Ensembles:
New Chicago Chamber Orchestra
Edward Benyas, Music Director
David Tuttle, Personnel Manager
Drawing on over 60 years of tradition as the second oldest professional orchestra in America’s Second City, the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra brings great music to people of Illinois and music lovers around the world. In addition to regular admission-free concerts at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Chicago Chamber Orchestra has performed throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, for radio and television broadcasts and on commercial recordings.
The Orchestra, under its now retired founder, Maestro Dieter Kober, was among the first of Illinois’ cultural service organizations to reach across cultural and economic lines, bringing the heritage of great classical music to people from all walks of life, backgrounds and ages. Its “Music for Young Listeners” programs throughout Illinois, have introduced thousands of youth to classical music. The massive repertoire of 5000 compositions from the Baroque to the present, through countless performances featuring internationally renowned soloists, have drawn universal praise, including multiple ASCAP awards and the Orchestra of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has received kudos from Illinois Governors (famous and infamous), Chicago Mayors, the American Federation of Musicians, and many others:
“One of the most notable success stories in Chicago music.” ---Chicago Tribune
“Winning prestige for Chicago abroad.” ---Chicago Sun-Times
“The entire performance has style, pure intonation, accuracy and a good sense of proportion” ---Grammophone, London
“The orchestra displayed a brilliant musical technique, transparency, flexibility, expressiveness and passion.” ---Speyer Tagesspiegel
“An impressive orchestra with virtuosity and temperament.” ---Ruch Musicny, Warsaw
“The sound of the Chicago Chamber Orchestra is beautiful, refined and always in accurate rhythm and intonation.” ---Korea Times, Seoul
Now sponsored by Southern Illinois University Carbondale, the New Chicago Chamber Orchestra operates under the musical and administrative direction of Professor Edward Benyas. Named Music Director Designate in 2002, Maestro Benyas will now lead this internationally acclaimed orchestra into its second century.
For more information: www.newcco.org
ANTIGONE STRING QUARTET
The Antigone Quartet is ecstatic to join the Southern Illinois Music Festival for the third consecutive year. The Antigone Quartet has performed a variety of concerts across Southern Illinois, including Cairo, Anna, and Carbondale. These performances have featured a variety of works by Price, Haydn, Walker, Schubert, Debussy, and Mendelssohn. The Antigone String Quartet was the founding ensemble of the Antigone Music Collective. An ensemble with both outreach and representation at its core, the Antigone String Quartet worked to bring classical music to areas with little to no fine arts presence. The quartet also worked extensively with composers from around the country, premiering several new works and hosting their own call for scores in 2023 which would become the first project of the Antigone Music Collective.
FERMI STRING QUARTET
The Fermi String Quartet, an ensemble of four highly experienced Chicago musicians, was originally formed in 2018 to honor the Beethoven 250th anniversary, and is committed to performing the masterpieces of the string quartet literature at the highest artistic level. The quartet name is in tribute to Dr. Enrico Fermi, who first split the atom at the University of Chicago. In addition to their work together as a quartet, these talented artists have performed internationally and with some of America’s most important professional orchestras and chamber ensembles. The Fermi String Quartet presented the first and last Beethoven String Quartets in formats of lecture, performance and discussion for several concerts during the 2020-2021 season. In summer 2021, the FSQ was in residence at the Southern Illinois Music Festival, presenting performances of Beethoven, Debussy and Ravel String Quartets, as well as performing in the Festival Orchestra. During the 2021-22 season, the FSQ returned to southern Illinois to perform in a well received residency, in which they thrilled the audience with collaborations, tangos and the Dvorak American Quartet, and assisted the SIU and SEMO orchestras in concerts of works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. FSQ members have performed extensively as solo, symphonic and chamber musicians, bringing a wealth of ideas, experiences and perspectives to their collaboration. Future projects include continuing the tradition of celebrating the anniversaries of Beethoven and Schubert, and the piano quintets of Shostakovich and Weinberg. The Quartet is delighted to return to Carbondale again in 2023 for SIFest, where we will share our music, energy and good humor! Fermi String Quartet members include Violinists Linda Veleckis and Nina Saito, Violist Jessica Lipon and Cellist William Cernota.