Upcoming Concerts

2023-2024 Season

Season Finale: From Beethoven to Rachmaninoff
May
26

Season Finale: From Beethoven to Rachmaninoff

  • Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern Bienen School of Music (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Bienen faculty members Yuan-Qing Yu, Todd Levy, and Christopher Guzman, together with Yuan-Qing Yu's Civitas Ensemble colleagues — cellist Kenneth Olsen and Bienen alumnus Winston Choi (‘02 CERT, ‘08 DMus) — present an afternoon of chamber music for strings, clarinet, and piano.

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Montgomery to Schubert: Duets, Distances, and Quintet Resonance
Apr
7

Montgomery to Schubert: Duets, Distances, and Quintet Resonance

  • Holtschneider Performance Center, Allen Recital Hall, DePaul University (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Meet Chicago composers Jessie Montgomery and Shawn Okpebholo and listen to their two unique duets in a concert featuring Civitas Ensemble members Yuan-Qing Yu (Assistant Concertmaster of Chicago Symphony), Kenneth Olsen (Assistant Principal Cello of Chicago Symphony), Winston Choi (Head of piano department at Chicago College of Performing Arts), alongside guest musicians from the Chicago Symphony. We end the program with the beloved cello quintet by Franz Schubert.

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Celebrate Spring with the Trout Quintet
May
28

Celebrate Spring with the Trout Quintet

Louise Farrenc, a woman in a man’s world: 19th-century musical Paris, was a celebrated pianist and composer. Farrenc produced a considerable number of chamber works and three symphonies as well as a large output of solo piano music. Her two piano quintets with the ‘Trout’ instrumentation were inspired by Hummel and Schubert. Come join us for this season finale to celebrate the spring and welcome the summer!

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Quintet – Dempster Street Pro Musica
Apr
30

Quintet – Dempster Street Pro Musica

A feast of colorful Quintet works at S.P.A.C.E. Guest musicians So Young Bae and Weijing Wang Michal join Civitas Ensemble in Bartók’s and Dvořák’s piano quintets. Bartók composed his quintet at age 23, this post-romantic quintet is rarely heard because the composer didn’t want to publish it. Here is your chance to experience this wonderful early work by the Hungarian master.

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Sounds of Chicago: Stephenson and Zupko
Mar
19

Sounds of Chicago: Stephenson and Zupko

Join Civitas Ensemble for a program featuring Esteban Batalán, Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony, in Saint-Saens' Septet for Trumpet, Strings and Piano. In addition, works by Boccherini and Chicago composers Jim Stephenson and Mischa Zupko will be performed. This concert will also feature a vivid conversation between the two esteemed composers (Stephenson and Zupko). Come hear them talk about their creations!

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Civitas Ensemble at Symphony Center
Mar
7

Civitas Ensemble at Symphony Center

The piano quartet is a medium that adds more richness than a standard piano trio yet adds more sonic variety than a string quartet. The Civitas Ensemble, joined by violist Weijing Wang, presents a colorful piano quartet program. Mahler's unfinished Piano Quartet in A minor offers a glance into the composer's mindset, hinting at many of his large-scale works to come. This piece is followed by one of Mozart's most popular chamber works, the Piano Quartet No. 1. Rounding out the program is Strauss's impetuous yet rich Piano Quartet in C Minor.

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Quartet – Dempster Street Pro Musica
Feb
12

Quartet – Dempster Street Pro Musica

The piano quartet is a medium that adds more richness than a standard piano trio, yet adds more sonic variety than a string quartet. The Civitas Ensemble, joined by violist Weijing Wang Michal, presents a colorful piano quartet program. Mahler’s unfinished Piano Quartet in A minor offers a glance into the composer's mindset, hinting at many of his large-scale works to come. This is followed by one of Mozart’s most popular chamber works, the Piano Quartet No. 1. Rounding out the program is Strauss’s impetuous yet rich Piano Quartet in C Minor.

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Holiday Concerti at Rhapsody
Dec
11

Holiday Concerti at Rhapsody

Civitas Ensemble celebrates the holidays with a program featuring the three members of the Civitas Ensemble appearing as soloists, with an orchestral accompaniment played by strings. Ken Olsen opens the program with Haydn’s Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major. Then, Yuan-Qing Yu takes the stage with Schubert’s Rondo in A major for Violin and String Quartet. Lastly, Winston Choi performs Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major.

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Celebration of César Franck
Oct
23

Celebration of César Franck

Please join Civitas Ensemble for our debut performance at the Rhapsody Theater, where we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of César Franck’s birth with a performance of his fiery, passionate Piano Quintet in F Minor. The program will also include Poulenc’s virtuosic Sonata for Violin and Piano, as well as Mozart’s Oboe Quartet featuring William Welter, Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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