Quince Ensemble
“The Anonymous Four of new music.” - Opera News
Quince Ensemble is a treble voice quartet dedicated to changing the paradigm for contemporary vocal chamber music. Described as "the Anonymous 4 of new music" by Opera News, Quince continually pushes the boundaries of vocal ensemble literature. By performing almost exclusively the music of living composers, and actively commissioning works with a broad and curious aesthetic ear, we seek to create a landscape of contemporary vocal music that is embodied, complex, and expressive, with the musical boldness and virtuosity that is often reserved for instrumental groups. As dedicated advocates of new music, Quince regularly commissions new works for voices, providing wider exposure for the music of living composers.
Learn more at www.quince-ensemble.com
HASCO DUO
Hasco Duo (Amanda DeBoer, soprano, and Jesse Langen, guitar) is a Chicago-based, multi-faceted duo that performs improvised, original, and commissioned music. With extensive backgrounds in classical, contemporary, experimental, and folk musics, performances by Hasco Duo can take many unpredictable paths.
Along with music, they have collaborated with improvising dancers and various visual mediums. They have worked with composers Fredrick Gifford, Marcos Balter, Eliza Brown, Jonathan Sokol, Max Grafe, Morgan Krauss, Ravi Kittappa, Anthony Donofrio, Ray Evanoff, Luis Fernando Amaya, Tomas Gueglio, and Elenna Sindler, among others. They have release three studio albums, including two albums of improvised music, an album of original country songs, and a collection of their commissioned works.
They have been featured on the Resonant Bodies Festival, at Film Streams Omaha, SEAMUS Conference, New Music DePaul, Frequency Series, ANODE Festival, Omaha Femme Fest, OPTION Series, and Live at OutrSpaces series, and have been in residence at Avaloch Farm Music Instititue.
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett is a soprano who performs contemporary classical music, experimental music, folk music, and original songs. She is a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, and is a co-founder of Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.
An avid player of new music, Jesse Langen has premiered dozens of pieces, many of which were written for him. Along with Hasco Duo, he can be heard as a soloist, in chamber collaborations, and with Ensemble Dal Niente, Fiddle in the Middle, KATET, Kilgubbin Brothers, Ensemble Galilei, and at Irish music sessions throughout Chicago.
ENSEMBLE DAL NIENTE
Ensemble Dal Niente performs new and experimental chamber music with dedication, virtuosity, and an exploratory spirit. Flexible and adaptable, Dal Niente’s roster of 27 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.
Over the past two decades, 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; Radialsystem Berlin, MusicArte Festival in Panama City; The Library of Congress and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago and the Hyde Park Jazz Festival; Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; The Americas Society; and the Darmstadt Summer Courses in Germany. Dal Niente 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+, Kairos, Albany, 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 Hilda Paredes to Roscoe Mitchell.
Learn more at www.dalniente.com