Meet the Performers
Concerts, conversation, and a shared table: how Nova Linea Musica brings artists, composers, and listeners together.
Publish Date:
October 28, 2026
New music needs more than a stage. It needs listeners who come back, artists who trust one another, and composers who can hear their work land in a room full of people. From its first season in 2024, Nova Linea Musica has been built around that idea: a concert series is only as strong as the community gathered around it.
Three seasons in, that community is larger than we imagined. By the close of Season 3, Nova Linea Musica will have engaged more than 100 artists and commissioned 28 new works. Every one of those numbers represents a relationship, and every concert is a chance to begin a new one.
Every mainstage evening at 11 E Adams offers the complete Nova Linea Musica experience of three points of connection.
That final hour is often where community takes root. A first-time listener asks a cellist about a passage that stayed with them. A composer hears how a piece landed with someone who has never heard of them before. Strangers discover they share a favorite quartet. These exchanges are why we built the evening the way we did.
Nova Linea Musica's mission is to meld established artists with emerging talent. In practice, that means internationally recognized ensembles share a season, and sometimes a stage, with early-career musicians just beginning to build their careers. Each learns from the other, and audiences get to witness both.
Our Artists-in-Residence anchor that community from season to season. This year the residency is held by the members of the NLM Piano Trio, who rehearse together weekly throughout the season and perform across both of our series. Alongside them, Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat coaches and guides the artists, and Composer-in-Residence Stacy Garrop brings a composer's perspective to the life of the organization.
Many of the musicians who perform with Nova Linea Musica return season after season. That continuity is deliberate: we want every artist who joins us to feel that they have found a home for their work.
Every Nova Linea Musica concert features a world premiere, and our performing artists choose the composers they want to work with. That approach builds real creative partnerships: the composer writes for players they know, and the players champion music they helped bring into being. This season alone brings 10 world premieres across our two series.
We also open our doors to composers we have not yet met. The Score Call, which began as a Midwest call for scores and is now national, invites composers to submit new piano trios, with the winning works performed by the NLM Piano Trio. The Young Artist Chamber Music Competition gives early-career ensembles a stage and a place in our extended family of musicians.
When composers attend their premieres, meet the audience, and stay for the reception, the music stops being something that arrives from far away. It becomes something made here, among friends.
Nova Linea Musica gathers its community in two settings. The mainstage series at 11 E Adams brings eight Wednesday evenings of chamber music, conversation, and reception. The Artists-in-Residence series at The CheckOut offers a different energy, pairing new works with beloved repertoire for a lively, community-minded crowd. Each series has its own character, and many of our listeners have found a place in both.
The easiest way to become part of the Nova Linea Musica community is simply to come. Take a seat, stay for the conversation, and introduce yourself at the reception. We would love to meet you.
Find upcoming concerts on our Schedule page.
