FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director, Nova Linea Musica | michele@novalineamusica.org | 312-520-0159
Photos and audio/video clips available upon request
Nova Linea Musica Presents World Premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Art Measures - Composer in Attendance
Rabia Brooke and Nathanael Canfield perform the world premiere of Art Measures for Violin and Piano by Jennifer Higdon, a Nova Linea Musica commission, before a sold-out audience at 11 E Adams St, Chicago on March 11, 2026.
"I consider it an extraordinary privilege to be able to hear things that start in my head come to life in a live concert situation."— Jennifer Higdon
CHICAGO, IL, March 23, 2026 — On March 11, 2026, Jennifer Higdon sat in a sixty-seat room in Chicago and heard her own music performed live for the very first time. That same evening, her works were being performed on multiple continents: her Dance Card with the I Musici de Montréal Chamber Orchestra in Montreal, and her Tuba Concerto in Kristiansand, Norway. A composer whose works average 300 performances a year worldwide chose to be in Nova Linea Musica's room. That choice says everything.
The occasion was the world premiere of Art Measures for Violin and Piano, a Nova Linea Musica commission written expressly for NLM Artist-in-Residence Rabia Brooke. The performance, part of NLM's Beyond the Art of Measures program, took place before a sold-out audience at Guarneri Hall, 11 E Adams St, Chicago. Brooke was joined by pianist Nathanael Canfield, staff pianist at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.
In 2010, Higdon accomplished a feat no other classical composer has managed: winning the Pulitzer Prize in Music and a GRAMMY® Award in the same year. She has since won two additional GRAMMY® Awards, for her Viola Concerto (2018) and Harp Concerto (2020). Her orchestral work blue cathedral has received over 850 performances since its premiere in 2000. Her commissioners include Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, and Yuja Wang. That a composer operating at that scale would write an intimate new work for a small Chicago series - and travel to hear it premiered - speaks directly to the kind of relationships Nova Linea Musica is building.
Art Measures is a three-movement work for violin and piano. Each movement is named for a tool or state of artistic creation. Rosin Grip captures the moment an idea takes hold, in the way rosin grips the strings of a violin. Magic Glaze evokes the artist dreaming, ideas rising to the surface. Chisel Bits is the act of making itself: the tools, the process, the artistic vision enacted small piece by small piece. Together, the three movements trace the arc of creative work from its earliest spark through the shaping of form.
Brooke was in close dialogue with Higdon throughout the development of the work. That relationship shaped everything about how the piece came to life on March 11.
"I was deeply moved by how intensely and personally Rabia felt the music, especially the slow movement. She expressed to me how it touched her, and I could really hear it in her playing. Her dynamic energy in the first and last movements blew me away."— Jennifer Higdon, composer
"Working with a composer of Jennifer's stature was truly transformative. Every step of the process was made all the more meaningful by her presence and the depth of her artistry."— Rabia Brooke, violinist and NLM Artist-in-Residence
Sitting in the audience that evening, Higdon reflected on what it means to hear her own work performed for the first time. "Hearing a piece in its premiere is always a surreal experience, because there is an audience to give an immediate reaction. When composing, you imagine the music being performed by the musicians, but when you add the audience to the mix, there is real-time feedback. I consider it an extraordinary privilege to be able to hear things that start in my head come to life in a live concert situation; it's an honor to share that experience through excellent performers. I do not take it for granted, and I feel such gratitude for the musicians who are making it real."— Jennifer Higdon, composer
The premiere left a lasting impression on those in the room. Composer Marc Mellits called it "an incredibly evocative work, full of color and emotion - each of the three movements presented contrasting characters that played out in a fantasy of sound." Seth Boustead of Access Contemporary Music singled out the middle movement: "introspective and absolutely gorgeous." Nicholas Yasillo, a chamber concert presenter who has attended innumerable premieres, called it "another stunning success in a string of wonderfully performed premieres brought to Chicago by Nova Linea Musica," praising the duo for capturing "the poignant and lyrical middle movement perfectly," bookended by "the visceral first and explosively powerful third movements."
"For a series just in its second season, it's remarkable that Nova Linea commissions a new piece for every concert, and that they've already managed to arrange commissions with world-renowned composers like Jennifer Higdon. The premiere was stunning - a brilliant and virtuosic new work that received an appropriately brilliant and virtuosic first performance. This high standard is clearly part of the reason that this series enjoys packed houses for every concert."— Robert Dillon, composer and percussionist, Third Coast Percussion
"Jennifer Higdon is one of the most humble, gifted, and vibrant artists I have ever encountered. Her articulateness about her own composition is as extraordinary as the work itself. To have her join us on March 11 and hear Art Measures in its world premiere was a moment I will never forget. This is precisely why Nova Linea Musica exists: to create the conditions where music of this magnitude can be born, placed in the hands of dedicated artists like Rabia Brooke and Nathanael Canfield, and given its first breath in Chicago."— Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director, Nova Linea Musica
"As one of the most performed and celebrated living composers today, Jennifer Higdon possesses a rare gift for writing music that is technically dazzling yet deeply accessible. Seeing her collaborate with Nova Linea Musica Artist-in-Residence Rabia Brooke highlights her incredible legacy of mentorship and her unique ability to capture the American spirit in sound. Nothing is more gratifying for a presenter than seeing such an enthusiastic audience response to a new commission, which is exactly what we experienced with Jennifer Higdon, Rabia Brooke and Nathanael Canfield on the Nova Linea Musica series."— Desirée Ruhstrat, Artistic Director, Nova Linea Musica
Art Measures for Violin and Piano will receive its second performance on April 12, 2026 at The CheckOut, as part of Rabia and Friends, a concert series curated by Brooke at the venue. Ticket informaton at thecheckout.org.
Nova Linea Musica's 2025/26 season continues with L'dor v'dor on May 6, 2026, featuring soprano Arianna Zukerman, mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, and pianist Jason Wirth, with the world premiere of a new work by David Hanlon. Tickets are $40 and include a pre-concert discussion and chef-curated reception. For information and tickets: www.novalineamusica.org.
About Nova Linea MusicaNova Linea Musica is Chicago's contemporary classical chamber music series, founded in 2024 by Michele Mohammadi, President and Executive Director, with Desirée Ruhstrat serving as Artistic Director. NLM's mission is to resource new-music creation, close the distance between composers, performers, and listeners, and elevate Chicago as a destination for new music. Every concert features at least one NLM-commissioned world premiere. The $40 ticket includes a pre-concert discussion, concert, and chef-curated reception. Nova Linea Musica is a Chicago LLC.
www.novalineamusica.org | 312-520-0159 | michele@novalineamusica.org
