Osnat Netzer: Dot : Line : Sigh

Osnat Netzer

Israel native Osnat Netzer is a composer, performer, and educator. Inspired by performers’ bodies, personalities, and their relationship to their instruments, Osnat creates her compositions collaboratively, tailoring her work to the performer’s sensibilities, physicality and improvisational inclinations.

Netzer’s works have been commissioned and performed by Del Sol Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, ~Nois, International Contemporary Ensemble, Patchwork, mezzo-soprano Lucy Dhegrae, bass David Salsbery Fry, saxophonists Kenneth Radnofsky, Doug O’Connor and Geoffrey Landman, Spektral Quartet, and Winsor Music, among many others. Her works are published by Edition Peters and earthsongs, and recorded on Bridge Records and New Focus Recordings.

Her opera, The Wondrous Woman Within, was described as “riotously funny” in The New York Times when its first scene was performed at New York City Opera’s VOX festival in 2012 and “challenging and fascinating” by critic Amir Kidron when it received its World Premiere in a sold out run at Tel Aviv’s Cameri Theatre in 2015.

As a pianist and performer, she regularly plays and conducts new music by fellow composers, as well as her own songs and compositions. Also a committed and passionate educator, Netzer teaches at The Walden School and has served on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music of Bard College and Harvard University, and as of 2023 is Associate Professor of Composition and Musicianship at DePaul University in Chicago, IL.

Ensemble Dal Niente

Ensemble Dal Niente performs new and experimental chamber music with dedication, virtuosity, and an exploratory spirit. Dal Niente’s roster of 23 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.

Now in its second decade, 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; MusicArte Festival in Panama City; The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Darmstadt Summer Courses in Germany, where it 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+, 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 Erin Gee to Greg Saunier and Deerhoof.

The ensemble's name, Dal Niente ("from nothing" in Italian), is a tribute to Helmut Lachenmann's Dal niente (Interieur III), a work that upended traditional conceptions of instrumental technique; and also a reference to the group’s humble beginnings.

Geoffrey Landman

Geoffrey Landman is a performer, teacher, and advocate of the saxophone and new music. He has performed across North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and in New York City’s most well-known venues including Carnegie Hall, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, The United Nations, and Trinity Wall Street.

He performs with new music groups including Either/Or Ensemble, NovusNY, and Wavefield Ensemble, and has collaborated with many acclaimed artists, including vocal- ists Donatienne Michel-Dansac and Tony Arnold, JACK String Quartet, TILT Brass, Prism Saxophone Quartet, pianist/composer Osnat Netzer, and poet J.D. McClatchy. For 8 years Geoffrey was the soprano saxophonist with the New Thread Saxophone Quartet, a new-music saxophone quartet he co-founded in 2011.

Dr. Landman is the Associate Professor of the Practice in Saxophone at the University of Kansas, and previously served on the faculty of the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, MA. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, post-graduate work at the Hochschule für Musik Basel in Switzerland, and New England Conservatory where he was the first ever DMA in saxophone performance in the school’s history.

Mivos Quartet

The Mivos Quartet, “one of America’s most daring and ferocious new-music ensembles” (The Chicago Reader), is devoted to performing works of contemporary composers and presenting diverse new music to international audiences. The quartet, founded in New York City in 2008, commissions and premieres new repertoire for string quartet, and is dedicated to creative collaborations with a wide variety of artists. Mivos maintains an active international performance schedule, with regular appearances at festivals including Lucerne Festival, Wien Modern, June in Buffalo, Shanghai New Music Week, Darmstadt Summer Institute and VIPA Festival. Mivos takes part in many educational residencies at universities and summer festivals, working with young performers and composers to develop their skills. Their most recent album includes all the Steve Reich String Quartets on Deutsche Grammophon (2023). The members of Mivos are violinists Olivia De Prato and Maya Bennardo, violist Victor Lowrie Tafoya and cellist T.J. Borden.

Eric Lamb

Flutist Eric Lamb is in demand internationally as a concerto soloist, recording artist, recitalist, concert curator and chamber musician. Since leaving his post as a core mem- ber of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Eric performs regularly as guest with a long list of the world's most important orchestras and soloist ensembles including the Boulez Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Geneva Camerata, Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Omega Ensemble (Sydney), the Cleveland Orchestra, PHACE, Camerata Bern, the City of Birmingham Orchestra, ASKO Schoenberg Ensemble and the Radio Orchestra Frankfurt. He has been invited to perform at festivals in Melbourne, Darmstadt, Graz, Salzburg, Lockenhaus, Acht Brücken in Cologne, Mostly Mozart Festival, Heidelberg Spring Mu- sic Festival, and the Bucharest Festival for New Music, to name but a few. Presently, Eric Lamb teaches flute, improvisation and is Chair of woodwind, brass and percussion performance at the Fredrich Gulda School of Music in Vienna Austria.

