Events

A Great Distance: CD Launch Recital

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One of my favorite recitals of 2015 came on November 6 when soprano Juliet Petrus and pianist Lydia Qiu gave the Chicago launch of their debut CD of beautiful and rarely performed Chinese art song.  I was thrilled to have shot the cover (my first album cover!) and additional artwork; check out the original photo. Our collaboration inspired me to do some of my best work of the year.  Juliet and Lydia gave an intimate and eloquent performance that night at PianoForte Chicago. As a bonus, the event featured two galleries of my work: some black-and-white studies of the staircase at the Art Institute where we did the cover shoot, and an exhibit of 15 scenes of Chicago cityscapes and new work from Chinatown. 

You can watch the entire recital here.  And you can buy A Great Distance on Amazon, CDbaby, or itunes.  

Photos © Copyright 2015 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved. 

Chicago Jazz: A Photographer's View - Sept 23-Oct 25, 2015

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One of the major highlights of 2015 - three of my photos were selected for inclusion in "Chicago Jazz: A Photographer's View" at the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts.  My pictures were featured alongside some terrific images from around the city, and I had a chance to meet some photographers I've long admired - Stan Lee, Jasmine Kwon, Mark Sheldon, Farrad Ali, and Jack Siegel.  Many thanks to Bill Michel and the Logan Center for a great show and fun evening.  Below, my images from the Green Mill and performance shots of saxophonist Bernard Scavella and drummer Greg Artry.  

Photos © Copyright 2015 by Elliot Mandel. All rights reserved. 

New Year's Eve 2014 in music and pictures

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I spent New Year's Eve 2014 in much the same way I spent most of the year: photographing great music. During Evanston's First Night celebration, I hopped from one downtown cathedral to another, in and out of the cold, to catch some killer jazz ensembles, as well as slam poet extraordinaire Marc Smith doing his thing. Here are some of my favorite shots from the evening, the last pictures I took in 2014, and some of the first of 2015.  

Global Transcendence with Chicago a cappella

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The light, the venue, the music - it was all perfect back on October 19 when I photographed Chicago a cappella at Rockefeller Chapel.  The program blended sacred and spiritual music from ancient vocal traditions, performed flawlessly by the ensemble of nine singers.  The late-afternoon autumn light streamed through Rockefeller's giant stained-glass windows; the crystal-clear singing filled the building, making an otherwise huge venue feel intimate, and, well, perfect. 

Fulcrum Point's Concert for Peace

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For its 16th annual Concert for Peace, Fulcrum Point New Music Project showed off some serious chops.  The first set went from Somei Satoh's meditative "Hikari (Light)" to Louis Andriessen's taut and racing "Hout (Wood)."  The second set filled the South Shore Cultural Center with Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver.  A little yoga on a windswept lakefront ended the afternoon.  Looking forward to working with Fulcrum Point again on its November 1 concert, featuring Indian classical music alongside Messaien and Mingus. 

Ian Maksin at Old Town School of Folk

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It's a pretty cool thing when one artist can blend so easily with other styles.  Russian-born cellist Ian Maksin gave a great concert Saturday at the Old Town School of Folk Music that began with contemporary works for unamplified solo cello.  By the end of the night, he was plugged into some reverb and sharing the stage with Flamenco guitarist Carlo Basile, percussionist Bob Garrett, and veena master Saraswathi Ranganathan (Basile described her sound as "an Indian Ry Cooder").  As one last feature, Maksin performed with Lucas Segovia from Joffrey Ballet.  Here are some shots from the concert, and a few from soundcheck that afternoon. 

Collaborative Works Fest, part 2: Michelle DeYoung

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Yes, the Michelle DeYoung who has won multiple Grammys and performed in every major opera house in the world.  What an honor to photograph her beautiful recital with pianist Kevin Murphy at the Harold Washington Library last Friday.  

Collaborative Works Festival 2014, part 1

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A year ago, the Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago (CAIC) became my first official photography client.  Last week, I marked that anniversary by once again shooting CAIC's annual Collaborative Works Festival.  The four-day festival opened at the Poetry Foundation with a quartet of wonderful singers - Joshua Hopkins, Susanna Phillips, Kelley O'Connor, and CAIC's Artistic Director Nicholas Phan - in music by Robert and Clara Schumann.  Pianist and accompanist Myra Huang opened the concert with Bach's Prelude and Fugue in G Major.  It was an honor to photograph these artists, and a pleasure to hear them perform in such an intimate venue.  As a bonus, my photo accompanied Andrew Patner's review in the Sun-Times.  Here is a small gallery from the concert: 

Recent Work: Flutes Take Over Orchestra Hall

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I've never heard so much flute music in one concert, nor seen so many flutists under one roof. But that's what happens when you photograph the National Flute Association's Gala Concerto Concert: flutes of all shapes and sizes and music from Bach to "Sweet Home Chicago."  The Los Angeles Flute Orchestra performed an intimate concert in the elegant Grainger Ballroom and showcased some of its custom-made instruments.  The Concerto Concert closed with a marvelous performance of Mozart's Flute Concerto by Los Angeles Philharmonic principal flutist Julien Beaudiment.  Click through the gallery below for some of my favorite shots from the evening.  

