Grossman Ensemble: World Premieres I

The Grossman Ensemble, the resident supergroup of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition, premieres four new compositions developed during their unique nine-week collaborative workshopping process. Conductor Georgia Mills leads the ensemble through a rich program showcasing the harmonic detail, colorful timbre, moodiness, and lyricism of composers Sungji Hong, Jeffrey Mumford, Andreia Pinto Correia, and Justin Weiss. The audience and artists mix and mingle at the after-party.

Tickets: $20, students free with ID

Presented as part of the UChicago Presents 2023/24 concert season.

Conductor: 

Georgia Mills: 

Georgia M. Mills is a conductor, pianist, and maker of classical and contemporary music.  

Georgia has served as Assistant Conductor of the Musica Nova Ensemble under the direction of conductor Brad Lubman since 2019. In the 2021-2022 semesters, Georgia has conducted works by Oliver Knussen, Toru Takemitsu, Hilda Paredes, Julia Wolfe, Andile Khumalo, Olga Neuwirth, Jessie Cox, Iannis Xenakis, Frank Zappa, and many more composers. Since August 2021, she has assisted with the Eastman Opera Theatre under direction of Music Director Timothy Long in staged productions of Kate Soper’s suite Here be Sirens and Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. 

Georgia is a doctoral candidate in conducting at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Brad Lubman. Georgia received a Master of Music degree in conducting and a Master of Arts degree in music leadership at Eastman, and a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at New York University. Georgia has held numerous artistic direction and arts administration positions; Music Director and Conductor of Rochester Summer Opera, Vice President of OSSIA New Music, Co-Artistic Director of Pulsing & Shaking Festival, Administrative Associate with The Knights orchestra in Brooklyn, Publicity Assistant for Dotdotdot Music, and Production Assistant with Metropolis Ensemble. Georgia is Adjunct Professor of Orchestration at Roberts Wesleyan College and holds graduate teaching awards in conducting and music theory at Eastman School of Music. 

Composers: 

Sungji Hong: 

Sungji Hong's compositions include works for solo instruments, orchestra, chorus, ballet, and electroacoustic media with special interest on timbre and pre-determined pitch structures. Her musical language is colorful with a wealth of imagery and exquisite delicacy. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Charles Ives Fellowship, and she is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. She has received commissions from world-class institutions, and her music has been performed by leading players and ensembles in over 46 countries and 213 cities.

Jeffrey Mumford: 

Jeffrey Mumford is a U.S. composer whose orchestral works have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and American Composers Orchestra. The New York Times describes his work as being "a philosophy of music making that embraced both raw passion and a gentle imagistic poetry." Mumford has received numerous fellowships, grants, awards and commissions, including the "Academy Award in Music" from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, a Fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, and an ASCAP Aaron Copland Scholarship. He was also the winner of the inaugural National Black Arts Festival/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition.  

Andreia Pinto Corriea:

The prestigious literary magazine Jornal de Letras describes Andreia Pinto Correia’s compositions as “a major contribution to the dissemination of Portugal’s culture and language, perhaps a contribution larger than could ever be imagined.” Her music has been described by the Boston Globe as “compellingly meditative” and by The New York Times as an “aural fabric” and reflects the influence of literary sources from the Iberian Peninsula and beyond. She has received a 2020 Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. She has earned commissions from world-class organizations such as the European Union Presidency, League of American Orchestras, American Composers Orchestra and Carnegie Hall, and others.

Justin Weiss:

Justin Weiss is a Chicago-based composer whose music engages with the intersection of lyricism, liminality, fragility, and textural play through captivating formal trajectories. Justin’s music has been performed internationally by renowned ensembles and musicians, and his recent orchestra piece, Multitudes, is currently a nominee for the 2023 Fondation Prince Pierre de Monaco Musical Contest. Justin has received the Prix Langage Musical from Les Écoles d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau and awards and recognitions from institutions such as ASCAP, Society of Composers, Inc., Tribeca New Music, YoungArts, and Encore Wind Ensemble. He received a Master’s in composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London where he was the recipient of the Dr. Mosco Carner Scholarship and studied with Oliver Knussen, Philip Cashian, and Edmund Finnis. Justin is currently the conductor for the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble, and is currently a PhD Fellow in Composition at the University of Chicago where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas.