Photo by Aleksandr Karjaka
OPTION presents: Ensemble Dal Niente
Featuring 3 solo sets
Mabel Kwan (piano)
Jesse Langen (guitar)
Alejandro Acierto (clarinet)
This week Option features Ensemble Dal Niente. As an extension of the regular Monday night concert series, Option curators invite artists to perform, improvise and discuss their work on the Quarantine Concerts stage.
”This wonderful, Chicago based, contemporary music collective (consisting of 23 members) performs a wide range of music for various configurations including intimate solo works all the way up to large ensemble territory. All of it, presented at an extremely high level. I have had the enormous privilege to work with a few members of the ensemble over the years and am always fascinated by the level of musicianship and engagement brought to the table. I very much look forward to the material which will be presented here on the Option Quarantine series."
- Tim Daisy, Option curator
Ensemble Dal Niente performs new and experimental chamber music with dedication, virtuosity, and an exploratory spirit. Dal Niente’s roster of 23 musicians presents an uncommonly broad range of contemporary music, guiding listeners towards music that transforms existing ideas and subverts convention. Audiences coming to Dal Niente shows can expect distinctive productions—from fully staged operas to multimedia spectacles to intimate solo performances—that are curated to pique curiosity and connect art, culture, and people.
Now in its second decade, Ensemble Dal Niente has performed concerts across Europe and the Americas, including appearances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC; The Foro Internacional de Música Nueva in Mexico City; MusicArte Festival in Panama City; The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Darmstadt Summer Courses in Germany, where it was the first-ever ensemble to win the Kranichstein prize for interpretation in 2012.
The group has recordings available on the New World, New Amsterdam, New Focus, Navona, Parlour Tapes+, and Carrier labels; has held residencies at The University of Chicago, Harvard University, Stanford University, Brown University, Brandeis University, and Northwestern University, among others; and collaborated with a wide range of composers, from Enno Poppe to George Lewis to Erin Gee to Greg Saunier and Deerhoof.
The ensemble's name, Dal Niente ("from nothing" in Italian), is a tribute to Helmut Lachenmann's Dal niente (Interieur III), a work that upended traditional conceptions of instrumental technique; and also a reference to the group’s humble beginnings.
Tune in to the conversation at: ess.org/the-quarantine-concerts