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Fromm Players at Harvard with Ensemble Dal Niente

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The Fromm Players at Harvard presents its annual two-concert series of new music works February 28 and March 1 at 8 p.m. in John Knowles Paine Concert Hall. This year’s performances, titled “The natural | The artificial,” feature Dal Niente, a 20-member Chicago-based contemporary music collective, who will present two world premieres and two U.S. premieres among the 10 works programmed.

Premieres

Wolf Edwards’s the road from Mutlaa to Basra (1991) makes its world premiere on Friday night’s concert (2/28). The piece found its genesis in a 1991 U.S. plane strike that immobilized a convoy on its way from Kuwait to Iraq, then bombed and strafed the resulting traffic jam for hours. On Saturday’s program, Dal Niente will perform the world premiere of Harvard composer Hans Tutschku’s Still Air 3 and two U.S. premieres: Ming Tsao’s The Book of Virtual Transcriptions, and Marianthi Papalexandri’s Yarn, both of which alter the sound of traditional instruments. Works by contemporary composers Erin Gee, Rick Burkhardt, Evan Johnson, Carola Bauckholt, Enno Poppe, and Harvard alumnus Aaron Einbond will also be performed.

Ensemble Dal Niente is a 20-member Chicago-based contemporary music collective that presents and performs new music. Described as “super-musicians” and noted for “bracing sonic adventures by some of the best new-music virtuosos around” (Chicago Tribune), Ensemble Dal Niente became the first-ever ensemble recipient of the coveted Kranichstein Music Prize – the top award for music interpretation – at the 2012 International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany.