Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

ICE member Nuiko Wadden showcased her fierce harp artistry in ICE Solo(3) at Corbett vs. Dempsey art gallery in Chicago on Friday, September 14, 2012. In his opening remarks, gallery co-owner John Corbett said he had requested harp music for its magical qualities, as a fitting match to the striking paintings of Robert Lostutter currently on exhibit. In his catalog essay for the show,

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

We’re still pouting that ICE went to Paris earlier this month and we couldn’t tag along. But they cheered us up considerably by bringing back some exciting souvenirs.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

A visually and aurally stunning new music space. The rapturous acoustic chamber music of Kaija Saariaho. Virtuoso players Claire Chase (flutes), Tony Arnold (soprano) Nuiko Wadden (harp), David Bowlin (violin), Kivie Cahn-Lipman (cello), Jacob Greenberg (piano), and Nathan Davis (percussion). These essential elements combined to deliver the perfect cube of ICE we anticipated in our preview.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

On May 3rd ICE will play the music of Kaija Saariaho in the perfect cube that is Calderwood Hall. The arts, architecture, and music worlds are all abuzz about this new music performance space at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. ICE plus Saariaho plus a chance to visit our Boston family was already enough to tempt us to add this concert to our agenda. An investigation into the venue put us over the top. 

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

The rollicking fun side of ICE was on full display Sunday, April 1 at the 2012 ICE Chicago Benefit. A sardine-packed crowd of young hipsters, lightly salted and peppered with enough gray-hairs to keep it well-seasoned, reveled in the festivities of music, food, and drink at Longman & Eagle in Logan Square.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

Can you hear a painting? Can you see music? We certainly did on Saturday, March 17, thanks to a mashup of the flute pyrotechnics of ICE’s own Claire Chase and the omnifarious paintings of Molly Zuckerman-Hartung. The scene of this sight and sound wizardry was the Corbett vs. Demspey art gallery in Chicago at the first in a continuing series of ICE Solo events.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

ICE member and percussion wizard Ross Karre joined Third Coast Percussion Ensemble and Greg Beyer (of the duo ensemble Due East) in a stunning performance of Gerard Grisey's all percussion masterpiece Le Noir de l'Etoile (The Darkness of the Star) at Adler Planetarium in Chicago on Wednesday, March 14.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

There is a special buzz in the air at the premiere performance of a musical work. The excitement vibrates even stronger if the composer is in the house. Imagine the tingling rush we felt at MCA on February 5 when ICE with “George Lewis and Friends” presented two World Premiers and three Chicago Premiers.

Impressions from Row G -  ICE in Oberlin, Part 1: “if you wake up you will be free”
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

Our digitICE enterprise sprang from Oberlin Conservatory’s inaugural Rubin Institute for Music Criticism. An invigorating and exhausting week reached its climax when the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Obie-laden new music juggernaut, blew into town on an appropriately ICEy evening.

Impressions from Row G
by Arlene and Larry Dunn (@ICEfansArleneLD)

Claire Chase, along with guest percussionist Svet Stoyoanov, presented a masterful program of works by Takemitsu, Varèse, Reich, and Balter in Fullerton Hall at the Art Institute of Chicago on Friday, January 27.