Photographing the Thirsty Ear Festival

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One of the highlights of July was the opportunity to photograph WFMT's Thirsty Ear Festival at City Winery.  Thirsty Ear is the annual showcase concert for the weekly new music show, Relevant Tones with Seth Boustead.  This year's concert featured two Chicago-based ensembles - Fonema Consort and Gaudete Brass Quintet - and the renowned composer/pianist Graham Reynolds.  The two-hour concert and live broadcast was packed with music ranging from vocal-instrumental fusion from Fonema, new music for brass quintet, and arrangements of Reynolds's film scores for string quartet and piano.  

Music as Medicine

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Sharing Notes is a small non-profit with a big heart.  Started two years ago by cellist Allegra Montanari, Sharing Notes is made up of a corps of professional musicians who perform every other week for patients of all ages in Chicago area hospitals.  The musicians perform for free, and Sharing Notes provides the service at no cost.  The mission is pure and simple: to bring the healing power of music to those who need it.  

On Saturday, I had the privilege of photographing some of the Sharing Notes musicians while they performed for patients on the oncology floors of Northwestern's Prentice Women's Hospital.  (For legal reasons, I was unable to photograph the patients.)

I was led first to the 14th floor where classical guitarist Jack Cimo had already started playing in a hallway.  With the exception of a few nurses, the hallways were mostly empty.  Some of the patients had their doors open so they could hear the music.  One woman invited Jack into her room and he sat by her bed and played the prelude to Bach's 6th Suite for Cello.  Unbelievably gorgeous.  

Guitarist Jack Cimo

Guitarist Jack Cimo

On another floor, a singer Nora Byrd and keyboardist Gabriel Di Gennaro were performing pop songs and numbers from musicals.  They, too, were invited to another room and they set up just outside the door.  The woman told Nora and Gabriel about her daughter who was really into The Beatles, so they played "Till There Was You."  When they finished, the woman applauded and burst into tears, saying, "I just really miss my daughter."  It was a moment that symbolized the essence of Sharing Notes, and showed that music can give an outlet for every difficult emotion and provide a space for comfort and emotional relief.  

Vocalist Nora Byrd and keyboardist Gabriel Di Gennaro

Vocalist Nora Byrd and keyboardist Gabriel Di Gennaro

We met another woman from Rockford whose husband was receiving treatment for a stem cell transplant.  She looked very tired, but stood in a doorway while flutist Laura Block played Bach. The woman talked about how wonderful it was that these musicians are here, and how much they help. 

Flutist Laura Block

Flutist Laura Block

The music was striking, not just because of its inherent beauty, but because it emphasized just how otherwise quiet the floors were.  Without the music, the only sound was an occasional door opening and closing, a machine beeping, or the sound of wheels on a cart.  Instantly, every note was magnified by the silence.  Because of the tiled floors and low ceilings, the music was naturally amplified and rang down the halls.

It was a different world up there.  Yes, the views of the lake were great, but it looked like a mirage - it might as well have been another painting on the wall.  Such seclusion is necessary, of course, when dealing with serious medical conditions.  And high-powered medicine and technology are important.  But the music from from Sharing Notes added something more; it gave a moment of humanity and beauty to people who are at their most vulnerable.  For two hours, the musicians brought a concert hall to cancer patients, and it was one of the most affirming experiences I have ever witnessed.  My profound gratitude to Sharing Notes and Northwestern Hospital for making it happen.   

Click through this gallery for additional photos. 




Up close with Patricia Barber

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In the green room at intermission, legendary jazz pianist and vocalist Patricia Barber turns to me and asks, "How the f*** do I follow that?"  She was referring to a performance by percussionist Nicholas Reed of Marta Ptaszynska's "Space Model," a work for three sets of percussion instruments and recorded track.  Reed's seamless playing held the audience in rapt attention, igniting waves of applause.  Pianist Lisa Kaplan and cellist Nicholas Photinos, both of eighth blackbird, opened the show with the haunting "Habil-Sayagy" by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh.  The Pacifica Quartet followed with Elena Firsova's String Quartet No. 11, "Purgatorium," playing with its trademark precision and sensitivity.  I didn't have an answer to Barber's very serious question, other than to say, "I'm glad I don't have to."  

