Links of the Week: Chicago Q Ensemble, Eckardt, Vivier, Sorensen

Chicago Concerts:

Chicago Q Ensemble - AMBITION: music inspired by very, very big ideas
Where: Dixon Strings Salon, 4636 N. Ravenswood, Suite 205/6
When: Friday, October 28, 2011 at 8pm | Sunday, October 30, 2011 at 6pm

The Chicago Q Ensemble presents a program that places Haydn's Op. 76 No. 1 Quartet in between works by two Chicago-based composers, Eric Malmquist and Amy Wurtz. The concert's theme seems especially well-suited to Malmquist's Burnham’s Plan for Chicago, a work the ensemble describes as "high-octane portrait that contrasts Chicago’s soaring beauty with its poverty and darkness." For more information about this concert, check out the Chicago Q Ensemble Blog.

Music Links:

digitICE: Composer Jason Eckardt Addresses the Role of Politics in Music

Jason Eckardt's guest post on the ICE web site addresses the necessity of avoiding obvious political references in music (which Eckardt equates with "sloganeering"). Furthermore, he draws a parallel between the complexity and nuance of art music and the "intricacy of truth."  This post provides a very important reminder to composers that our often marginalized pursuit has both symbolic and literal importance.

Video Clip from Claude Vivier's Lonely Child

Credit to Arlene Sierra, who posted this 1980 performance by Susan Narucki and the Asko and Schoenberg Ensembles to Twitter.

Watch Bent Sørensen Cut His Grass

On a much lighter note, who says the most bland domestic chores are beneath composers?

Watch a clip from a documentary on Bent Sørensen from The Wire Magazine on Vimeo.