International Contemporary Ensemble and Civic Orchestra of Chicago Present the World Premiere of Nicole Mitchell’s Inescapable Spiral Remote Dec. 15 6pm CST

 Tuesday, December 15 at 6:00pm CST/7:00pm EST – Free with Advanced                                                          RSVP

www.iceorg.org 

New York, NY (November 23, 2020) — The International Contemporary Ensemble and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago present a free virtual concert featuring the world premiere of Nicole M. Mitchell’s Inescapable Spiral Remote (2020) on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 6pm CST/7pm EST. The program will stream on YouTube and is open to the public with advanced RSVP. An informal Q & A with the artists will follow the performance.

Inescapable Spiral, commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble with lead support from Oscar Gerardo and premiered at Ojai Music Festival 2017, is written for open instrumentation and a variable ensemble. Performers can range anywhere from 5 to 20 players. As Nicole mentions, “it’s like a choreography of these little miniature pieces, with the intent of collision.” The variable process in her work extends to a new remote edition of the piece, specifically reimagined for pre-recorded and live performances that are created remotely and mixed live online.

"There are a few possible ways that celestial bodies can orbit the Earth. One is called the ‘spiral impact’ orbit, in which it is inevitable for one celestial body to be pulled towards the greater object in an ‘inescapable spiral’ until they ultimately collide,” says Mitchell.  

"As the pandemic forced our programming, collaboration, and creation into the virtual sphere, we immediately thought of Nicole Mitchell and her extensive experience with remote Telematic performances. We commissioned her to make a new version of the 2017 Inescapable Spiral that could be workshopped in the context of our online Ensemble Evolution program in late June in partnership with the New School’s College of Performing Arts. Six months later, as the final event in our weekly streaming series, TUES@7, we’ll bring thirteen members of the Ensemble into collaboration with over a dozen members of Chicago Civic,” says International Contemporary Ensemble’s Artistic Director Ross Karre. 

"This performance presents the Civic Orchestra with so many exciting opportunities to explore new modes of musical expression online,” says Jonathan McCormick, who is Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Negaunee Music Institute and oversees the Civic. “After three years and at least two instances of postponed performances, it feels as though the inescapable spiral of planning this collaboration is finally reaching a joyful conclusion, thanks to Nicole’s ingenuity and International Contemporary Ensemble’s thoughtful partnership.”

Program Information

Nicole Mitchell’s Inescapable Spiral Remote

Tuesday, December 15, at 6:00pm CST/7:00pm EST

Tickets: Free with Advanced RSVP

Link: www.eventbrite.com/e/inescapable-spiral-remote-tickets-129775539131

Program:

Nicole Mitchell – Inescapable Spiral Remote (2020) [World Premiere] 

The 2020/21 Civic Orchestra of Chicago season is generously sponsored by The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation. 

About Nicole Mitchell

Nicole Mitchell is an award-winning creative flutist, composer, conceptualist, bandleader, and educator. A United States Artist (2020), a Doris Duke Artist (2012) and recipient of the Herb Alpert Award (2011), her research centers on the powerful legacy of contemporary African American culture and black experimental art. For over 20 years, Mitchell’s critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble (BEE) has been her primary compositional laboratory with which she has recorded over 10 albums and performed at festivals and art venues throughout Europe, Canada, and the US. A former president of the AACM, she composes for contemporary ensembles of varied instrumentation and size (from solo to orchestra and big band) while incorporating improvisation and a wide aesthetic expression. Her recognition as a 2018 recipient of the Champion of New Music Award from the American Composers Forum and the 2019 Women In Jazz Visionary Award from the Jazz Institute of Chicago are positive responses to her community impact. Much of Mitchell’s creative process has been informed by literature and narrative, with a special interest in science fiction. Her album, Mandorla Awakening (FPE, 2017), combined Afrofuturism with intercultural collaboration and was selected by The New York Times as the #1 jazz album of 2017. As a composer, she has been commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Art Institute of Chicago, the French American Jazz Exchange, Chamber Music America, the Chicago Jazz Festival, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. As a flutist she has developed her own signature language and has been a repeated recipient of the Top Jazz Flutist awards from Jazz Journalists Association and DownBeat Magazine from 2010-2019. A professor of Music at University of Pittsburgh, Mitchell is the William S. Dietrich II Chair of Jazz Studies, where she works to continue the visionary legacies of her predecessors Geri Allen and Nathan Davis. Mitchell was previously a professor of music at University of California, Irvine.Learn more at www.nicolemitchell.com.  

