8:30pm.

~Nois – Curiosity VII

Performers:~Nois 
Julian Velasco – Soprano Saxophone
Natalia Warthen – Alto Saxophone 
Jordan Lulloff – Tenor Saxophone 
János Csontos – Baritone Saxophone 

Now entering its seventh year, Curiosity is ~Nois annual concert series dedicated to featuring new (and new-ish) music by artists with ties to Chicago. What might you hear at a Curiosity show? An hour of drone music? Electronics with weird alien noises? A bad joke told from the stage purely to stall for time while Jordan tries to find a replacement reed because he broke his other one slap tonguing for five minutes straight on the first piece of the program? Well, probably a mix of all three. Whatever it is we play, we invite the listener to get curious with us as we explore the here and now with the groundbreaking new music coming out of the city we call home.

World Premieres by:
Hans Thomalla 
Darlene Castro Ortiz 

Works by:
Bernard Rands  
Ania Vu 

Take your preconceived notions of ‘noise’ and toss them out the window. Equal parts “fiendishly good and fiendishly goofy” (Chicago Tribune), ~Nois is a Chicago-based saxophone quartet dedicated to connecting with diverse audiences through the creation of new work. Since its founding in 2016, “~Nois continues to legitimize the saxophone quartet as a premiere ensemble formation for classical music” (Brutal New Music) through commissioning today’s most inspiring compositional voices. Hailed as “technically superb and musically brilliant” (Cleveland Classical) ~Nois has been awarded top prizes at prestigious chamber music competitions including the M-Prize International Arts Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.