Juri Seo's "Dahlia" receives its world premiere Wednesday, Sept. 30, at 11 E Adams
Nova Linea Musica continues to ascend as a first-call chamber music presenter in the city.
Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO: Nova Linea Musica opens its third season Wednesday, Sept. 30, with JACK Quartet: Sonare and Celare, a sold-out evening built around the world premiere of Juri Seo's Dahlia for String Quartet in 13-Limit Just Intonation, commissioned by Nova Linea Musica for the JACK Quartet.
The concert has drawn attention across Chicago and statewide media in the weeks before opening night. In her fall critic's picks, the Tribune's Hannah Edgar named JACK Quartet and Poiesis Quartet, both premiering new Nova Linea Musica commissions this fall, as two can't-miss concerts of the season. The Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ also included the JACK program in their fall roundup, highlighting the quartet's 20 years at the leading edge of new music for string quartet and a history that includes works performed in complete darkness. The concert sold out ahead of opening night, and a waitlist is now in place.
On Illinois Public Media's The 21st Show, Seo, a Princeton composer, told host Brian Mackey that the idea for Dahlia began at a dinner party, when a striking flower in the centerpiece caught her eye. She asked what it was and decided on the spot that her new quartet would carry its name.
Seo then turned to the flower's geometry. A dahlia's petals unfold according to the golden angle, and she used that proportion to shape the tuning of the entire work. Because the JACK Quartet tunes by ear, without a fixed reference pitch, a single note can land in several subtly different places depending on its harmonic context. The result, Seo explained, is a harmony she would never have found by intuition alone. Listeners should expect sounds that may seem "out of tune" to ears trained on the piano, by design.
Seo also said Nova Linea Musica gave her an open brief, with no theme or guidelines beyond a minimum length, leaving the concept entirely to her. Of the quartet, she was unreserved: "Everything they do, I'm just blown away."
"Juri has written something that could only exist with the JACK Quartet's ears and instincts," said Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director of Nova Linea Musica. "That kind of partnership between composer and performer is exactly why we commission a new work for every concert."
Dahlia sits within a program devoted to music that works beyond conventional tuning and form. Cenk Ergün's paired quartets Sonare and Celare, which step outside Western equal temperament, bookend the evening, alongside Escape Rites by JACK violinist and former Chicagoan Austin Wulliman and Keir GoGwilt's Future Mode 1.
In keeping with the Nova Linea Musica format, the evening offers three points of connection: an intimate chamber concert at 6:30 PM, a post-concert conversation with Juri Seo, and a chef curated reception where the dialogue continues.
The opener launches a season featuring 10 world premieres across Nova Linea Musica's mainstage and Artists-in-Residence series, bringing the organization's total to 28 commissioned works in three years. Up next: First Light on Friday, Oct. 16, at The CheckOut; Philip Glass at 90: A Celebration on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 11 E Adams, featuring the world premiere of Alex Weston's Through Philip and Lou; and Poiesis Quartet: In the Listening on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 11 E Adams, the Tribune's second fall pick, with the world premiere of a new work by Iván Enrique Rodríguez.
Seo's full interview is available from Illinois Public Media's The 21st Show. See the complete season schedule.