About the International Contemporary Ensemble

The International Contemporary Ensemble is an artist collective that is transforming the way music is created and experienced. As performer, curator, and educator, the Ensemble explores how new music intersects with communities across the world. The Ensemble’s 36 members are featured as soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. Works by emerging composers have anchored the Ensemble’s programming since its founding in 2001, and the group’s recordings and digital platforms highlight the many voices that weave music’s present.

A recipient of the American Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the International Contemporary Ensemble was also named the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. The group currently serves as artists-in-residence at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Mostly Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The International Contemporary Ensemble was featured at the Ojai Music Festival from 2015 to 2017, and at recent festivals abroad such as gmem-CNCM-marseille and Vértice at Cultura UNAM, Mexico City. Other performance stages have included the Park Avenue Armory, The Stone, ice floes at Greenland’s Diskotek Sessions, and boats on the Amazon River.

OpenICE, made possible with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, offers free concerts and interactive, educational programming wherever the Ensemble performs. As the Ensemble in Residence of the Nokia Bell Labs Experiments in Art and Technology, the International Contemporary Ensemble advances music technology and digital communications as an empowering tool for artists from all backgrounds. Curricular activities include a residency and coursework at the New School College of Performing Arts, along with a summer intensive program, called Ensemble Evolution, where topics of equity, diversity, and inclusion build new bridges and pathways for the future of creative sound practices. Yamaha Artist Services New York is the exclusive piano provider for the Ensemble. Read more at www.iceorg.org and watch over 350 videos of live performances and documentaries at www.digitice.org. 

About the Civic Orchestra of Chicago

Founded in 1919 by Frederick Stock, second music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), the Civic Orchestra of Chicago prepares emerging professional musicians for lives in music. Civic members participate in rigorous orchestral training, September through June each season, with Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur, musicians of the CSO, and some of today’s most luminary conductors including CSO Zell Music Director Riccardo Muti. 

From 2010 to 2019, Yo-Yo Ma was a leading mentor to Civic musicians and staff in his role as CSO Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant, and the programs and initiatives he established are integral to the Civic Orchestra curriculum today. Civic Orchestra musicians develop as exceptional orchestral players and engaged artists, cultivating their ability to succeed in the rapidly evolving world of music in the twenty-first century.

The importance of the Civic Orchestra’s role in Greater Chicago is underscored by its commitment to present concerts of the highest quality at no charge to the public. In addition to the critically acclaimed live concerts at Symphony Center, Civic Orchestra performances can be heard locally on WFMT (98.7 FM).

Civic musicians also expand their creative, professional, and artistic boundaries and reach diverse audiences through educational performances at Chicago Public Schools and a series of chamber concerts at various locations throughout the city including Chicago Park District field houses and the National Museum of Mexican Art.

To further expand its musician training, the Civic Orchestra launched the Civic Fellowship program in the 2013–14 season. Each year ten to fifteen Civic members are designated as Civic Fellows and participate in intensive leadership training that is designed to build and diversity their creative and professional skills.

The Civic Orchestra’s long history of presenting full orchestra performances free to the public includes annual concerts at the South Shore Cultural Center (in partnership with the South Shore Advisory Council) as well as numerous Chicago Public Schools. The Civic Orchestra is a signature program of the Negaunee Music Institute at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which offers a wide range of education and community programs that engage more than 200,000 people of diverse ages, incomes, and backgrounds each year, in Chicago and around the world. Learn more at https://cso.org/institute/civic-orchestra-of-chicago/.