tickets $35 | $20
The quartet’s 2023-24 10th Anniversary Season season opens with two performances of Chicago Public Art in Song, an interdisciplinary program incubated over the past year that celebrates the musical, sculptural, and visual art of our city.
Repertoire features performances of songs inspired by Chagall's Four Seasons mosaic, the Picasso, Chicago's Miró, Cloudgate, as well as song sets dedicated to Pilsen street murals and Chicago's iconic sprawling parklands.
Performances take place at parallel venues that have served as neighborhood centers for their own arts communities on Chicago’s North and South Sides; First Presbyterian Church in Woodlawn at 3:00pm on Sunday, October 15, and Fourth Presbyterian Church Magnificent Mile at 7:00pm on October 20.
The quartet will be joined by pianist Dana Brown and concerts will feature the artwork of Chicago visual artist Arthur Wright and photographer Elliot Mandel. Each 90 minute program will be followed by a complimentary artist reception with the performers.
Repertoire features performances of songs inspired by Chagall's Four Seasons mosaic, the Picasso, Chicago's Miró, Cloudgate, as well as song sets dedicated to Pilsen street murals and Chicago's iconic sprawling parklands.
Performances take place at parallel venues that have served as neighborhood centers for their own arts communities on Chicago’s North and South Sides; First Presbyterian Church in Woodlawn at 3:00pm on Sunday, October 15, and Fourth Presbyterian Church Magnificent Mile at 7:00pm on October 20.
The quartet will be joined by pianist Dana Brown and concerts will feature the artwork of Chicago visual artist Arthur Wright and photographer Elliot Mandel. Each 90 minute program will be followed by a complimentary artist reception with the performers.
PROGRAM
Fourth Coast Ensemble
Sarah van der Ploeg, soprano (S)
Bridget Skaggs, mezzo-soprano (M)
Ace Gangoso, tenor (T)
David Govertsen, bass-baritone (B)
with
Dana Brown, piano
Cloudgate (Anish Kapoor)
Gwyneth Walker - Light my light (SMTB)
John Alden Carpenter - I am like a remnant (B)
Four Seasons (Marc Chagall)
Jules Massenet - O bon printemps (SMT)
Margaret Bonds - Summer storm (S)
Robert Schumann – Herbstlied (TB)
Claude Debussy – Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain (SMTB)
Francis Poulenc – Le Travail du peintre
Pablo Picasso (M)
Marc Chagall (M)
Georges Bracques (T)
Juan Gris (S)
Paul Klee (T)
Joan Miro (M)
Jacques Villon (B)
Sky Landing (Yoko Ono)
Andrea Clearfield – Overture from A Brush with Our Time (SMTB)
Pilsen Murals
Traditional Mexican, arr. Edward Kilenyi – Noche serena (B)
Traditional Mexican, arr. Edward Kilenyi – Mi sueño (M)
Manuel M. Ponce – Espera (S)
Agustin Lara – Granada (T)
Stephen Sondheim – selections from Sunday in the Park with George
Putting it together (SMTB)
Finishing the hat (T)
Sunday (SMTB)
Sarah van der Ploeg, soprano (S)
Bridget Skaggs, mezzo-soprano (M)
Ace Gangoso, tenor (T)
David Govertsen, bass-baritone (B)
with
Dana Brown, piano
Cloudgate (Anish Kapoor)
Gwyneth Walker - Light my light (SMTB)
John Alden Carpenter - I am like a remnant (B)
Four Seasons (Marc Chagall)
Jules Massenet - O bon printemps (SMT)
Margaret Bonds - Summer storm (S)
Robert Schumann – Herbstlied (TB)
Claude Debussy – Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain (SMTB)
Francis Poulenc – Le Travail du peintre
Pablo Picasso (M)
Marc Chagall (M)
Georges Bracques (T)
Juan Gris (S)
Paul Klee (T)
Joan Miro (M)
Jacques Villon (B)
Sky Landing (Yoko Ono)
Andrea Clearfield – Overture from A Brush with Our Time (SMTB)
Pilsen Murals
Traditional Mexican, arr. Edward Kilenyi – Noche serena (B)
Traditional Mexican, arr. Edward Kilenyi – Mi sueño (M)
Manuel M. Ponce – Espera (S)
Agustin Lara – Granada (T)
Stephen Sondheim – selections from Sunday in the Park with George
Putting it together (SMTB)
Finishing the hat (T)
Sunday (SMTB)
ARTISTS
American pianist Dana Brown is highly regarded for both his solo and collaborative performances. He recently received rave reviews for his new CD with soprano Michelle Areyzaga, Were I With Thee, and he has been heard many times on Chicago’s WFMT 98.7, in addition to the Ravinia Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival, WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. A nationally prominent vocal coach, he has coached at the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he also played lessons and masterclasses of Marilyn Horne, Renata Scotto, Renée Fleming and Sir Andrew Davis. He supports young singers through his work at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where is an Associate Professor of Opera and Vocal Coaching. Learn more at www.danabrownmusic.com.
