Nova Linea Musica Chamber Music Series to Launch Inaugural Season

Chicago’s newest chamber music series, Nova Linea Musica has revealed its inaugural season beginning Fall 2024, under the leadership of Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat and Founder & President Michele Mohammadi. NLM’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for the creation and promotion of new music through commissions, live performances, and the creation of exceptional audio and video recordings featuring dynamic emerging and established national and local talent. In line with this goal, NLM’s sonically diverse four-concert series boasts six world premiere performances – including five NLM commissioned pieces – performed by some of the best soloists and ensembles from Chicago and across the country.  Launching the inaugural season will be the world-renowned Dover Quartet, with a concert titled Celebration of America! on Wednesday, October 23, at 6:30 PM.
 
All NLM concerts will take place at Guarneri Hall, 11 E Adams St., an extremely intimate, acoustically superb 70-seat venue in the heart of downtown. Each performance is scheduled for a Wednesday evening beginning at 6:30 PM, allowing audiences to remain downtown after the workday and avoid rush hour. Following each concert, audience members are encouraged to mingle with performers and composers at a reception with quality libations. Tickets for each concert are $40 and include access to a pre-concert talk and the post-concert reception. A limited number of discounted student tickets are available for each concert. Tickets can be purchased at novalineamusica.org beginning on August 15, 2024.
 
NLM’s unique production model centered around world premieres relies on a robust and ongoing commissioning program. NLM approaches these commissions by first identifying innovative composers from across the world, pairing them with top performers eager to champion new work, and finally, inviting audiences to experience the birth of a brand-new piece of music in an intimate venue. Each concert is organized around one or more world premieres from this commissioning program paired with repertoire from the recent past. To enhance the audience experience and encourage understanding of new music, each concert will be preceded by a pre-concert discussion from The Society of Disobedient Listeners led by founder and host Doyle Armbrust. Pre-concert talks will begin at 5:45 pm.
 
“The need for an organization like Nova Linea Musica cannot be overstated,” said Ruhstrat. “Too much excellent new music is either never written or never performed because of the time and finances necessary to navigate the commissioning process. Composers need performers to play their pieces and performers can advance their careers through premiering new works. NLM aims to allow composers and performers to focus on their artistry without having to worry about the administrative processes of self-production.”
 
“Coming from a background in classical music, I only became a lover of new music after hearing the world premiere of Stacy Garrop’s Silver Dagger by The Lincoln Trio on the Composers in the Loft Series” added Mohammadi.  “Chicago is celebrated for its uncommonly daring and stylistically diverse new music community, and yet opportunities to hear new music outside of an academic setting can be scarce in this city. I want to give audiences the same opportunity I had, to have an unforgettable encounter with a newly minted, never-before-performed piece of music.”
 
The Nova Linea Musica 2024-25 inaugural season is as follows:
 

Celebration of America! featuring the Dover Quartet

Wednesday, October 23, 2024 @ 6:30 PM
 
The critically acclaimed Dover Quartet (Joel Link, Bryan Lee, Julianne Lee, Camden Shaw) will launch the Nova Linea Musica season performing a program that celebrates the history of American string chamber music while championing a new generation of American composers. The program opens with two works by contemporary American GRAMMY winning composers: Jessie Montgomery‘s vivacious Strum followed by Mason Bates’ From Amber Frozen.  Next is American Pulitzer Prize-winning George Walker’s String Quartet No. 1, mvt. II Molto adagio. Rounding out the program is the iconic American Quartet (Quartet No. 12 in F, Op.96) by Antonín Dvořák written while the composer was spending his summer in Iowa. The Dover Quartet appears by arrangement with the Curtis Institute of Music, where it serves as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence.
                                            

Nova Linea Musica Artists in Residence

Wednesday, January 15, 2025 @ 6:30 PM
 
Nova Linea Musica’s inaugural class of artists in residence will perform a program of chamber and solo repertoire by composers from across the world including Belize, Italy, the U.K., and Chicago. The NLM Trio in Residence with Rabia Brooke (Violin), Lam Wong (Piano), and Sarah Chong (Cello) will perform the gem of Armenian composer Arno Babajanyan’s catalogue, Piano Trio in F# minor No. 3. NLM soloists in residence violist Samual Rosenthal and cellist Alexander Hersh will perform works by Errollyn Wallen, Paul Wiancko, Alexander Hersh, Bernard Rands, Giovanni Sollima, Aram Khachaturian and György Ligeti. Hersh will also give the world premiere of a solo cello work by Chicago based composer Paul Novak – the first of many pieces commissioned by Nova Linea Musica for the inaugural season.
 

Letters from Home featuring ~Nois Saxophone Quartet and Black Oak Ensemble

Wednesday, March 12, 2025 @ 6:30 PM
 
Three world premieres take center stage during this concert featuring the unique sonic combination of ~Nois Saxophone Quartet (János Csontos, Julian Velasco, and Jordan Lulloff) and the string trio Black Oak Ensemble with Desirée Ruhstrat (Violin), David Cunliffe (Cello), and Aurelien Pederzoli (Viola). ~Nois will perform a program of works composed in the last 25 years by a diverse range of living composers including Augusta Read Thomas, Shelley Washington, Christian Quiñones, Arturo Márquez, and Viet Cuong. Black Oak Ensemble will perform three world premieres—a work by Belize-born and U.K.-based composer Errollyn Wallen commissioned by NLM and the long-awaited world premiere of Conrad Tao’s A Series of Interdependencies originally commissioned by Black Oak Ensemble and Bettes in 2016. Then ~Nois and Black Oak will join forces to close out the concert performing the world premiere arrangement of Jarba, Mare Jarba by Chicago’s own Stacy Garrop commissioned by NLM specifically for the unique arrangement of instruments.
 

Chicago! featuring In Triplicate, violinist Rabia Brooke, and pianist Clare Longendyke

Wednesday, June 4, 2025 @ 6:30 PM
 
Nova Linea Musica closes out its inaugural season with a joyful celebration of all things Chicago. Chicago based violinist and NLM artist in residence Rabia Brooke will perform two world premieres for solo violin by Chicago-based Shawn Okpebholo and Australian composer Elizabeth Younan, both commissioned by NLM. Chicago grown, genre-defying trio In Triplicate with Jasmine Lin (Violin), Nate Farrington (Bass), and Clancy Newman (Cello) performing pieces written and arranged by the members of the trio. Chicago-based concert pianist Clare Longendyke will perform works for solo piano by Okpebholo, Chicago’s own Augusta Reed Thomas, and Emily Koh.
 

About Nova Linea Musica

Nova Linea Musica is a Chicago-based contemporary classical chamber music presenter, concert series, and new music incubator launching its debut season this Fall. Led by Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat -- a highly sought-after chamber musician in her own right – and Founder & President Michele Mohammadi, NLM’s mission is threefold: 1) to infuse the new-music ecosystem with the resources essential to the creation and presentation of new works 2) to close the distance between composers, performers, and listeners and 3) to elevate Chicago’s reputation as a world-class city for new music. For more information about Nova Linea Musica’s inaugural season, visit novalineamusica.org

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