New Works Highlight WS17

Lampo announces its WS17 season, with six programs—and several special works to premiere in Chicago. Artists include Sarah Davachi, Lasse Marhaug, Sergei Tcherepnin, Jacob Kirkegaard, Olivia Block and Phill Niblock.

On January 28, young Canadian composer Sarah Davachi makes her Chicago debut, at long last. Rescheduled from November, Davachi premieres a new composition for vintage synthesizers, harmonium and two cellos, joined by cellists Fred Lonberg-Holm and Kimberly Sutton (Rebuild Foundation/Stony Island Arts Bank). In February Lasse Marhaug presents two new eight-channel works—the world premiere of Saltstraumen, which was commissioned by Lampo, and the U.S. premiere of The First Eight, originally composed for INA-GRM (Feb 18, Graham Foundation). We are pleased to bring Marhaug from Norway to Chicago—his first visit in more than ten years—with support from the American-Scandinavian Foundation and Music Norway. On March 11, Sergei Tcherepnin premieres a new composition for various electronics played through an ensemble of cardboard and aluminum speakers, in his first appearance in the Lampo series (Graham Foundation).

Three programs in April and May round out the season—on April 8, Danish artist Jacob Kirkegaard presents AION, his audio-visual project recorded and filmed in four abandoned spaces inside the radioactive zone around the former nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, in his Chicago debut (Graham Foundation). Later that month, Olivia Block premieres 132 Ranks, her newly commissioned work for the Skinner Organ at Rockefeller Chapel. Block has spent months studying the Skinner Organ for this project from Lampo and the Renaissance Society (Apr 21, Rockefeller Chapel). In May, minimalist composer Phill Niblock returns to Lampo for a two-hour performance of recent music and video, including FeedCorn Ear accompanied by Lonberg-Holm (May 20, Graham Foundation).