for Madlener House

Performance: Open House Chicago - 18 October 2014

Location: Madlener House (the Graham Foundation), Chicago

Violin: Maria Storm

Cello: Jason Raynovich

Architect: Richard E. Schmidt, 1902

for Madlener House

For Madlener House, commissioned by Access Contemporary Music for Open House Chicago, was my first site-specific composition. While I had explored the relationship between music and architecture in earlier works I am indebted to them for granting me my first opportunity to present a piece written for, and performed in, a particular space.

With no immediate knowledge of the building prior to attending the event, the compositional approach is informed by certain design features I was able to study from photographs and satellite images. The piece takes us on a musical walk through the building, navigating its way from the ornate limestone entrance to the grain of the wood on the ground floor and the geometrical patterned stained-glass windows, concluding with references to the abundance of natural light on the top floor.