mycelium new music
photo by Aline Stern
mycelium new music is a Chicago-based ensemble committed to creating imaginative, multidisciplinary performances of contemporary music that showcase diverse emerging voices. mycelium collaborates with composers, performers, and artists, and curates impactful and adventurous programming in Chicago’s artistic ecosystem and beyond.
mycelium’s 25/26 season deep roots, wild sounds presents three performances across Chicago. Highlights include collaborations with experimental music legend Pamela Z, visual artist Ruby Que, yangqin player Cheng Jin Koh, and soprano Kristina Bachrach, and compositions by rising star composers including Saad Haddad, Baldwin Giang, Sofia Jen Ouyang, and Charles Peck. The ensemble’s rhizome project brings three emerging composers to Chicago each year to workshop, perform, and record a recent work for sextet, and its s.p.o.r.e. series presents immersive, multimedia-driven performances of chamber music across the city. Launched in 2024, mycelium’s debut season included a performance alongside composer and alt-folk vocalist Annika Socolofsky, a premiere by Bobby Ge paired with readings by Chicago-based poets, and exciting new and recent works by composers Christian Quinones, Ania Vu, Seare Farhat, and more. The ensemble takes its name from the mycelial network, the underground web of fungi that symbiotically connects an entire forest. mycelium new music cultivates connection, curiosity, and a shared musical ecology that thrives underground and bursts into light. mycelium new music is fiscally sponsored by the International Foundation for Contemporary Music (IFCM). |