najoom, clarinet

Pedro Iturralde Pequeña Czarda Airan Wright, saxophone

David Keller, cello


BIOS


George Flynn has performed and organized concerts of new music in a variety of New York City and Chicago venues.  He has composed works in all media, from solos to orchestral works,  and has recorded for Turnabout, ATCO, Finnadar, Titanic, Wounded Bird and Southport labels.  LP recordings include his own music as well as works by John Cage, Charles Ives, Olivier Messiaen and Jan Akkerman (a member of the Dutch group Focus), and CD recordings include many works of his own.  Many of Flynn’s works reflect extra-musical interests, including images of this country and the Vietnam experience.  His chamber duos consider human relationships; and several piano solos seek to extend the limits of gestural, technical and poetic elements.   Flynn received his academic degrees from Columbia University, New York City, and taught at Columbia and Lehmann College (CUNY) as well DePaul University (Chicago).  He has been visiting lecturer/composer at many music venues throughout this country, Canada, and Europe, and has contributed articles to several American publications.  As a pianist Flynn has performed and recorded new music for many years in the US and Europe.  He is the recipient of awards from many individuals and organizations, is a member of ASCAP, and is entered in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Baker's Biographical Dictionary, and Maurice Hinson’s Guide to the Piano Repertoire.


   As the title suggests, Gentle Musings is meant to be essentially a calm, restful piece.  There are sections that are a bit more lively, with the work concluding in a quiet, contemplative manner. The work relies mostly on what we would consider to be rather traditional textures and gestures.Amos Gillespie


Amos’ music has been heard on WFMT in Chicago, WQXR in New York City and PBS. His music has been commissioned and performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Atlantic Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Third Millennium Ensemble, Eclipse Theater, Barkada Saxophone Quartet, Kaia String Quartet, Access Contemporary Music (ACM) and the Chicago Composers Orchestra among many others. As a saxophonist Amos performs with his own quartet – septet and has played along with the Hard Art Groop, Alvarez Orchestra, Origin of Animal, New Millennium Orchestra, Access Contemporary Music (ACM), Lake Shore Rush Ensemble and with soloist, Taimur Sullivan, among others. Amos’ music has been heard at various venues and Festivals around the world including The Ear Taxi Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, Illinois Musicians Festival at Grant Park, North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, Preston Bradley Hall Sunday Salon Series, An Die Musik in Baltimore MD, Music Institute of Chicago, Court Theatre and "Live on WFMT" among others.


My name is Daniel T Lewis (he/they). I'm a multi-discliplinary composer, performer, and educator, a hobbyist gardener, and a resident of Berwyn, IL. I perform all around Chicagoland in a huge variety of formats and genres. My recent projects span contemporary classical chamber music, punk, indie rock, experimental improvisation, musical theater, and jazz.


Missing Piece is south side Chicago-based musical duo, violinist Dan Galat and cellist Kelly Quesada, who endeavor to commission new musical works and works from other artistic disciplines on themes that inspire others to connect with their community, care for our environment, listen deeply to ourselves and others, and speak out against injustice. Missing Piece has commissioned eight new works for their ensemble, including standard notation, text and graphic scores, poetry, movement, and improvisation. Missing Piece has premiered an additional four new works for piano trio and one work for piano quartet. Missing Piece has presented their work in Chicago, New Orleans, Anchorage, Ohio, and Florida, with upcoming performances at Constellation, Elastic Arts, Experimental Sound Studios, Chicago Ceramics Center, First Presbyterian Church, and International Museum of Surgical Sciences. In addition to performance and artistic collaboration, Galat and Quesada co-teach the orchestra program at Urban Prairie Waldorf School, grades 3-8.


William Jason Raynovich uses (or rather abuses) computers to create musical repetition out of the idiosyncrasies of physical performances. With the open-source visual programming language, Pure Data, he creates interactive compositions with new notational systems and explores self-similarity systems with live audio processing. He is constructing a series of unconventional instruments to accompany these algorithmic compositions. The works in this series include tre’ for voice, instruments, and computer, and his cello solo piece, now for cello and computer.


Alyson Berger and Amy Wurtz have been part of Chicago's new music community for over a decade.  After years of crossing paths on various concerts they decided to combine their talents to perform the contemporary music of this classic duo of instruments. Their mission is to expand and support the body of work for cello and piano.


Ben Zucker engages in acts of creative juxtaposition and speculation as a composer, audiovisual artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Acclaimed as a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine), and “more than a little bit remarkable” (Free Jazz Blog), they have contributed to experimental music scenes across North America and the UK with “stirring compositions…built on a lifetime of musical curiosity” (Chicago Reader), as well as albums, multimedia situations, and frequent performances on vibraphone, brass, voice, and electronics. They currently live in Chicago, working as a freelance musician, lecturer, curator, and President of New Music Chicago.

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