You are more likely to hear the infectious Latin beats of the samba bouncing through a dance hall than in a classical concert venue.
But tomorrow Escola de Samba, an ensemble-in-residence that performs traditional Brazilian dance music, will bring its sound to the Music Institute of Chicago’s season-opening concert at Nichols Concert Hall.
“Nichols is a really great place to hear this kind of music,” said Chris Hasselbring, director of Escola de Samba. “In a concert environment the attention really gets drawn to the music.”
The 6:30 p.m concert is part of the new “Casual Fridays” series that features a 5:30 p.m. reception with refreshments before a brief, 45-minute concert. Admission to this and all programmed concerts at the institute is free with a valid WildCARD.
The Music Institute of Chicago has had a presence in Evanston for 15 years but in 2001 bought the former Evanston First Church of Christ Scientists, and after a major renovation, opened its current facility in 2003.
The institute began in a Winnetka farmhouse in 1931 as the Dushkin School of Musical Arts and Crafts, where students learned to make musical instruments and play them. As it grew to serve a larger area, its name was changed to reflect its clientele, first to the Music Center of the North Shore before becoming the Music Institute of Chicago in 1998.
From its humble beginnings, the institute is now one of the oldest community music schools in the country and employs more than 150 full- and part-time faculty and staff serving more than 3,000 students and audiences of more than 25,000 annually. It operates four campuses in the Chicago area.
In addition to classroom space for educational programs, the facility features a 500-seat award-winning concert hall, including the church’s original 1913 organ. The hall hosts concerts of the institute’s students, ensembles-in-residence and other North Shore ensembles such as Light Opera Works and the Sheridan Chamber Players.
Hasselbring said he created Escola de Samba out of a personal interest in the music of Brazil — especially during the annual Carnival festival — and as an educational opportunity to expose children and adults to an authentic music culture.
“It’s generally difficult to show (students) the expressiveness of classical instruments,” said Hasselbring, Music ’91, who specialized in trumpet performance. “(In Escola de Samba) they get to see how the percussion relates to the dance, and so far it seems like it makes a difference.”
Though the two-year history of the group mostly has involved performances around the North Shore, it is beginning to incorporate more workshops to further the group’s educational goals.
Tomorrow night’s concert will feature the three Brazilian members of the troupe and will consist entirely of performances of bossa nova music, rather than the variety of dance types the group usually performs.
“We’re trying to create a real Escola de Samba, like in Brazil,” Hasselbring said. “Eventually we’d like to start a little Carnival in Evanston.” 4
Music junior Tristan Arnold is a writer for PLAY. He can be reached at [email protected].
