Dal niente, al niente

for soprano, flute, and harp

“Even with the prospect of achieving supreme power in life, one becomes nothing more than a heap of dust after death.” Hongwei Cai - 2021 Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert ... Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my Works ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’—

Music for Soprano and Electric Guitar with Live Electronics

Music for Soprano and Electric Guitar with Live Electronics

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for soprano, flute, guitar and harp

People-Shaped Boxes

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Mirages

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Kathairein

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Dal Niente

Ensemble Dal Niente presents and performs new and experimental music in ways that redefine the listening experience and advance the art form. The programming, brought to life by a flexible repertoire-based instrumentation, seeks to challenge convention and create engaging, inspiring, and immersive experiences which connect audiences with the music of today.

Ensemble Dal Niente performs new and experimental chamber music with dedication, virtuosity, and an exploratory spirit. Dal Niente’s roster of 23 musicians presents an uncommonly broad range of contemporary music, guiding listeners towards music that transforms existing ideas and subverts convention. Audiences coming to Dal Niente shows can expect distinctive productions— from fully staged operas to multimedia spectacles to intimate solo performances—that are curated to pique curiosity and connect art, culture, and people.

Now in its second decade, Ensemble Dal Niente has performed concerts across Europe and the Americas, including appearances at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC; The Foro Internacional de M sica Nueva in Mexico City; MusicArte Festival in Panama City; The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Darmstadt Summer Courses in Germany, where it was the first-ever ensemble to win the Kranichstein prize for interpretation in 2012.

BEN MELSKY - Harp / EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

“Melsky’s playing belied any perceived limits of his instrument. Even within phrases, individual notes had different colors and sensations, and melodies seemed to break free from their surroundings.” – Chicago Classical Review

Dedicated to connecting audiences to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, Chicago-based Ben Melsky is Executive Director and harpist of the internationally-acclaimed Ensemble Dal Niente. In close collaboration with composers and performers he encourages the creation of new work to break pre-conceived notions of the harp’s capabilities, activating new techniques, sounds, and performance practices.

Ben’s concert activities include national and international appearances in solo and chamber ensemble configurations. Recently he has performed at the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), the Ecstatic Music Festival at the Kaufmann Center (NYC), Darmstadt Summer Courses for New Music (Germany), and Art Institute of Chicago with upcoming engagements at the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Festival Noon to Midnight, Stanford University, New Music New College, University of California Davis, and the Foro Internacional de Musica Nueva (Mexico City, MX). Having premiered hundreds of new works featuring the harp, he has worked closely with composers George Lewis, Raphael Cendo, Augusta Read Thomas, Enno Poppe, Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu, Mark Andre, Tomas Gueglio, Alican Çamci, Timothy Page, Drew Baker, Eliza Brown, Katherine Young, Jeff Parker, Marcos Balter, Fredrick Gifford, Sky Macklay, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, Mikel Kuehn, and Suzanne Farrin.

AMANDA DEBOER BARTLETT - Soprano

As a contemporary classical music specialist, Ms. DeBoer has premiered works by inspiring musical innovators including Holly Herndon, Marcos Balter, Christopher Cerrone, Robert Honstein, Morgan Krauss, Ravi Kittappa, Fredrick Gifford, Aaron Einbond, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, Ryan Carter, Jonn Sokol, and many others.

Born and raised in Omaha, NE, Ms. DeBoer moved to Chicago to study at DePaul University where she received a Bachelor of Music. She received a Masters degree from the University at Buffalo, where she studied with acclaimed contemporary interpreter Tony Arnold, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Bowling Green State University.

EMMA HOSPELHORN - flute

Emma Hospelhorn is a Chicago-based flutist, collaborator, researcher, and composer. As a flutist she is a member of Ensemble Dal Niente as well as The Machine Is Neither…, a computer music collaboration with composer Ben Sutherland that pushes the boundaries of live electronics processing through sonic and gestural control (this is to say, she makes awesome sounds happen with a wave of her hand). She is the music director of Bridging Memory through Music, a musico-social intervention for patients with dementia. A versatile and magnetic performer, she has also recorded and performed with a number of rock and pop groups, and is on the flute faculty at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and New Trier High School.

She has been featured live on numerous radio broadcasts for WBEZ and WGN 9 Chicago, and performs regularly on stages large and small throughout the United States and Europe. Emma holds a PhD in Learning Sciences from University of Illinois at Chicago, where her research focuses on spatial and embodied group learning in musical contexts. She also holds bachelor's degrees from Columbia University and CUNY Queens College, and was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2007-2009. For a list of her recordings and publications, visit www.emmahospelhorn.com.

JESSE LANGEN - Guitar

Jesse Langen is a guitarist who specializes in new music. He works with living composers regularly and premieres dozens of pieces every season. Equally comfortable on classical and electric guitar, he seeks to push both the technical boundaries and the conceptual functions of the instrument. He can be heard regularly in Chicago, throughout the US, and abroad as a soloist, as the guitarist for Ensemble Dal Niente, as half of Hasco Duo with Amanda Deboer Bartlett, and in duo with harpist Ben Melsky. A passionate and committed teacher of high school musicians, his students populate the finest conservatories and programs throughout the world, and have won international competitions and commissions. Jesse and his brother Tim also grew up learning Canadian fiddle tunes from their grandfather Clarence, and he plays Irish music regularly in pubs and at sessions throughout Chicago.