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Arthur Wright, a native of Chicago, has been creating fine art in the city for the past two decades. Previously known for his upcycled Styrofoam sculptures, his work took a decided turn in 2016 when he became an Inaugural Fellow at Theaster Gates’ Stony Island Arts Bank and the Rebuild Foundation. Listening on repeat to the House Music of Frankie Knuckles at the Bank’s music library, he began to feel and see the space between the notes and put them down on paper as an image. This led to the start of “Music on My Mind,” an ever-growing collection of drawings and paintings done live at music events and in the studio. Wright has quickly become the chronicler of the jazz scene in Chicago. Known in live music venues throughout the Midwest, his work has landed him shows with the Jazz Institute of Chicago, South Side Community Art Center, and Fulton Street Collective. www.getitwright.com.
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Elliot Mandel is a full-time photographer based in Chicago and specializing in live music performance, artist portraiture, event coverage, and editorial projects. Mandel’s clientele includes many of Chicago’s finest ensembles, Grammy-winning and nominated artists, elite concert presenters, universities, and non-profit organizations. His photos have appeared on album covers and in notable publications of international, national, and local circulation, including Gramophone Magazine, Sports Illustrated, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Chicago Magazine. His jazz photos have been shown at the University of Chicago, the U.S. Embassy in Vienna, Austria, and PurePoint Financial - Gold Coast, Chicago. www.elliotmandelphoto.com.
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About our venues
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The First Presbyterian Church was organized in June of 1833, two months before Chicago was incorporated. It was the first church in Chicago, and remains the oldest continuously operating institution in this city. The church’s founding pastor, Jeremiah Porter, was a staunch abolitionist. First Church organized the first abolitionist society in Illinois, and Porter had a reputation for preaching against the evils of slavery. First Church was the site of the first regional public school. In 1926, First merged with Woodlawn Park Presbyterian Church, and a new American Gothic cathedral was built at 64th and Kimbark Avenue, in the heart of Woodlawn. This is still the building where First Church meets nearly a century later. First Presbyterian Church's mission is dedicated to fostering an equitable food system and supporting the arts in Woodlawn.
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Except for the familiar Water Tower complex two blocks to the south that survived the Chicago Fire of 1871, Fourth Presbyterian Church is now the oldest surviving structure on Michigan Avenue north of the river. Fourth Church is home to a vibrant and diverse worshiping community that is committed to serving the needs of its neighbors and to pursuing racial equity as a community and within society. In 2012, the congregation dedicated an 80,000-square-foot addition, the Gratz Center, designed by Gensler. This bold contemporary addition to the Gold Coast is rhomboid in shape and clad in interlocking copper plates tinted a brilliant blue-green patina. The Gratz Center includes Buchanan Chapel, with a floor that incorporates a labyrinth modeled on the one at Chartres Cathedral in France.
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