Barber was just as intense during her set as she was before it.  Sensing the enormity of the concert - the 10th anniversary of the new music series Contempo at the University of Chicago curated by Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran - Barber gave a performance both searing and deeply touching, poignant and beautiful.  Drummer Ari Hoenig, bassist Patrick Mulcahy, and guitarist Gilad Hekselman provided ample solos and witty accompaniment.  But it was Barber who carried the full weight of the music.  I know this because I witnessed it from the front row, often dropping my camera from my eye just to watch for a minute.  It was an honor to photograph these artists, and to share for the briefest of moments the space they occupy.  

Patricia Barber: Completely awesome jazz pianist, vocalist, poet.

Patricia Barber: Completely awesome jazz pianist, vocalist, poet.

Patricia Barber rocking the Steinway.

Patricia Barber rocking the Steinway.

eighth blackbird's Lisa Kaplan (piano) and Nicholas Photinos (cello).

eighth blackbird's Lisa Kaplan (piano) and Nicholas Photinos (cello).

The Pacifica Quartet in the spotlight.

The Pacifica Quartet in the spotlight.

Percussionist Nicholas Reed 

Percussionist Nicholas Reed 

Good writers, good wine

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As an English major and photographer, I felt perfectly content photographing World Book Night at The Book Cellar.  Co-hosted by the Chicago Writers Conference and Chicago Women in Publishing, the event was part mixer, part reading, with a 100% Midwest feel.  Patricia Skalka read from her novel, Death Stalks Door County, about a former Chicago cop tracking a killer on the northern shores of Lake Michigan.  Then, in his soft Chicago accent, legendary author/lawyer Scott Turow read from his first novel, Presumed Innocent.  Turow talked about writing during his daily commute on the train, and marveled that his first book has sold more copies (25 million) than there are people living in Chicago.  Oh, and there was wine because The Book Cellar is good like that.  

Scott Turow reading from Presumed Innocent.

Scott Turow reading from Presumed Innocent.

Patricia Skalka reads from her novel, Death Stalks Door County.

Patricia Skalka reads from her novel, Death Stalks Door County.

Book lovers. 

Book lovers. 

Scott Turow at The Book Cellar.

Scott Turow at The Book Cellar.

Saturday night with a soprano

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The Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago is quickly changing the way Chicago audiences listen to vocal music.  No fancy halls or microphones; just intimate venues and soloists singing the long neglected form of art song.  On Saturday, CAIC held its Spring Lieder Lounge in the Dixon-Stein studio on the 8th floor of the Fine Arts Building.  Perched above Michigan Avenue, the Dixon-Stein space was a perfect salon-style setting to listen to songs by Schubert, Fauré, Sibelius, and American composers Libby Larsen and Tom Cipullo, performed by renowned soprano Deborah Selig and pianist Shannon McGinnis.  This was the fifth event I've shot for CAIC, and my appreciation for vocal music grows with every performance.  As an added bonus, CAIC announced its 2014-15 season with a brochure that features my photos.  

Soprano Deborah Selig and pianist Shannon McGinnis 

Soprano Deborah Selig and pianist Shannon McGinnis 

The Dixon-Stein instrument shop doubles as a performance salon on the eighth floor of the Fine Arts Building.

The Dixon-Stein instrument shop doubles as a performance salon on the eighth floor of the Fine Arts Building.

Violins hanging in the Dixon-Stein studio.

Violins hanging in the Dixon-Stein studio.

CAIC's attractive new brochure for its 2014-2015 season.

CAIC's attractive new brochure for its 2014-2015 season.


Spektral Quartet plays new ringtones

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Forget the canned default music programmed on your phone.  Spektral Quartet has launched a brilliant project that brings new, fresh music to your device - and everywhere else you go.  The quartet commissioned more than 40 composers across the country to write ringtones, alerts, and alarms.  The result is Mobile Miniatures - dozens of tiny masterpieces for your phone.  On Saturday, the Spektrals gave a ringtone party at Constellation, including the premiere performance of several pieces, curated listening stations on phones from olden days, and two ringtones composed live that night.  I was thrilled to photograph the event and to walk among so many accomplished artists.  Check out a few of my shots below, then go download some new ringtones!

Spektral Quartet plays a brand new ringtone.

Spektral Quartet plays a brand new ringtone.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran listens to the big red lips phone.

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Shulamit Ran listens to the big red lips phone.

Go get ringtones!

Go get ringtones!

Ye olde talking device from olden times. 

Ye olde talking device from olden times. 

Composer Marcos Balter does his thing. 

Composer Marcos Balter does his thing.