Sonic Illinois: 18th Annual 21st Century Piano Competition Concert

Each year, the 21st Century Piano Commission sponsors a competition with a cash prize for a composition featuring the keyboard instrument. Entries are submitted by collaborative teams of composers and performers from the School of Music.

Charles Ives: Three Quarter-tone Pieces (1923–24) (for two pianos)
Ivan Wyschnegradsky: Dialogue à deux, Opus 41 (Dialogue for Two, 1958, rev. 1973) (for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart)
Henri Dutilleux: Figures de Résonances pour deux pianos (1970–76)
Dongryul Lee: Goethe’s Garden (2016-2017) (for two pianos tuned a quarter-tone apart)

1. Die Urpflanze - the Primordial Tree
2. Steigerung - Intensification
3. a Pentaprismic Caterpillar
4. Polarität - the Polarity of Arborescence
5. gleichsam auf einer geistigen Leiter - as on a spiritual ladder

Sonic Illinois

Honoring the University of Illinois sesquicentennial anniversary in 2017, Krannert Center and the School of Music collaboratively explore the extraordinary diversity of today’s vital contemporary music scene—a revival of the spirit of the University of Illinois Festival of Contemporary Arts, which was a major cultural force in the mid-20th century. Sonic Illinois, a month-long celebration of new music, will celebrate innovative creators who challenge convention, forge new pathways, and expand the creative process. See featured performances.