Live Painting of Hyde Park Jazz with Miguel Zenón

Credit: Brian Jackson / Chicago Tribune

We are still glowing after our debut at Hyde Park Jazz, performing Miguel Zenón's "Yo Soy La Tradición" to an enthusiastic and packed house! Miguel's eight-movement suite, steeped in traditional music from his native Puerto Rico, is deceptively challenging in its rhythmic and harmonic complexity...and when you're on stage performing with the composer blowing solos that can melt steel...well, it was a thrill ride in every sense of the term.

You may have seen Howard Reich's review in the Chicago Tribune, in which he boldly states that Miguel should submit this piece for Pulitzer consideration. All we can say is, we concur with Howard. It is a riveting piece that curves through blistering virtuosity and elegant lyricism with total ease.

One unexpected highlight of the show was being approached after we left the stage by artist Lewis Achenbach, founder of the Jazz Occurrence™ project. Lewis draws in real-time during performances, and we were really taken by his kinetic chalk renditions of our quintet. We thought you might like to take a peek:

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Chicago Tribune: Hyde Park Jazz Festival review - Music embraces a neighborhood

(photo: Brian Jackson for Chicago Tribune)

The centerpiece of the festival brings a capacity audience to a hush for the world premiere of Zenon's "Yo Soy La Tradicion" ("I Am Tradition"). Commissioned for the occasion by the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, the piece elegantly blurs distinctions among jazz, classical and folkloric music. Substantive yet accessible, rhythmically intense but often melodically soaring, "Yo Soy La Tradicion" shows Zenon — as in previous work — finding inspiration in the musical, cultural and religious rituals of his native Puerto Rico. Yet this is no kitschy appropriation of familiar dance forms. Instead, Zenon has crafted a vast work in which meter, tempo, texture and instrumental technique are in constant flux. Certain passages bristle with complex interactions between Zenon and the Spektral Quartet. Others prove disarmingly direct by virtue of their poetic melodies or buoyant rhythms or extended passages of hand claps for all the musicians. Zenon has built forward motion into the string writing so deftly that you never really miss the rhythm-section accompaniment that typically drives small-ensemble jazz. It's a major work that ought to be recorded, and Zenon should enter it for the Pulitzer Prize music competition.

Read the whole article here

Always Read the Comments

Photo credit: David Bontumasi

Earlier this summer we were invited to perform at the Ravenswood Manor Park concert series – a charming series in which Rolling Stones cover bands are the more typical fare – and we had one of the most charming summer shows in our history. The skaters who took a break from kickflips to creep up behind us for a listen to Schubert, and the three-year-old kid who danced his little heart out really made playing with the sun in our eyes totally worth it.

Some days later we received an email from a woman who found herself amongst the picnic blankets that night. She authors a gratitude blog, and felt inspired to capture her experience while listening to us steer through Mendelssohn and Reich. Having a member of the audience put her thoughts to virtual paper, so thoughtfully and poignantly, is something both lovely and unique.

Below is an excerpt from Deborah Hawkins's No Small Thing blog. If you feel inspired to write up your own review or thoughts on one of our shows, send it to us...we love it!

"On this perfect mid-summer night’s eve, in a park only blocks from where I spend far too many nights on my couch tuned in to whatever options Comcast is offering, I gave in to the spell of the Spektral Quartet.

Here were top-notch musicians bowing their way through works by Schubert and Steven Reich (a peer of Phillip Glass).

Even before a member of the group shared a few remarks about their philosophy, I had already slipped into appreciation mode. It seems, in grokking on this site-specific concert, I was the perfect audience for what they wanted to impart.

When sitting down to listen to trained musicians, it’s automatic to tune up your listening senses.

The precision of their runs, their changing pace and dynamics seemed to render the natural noises of the environment (the sound of the descending gates at the nearby train crossing, pets and their people enjoying the park) especially BEAUTIFUL."

Read the entire piece here

Announcing our violinist transition for the 2016/17 Season

Dear friends,

Today we announce important news, and we want you to be among the first to know. Austin Wulliman, a founding member of our ensemble and our violinist for the past six years, is leaving Chicago to pursue a career in contemporary music as a new member of the JACK Quartet.

While the departure of a member is complex, we're embracing this moment as an opportunity to grow as an ensemble, and we look toward the future with enthusiasm. We will continue to produce and perform programs that create vibrant and inviting conversation between the music of today and the beloved repertoire of the past, in a concert style that is intimate and personal. We are tremendously excited about our current candidates for the position and the accomplishments, versatility, and love of chamber music they embody. We wish Austin much happiness and the best of luck in his new pursuit, and look forward to introducing you to our newest member soon.

Austin would like to add:

"When we first started, I never could have predicted everything we've done together since founding Spektral Quartet. From the musical conversation between commissions and the standard quartet literature, to building our community in Chicago, as well as our teaching at the University of Chicago and beyond, I'm proud to have been a part of it. While my musical adventure takes me to a new city with a dedicated focus on new music, I eagerly await hearing and seeing the innovative and richly varied programs Spektral presents next."

Austin will continue performing with us during the transition, and there won't be any interruption to our scheduled concerts for the 2016/17 season.

All the best,
The Spektrals