History
"For performers and audiences alike, Music in the Loft is an unforgettable experience. The intimacy, acoustics, impressive setting, and consistently high artistic standards all highlight the features of chamber music at its very best."
-The Ying Quartet
Music in the Loft came into being in the spring of 1992 with a single series of five Sunday afternoon concerts. Featured in the first season was a young string quartet whose members had only recently completed their schooling and were attempting to establish themselves professionally. They called themselves the Ying Quartet. Then, relatively few had heard of them. Today, the Ying Quartet performs on five continents. They have been profiled in the New York Times, appeared on television’s prestigious cultural programs, participated in the country’s major music festivals, and now serve on the faculty at the Eastman School of Music. Their story exemplifies Music in the Loft’s mission: to discover today’s gifted young musicians on the brink of major careers, and to give them performance opportunities in a major city in an intimate, nurturing, and acoustically superior setting.
A list of young artists who have performed at Music in the Loft at the start of their careers reads like a “Who’s Who of Chamber Music Today.” They include the Corigliano Quartet, winners of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award; the Pacifica Quartet, winners of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award; the Avalon Quartet, winners of the Fischoff, Coleman, and Carmel competitions; the Amelia Trio, who perform with Yo-Yo Ma in his Silk Road Project; pianist Adam Neiman, who a few years ago made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chu-Fang Huang, winner of the Cleveland Piano Competition and a finalist in the Van Cliburn Competition; the Biava Quartet, winners of the Naumburg Chamber Music Award; and violinist Rachel Barton, one of today’s most sought-after soloists.
The final concerts of each year’s Music in the Loft series feature the young award winners of the Jules M. Laser Chamber Music Competition. The competition is open to chamber ensembles comprised of students ages 10-18. They audition the year before their concert, and in this way can work with their teachers toward this special event. Many of the students Music in the Loft has selected have been from the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Midwest Young Artists.
Since its inception, Music in the Loft has doubled the number of its concerts, adding a second Friday/Saturday evening series in 1995 as well as tripling its audience. Its concerts now regularly play to capacity audiences (the capacity of the Loft is 104) who come from Chicago, its northern and western suburbs, and as far south as Indiana. This striking growth in audience has been largely due to the exceptional publicity received from WFMT, the former WNIB, the Chicago Reader, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Magazine, and on television. All have taken the message of Music in the Loft to a wide public which in turn has responded with regular attendance.
In 1998, Music in the Loft added a secondary mission to its core goal of presenting the best in young chamber music performers: that of spotlighting outstanding young composers, giving them opportunities to have their works performed, as well as commissioning new works. Each season, a different composer-in-residence has been selected to work with the performing artists to present a number of his/her compositions and a new work commissioned by Music in the Loft. The composers-in-residence have included Ricardo Lorenz, Carter Pann, Pierre Jalbert, Stacy Garrop, Vivian Fung, Zhou Tian, Matthew Tommasini, Conrad Tao, and David Ludwig. This season, Music in the Loft has commissioned composer Patrick Zimmerli to write a piano duo to be premiered by the Belsky/Maxwell Piano Duo in January, 2012. His compositions will also be performed at the Loft by the Euclid Quartet and the Lincoln Trio.
John Von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune wrote of these diverse programs: “Music in the Loft is an invaluable chamber music series which does much to advance the careers of important young musicians.”
Andrew Patner declared on WFMT: “Music in the Loft is...the premiere presenter of young artists in Chicago.”
Music in the Loft is honored by the place it has earned in Chicago’s musical life. With the continued help of donors including the NIB Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, the Irving Harris Foundation, Jules M. Laser and Dr. Peter Austin, along with contributions from the audience and a dedicated Board of Directors, it pledges to uphold the standards it has established, continuing to expand the scope of its unique contribution to music in Chicago.
Most Sincerely,
Fredda Hyman
Founder and Artistic Director