Michael Hall

Michael Hall lives in Chicago and has performed and taught across Europe, Asia and the United States. Described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and Chamber Music Today as having “superb technique,” he recently made his Chicago Orchestra Hall solo debut performing the world premiere of Kim Diehnelt’s “Montegar,” and concluded a recital tour to Vienna, Austria and Udine and Tolmezzo, Italy. Hall has been a featured performer at the Thailand International Composition Festival in Bangkok, the Positano Chamber Music Festival in Italy, the Vianden International Chamber Music Festival in Luxembourg and the Composer’s Concordance Series in New York City. January 2018, Hall gave the world premiere of Stacy Garrop’s Viola Concerto - “Krakatoa,” with the Bandung Philharmonic in Indonesia.

Marianne Parker

Marianne Parker’s playing has been described as, “a cut above...her sympathetic fingers offering well-sculpted phrases and impassioned pealing” (Chicago Classical Review). Her work can be heard on four albums, Pages intimes (2019), Pyano Sa (2020), and Currents in Time (2020, PARMA/Navona Records), and Decho Ensemble (2023). Marianne is curator for the Anthology of 21st century works for solo piano through NewMusicShelf Publishing. An active chamber musician, Marianne’s first foray into new music was with L+M Duo, which she co-founded in 2016 with marimbist Laurel Black. Marianne is in demand locally, regionally, and nationally as collaborator and performer. Marianne has been a featured performer at the Bowling Green State University New Music Festival, James Madison University Contemporary Music Festival, Nief Norf Summer Festival, UIC Wind Ensemble, with whom she premiered Alan Theisen’s piano concerto AMP in 2023, and many others. She serves as President of New Music Chicago, an organization that serves the city’s vast ecosystem of new music creators.

Marianne has performed with many ensembles across the Midwest, including The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Present Music, Access Contemporary Music, Fourth Coast Ensemble, Crossing Borders Music, and more. She served as the principal pianist for the Chicago Civic Orchestra from 2013-2015, during which time she worked with longtime Chicago Symphony, Pianist Mary Sauer and Chicago Symphony Creative Consultant, Yo-Yo Ma.

~Nois

Founded in 2016, ~Nois (pronounced “noise”) has become one of the premier ensembles in the United States by combining contemporary chamber music and improvisation to connect with audiences in unique concert experiences. Heralded as “fiendishly good” (Chicago Tribune) and known for their “supremely sensitive balance and control” (Chicago Classical Review), ~Nois has been awarded top prizes at prestigious chamber music competitions including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competi- tion and the M-Prize International Arts Competition.

Since their founding, ~Nois has presented over 120 performances in 24 states. In addition to their regular concert season in Chicago, ~Nois has performed on festivals and series such as Big Ears, LONG PLAY, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the University of Chicago Presents Series. In addition, ~Nois is in demand as a guest artist and lecturer at universities across the nation having held residencies and given performances at over 44 institutions including University of Southern California, the University of Colorado - Boulder, the Manhattan School of Music, and Princeton University. During the 2022/23 season, ~Nois has been appointed as an Entrepreneurial Musical Artist in Residence at Michigan State University alongside Imani Winds and Damien Sneed.

Dedicated to expanding and redefining the saxophone quartet repertoire, ~Nois has premiered over 80 works including compositions by Gaudeamus Prize winners Kelley Sheehan and Annika Socolofsky as well as 2018 Guggenheim Fellow Tonia Ko. ~Nois’ recent commission, I Tell You Me by Annika Socolofksy was called “grotesquely gorgeous” by the Chicago Tribune and the premiere performance was included in their list of “Chicago’s Top 10 moments in classical music, opera, and jazz that defined 2021”.

Constance Volk

Constance Volk is a flutist, vocalist and visual artist. She is a founding member of the Dal Niente ensemble and has performed with Lookingglass Theatre Company, Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Chicago Wind Project, Musical Bridges to Memory, and Vicarious Tool Tribute. Volk has collaborated with Ensemble Adapter, Alarm Will Sound, distractfold, Spokane Symphony, sympathy for Astronauts, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Spektral Quartet. She was awarded the Ella Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Vocalist at the Essentially Ellington Competition, and also won the concerto competition at Musicfest Northwest.

Doyle Armbrust

Noted as “a well-connected pillar of the Chicago new-music scene” by The New York Times, violist Doyle Armbrust is a founding member of the multi-Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet. Motivating his work are the twin beliefs that 1) Curiosity should be the only prerequisite for a captivating musical encounter, and 2) For a musical encounter to be relevant, it must immediately connect to what it means to be alive today. This creed threads through his professional writing, found within the pages of Time Out Chicago, Chicago Magazine, and Crain’s Chicago Business, as well as program books at the Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati Symphonies. Doyle is currently violist for new-music supergroup The Grossman Ensemble as well as host and creator of The Society of Disobedient Listeners pre-concert discussion series at UMS (University of Michigan). He is conspicuously proud to serve on the D-Composed board of directors.