MISSION STATEMENT
a•pe•ri•od•ic is an intersectional, member-run ensemble producing concerts of experimental music that encourage focused listening. The ensemble carefully selects creative work by local and international artists of all genders whose works take diverse approaches to composition. The collaborative creation process among the ensemble members and with the featured composers challenges conventional ideas of power relationships in “classical” music-making: each work is an exploratory process encouraging new technique with both traditional and unconventional instruments and probing the relationship between notated and improvised sound.
Concerts occur in both traditional and innovative performance spaces; each is a unique re-creation of the composer’s work. Audiences are invited to meet with the performers after each concert and consider new ways of thinking about music. In programming and production, a•pe•ri•od•ic represents the belief that each performance is a new and vital act rather than the re-creation of a set artifact. The same music can be both demanding and entertaining and is not exclusionary; contemporary music doesn’t require prior knowledge in order to create a meaningful experience for any participant.
HISTORY
Founded in 2010, a•pe•ri•od•ic is a Chicago-based ensemble specializing in notated, acoustic, experimental music. a•pe•ri•od•ic‘s repertoire explores the indeterminacy of various musical elements including instrumentation, structure, pitch, and/or duration. Drawn to works of sparseness, contemplation, and quietude, this "daring group" (Chicago Reader) has a history of interpreting distinctive pieces using a collaborative rehearsal process, deriving meaning and intention from oblique prose scores with great sensitivity.
Founded and directed by Nomi Epstein, the ensemble has commissioned, premiered, and recorded works by composers such as Michael Pisaro, Catherine Lamb, Eva-Maria Houben, Jürg Frey, Christian Wolff, and Pauline Oliveros. a•pe•ri•od•ic released its debut album, more or less, featuring the music of Jürg Frey, in 2014, and its second album, for a•pe•ri•od•ic in 2019, both under New Focus Recordings. a•pe•ri•od•ic has received funding from the Swiss Arts Council, the Earle Brown Foundation, the Goethe Institute, and the Foundation of Contemporary Arts.
In addition to presenting its own concerts, the ensemble has participated in many of the city’s most prestigious new music festivals with concerts at the Logan Center for Performing Arts, The Arts Club of Chicago, Constellation, Elastic Arts, The Museum of Contemporary Art, The Chicago Cultural Center, and High Concept Labs, in addition to local galleries and more intimate venues. a•pe•ri•od•ic has toured the Midwest with experimental music, premiered numerous works by young, mid-career and more established composers, and welcomed many international composers to Chicago to work with the ensemble.
In 2020, a•pe•ri•od•ic turned 10, having presented over 45 experimental music concerts throughout Chicago. During this celebratory season (2019-2020), along with releasing our second album, the ensemble embarked on two important portrait concerts featuring the music of Peter Ablinger and Annea Lockwood, with both composers in residence. This gave us the invaluable opportunity to have direct contact with the composers in rehearsal while preparing their works.
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EXECUTIVE BOARD
Nomi Epstein (president)
Yiheng Yvonne Wu (secretary)
Osnat Netzer (treasurer)
Andrea F. Bohlman (member at large)
ADVISORY BOARD
Ryan Dohoney
Jennie Gottschalk
Michael Pisaro
Tricia Van Eck
We have proudly committed to the PRS Keychange Initiative. We pledge that our programming each season will continue to feature the music of no less than 50% female/non cis-male composers, and that we will maintain a 50:50 gender parity both in our ensemble and board personnel. Click here to see a list of the hundreds of other music festivals and ensembles who have made their own pledges to gender parity and inclusivity.