Her Memory is Liquid

Tuesday, July 15, 7:30 pm

Experiemental Sound Studios

5925 N Ravenswood Ave

Chicago, IL 60660

Hello friends!

On Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 7:30 pm, the Wurtz-Berger Duo will be presenting a concert, New Memories, Lost Memories, on the New Music Chicago Presents program. In-person audience members are welcome to attend at Experimental Sound Studios, 5925 N. Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, 60660, and the concert will also be live-streamed for viewing at any time during or after the concert.

This concert is very special to me, as I have been working with the Good Memories Choir for older adults experiencing memory loss for almost a decade now, Helen Gagel, who serves as Good Memories Choir Coordinator, asked me to write a piece based on a poem Helen’s daughter, Theresa, wrote about Helen’s mother, Theresa, who experienced Alzheimers in the last years of her life. Being also a mother and a daughter, having many people experiencing memory loss in my own life, having previously musically explored the mother/daughter relationship in my 2024 Sonata for Piano, the entire concept drew me in from the beginning.  The poem, Her Memory is Liquid, written by daughter Theresa in memory of grandmother Theresa, is evocative and describes memory as a liquid state, from bubbles, to droplets, to a fixing solution, to a “searing stream”.  These images speak to me, or should I say, they sing to me, and the music, for cello and piano, attempts to embody this and the larger concepts of memory, care, love, anger, death and relationships addressed in the poem. It has been an honor, a pleasure, and an enormous undertaking to write this piece and I am so excited to premiere it with my duo partner, Alyson Berger, on July 15 at 7:30 pm.

The rest of our program features stellar music for cello/piano written by composers with both far and near connections to Chicago.  We’ll play The Gates of Light, by Marta Ptaszyńska, a Polish composer who taught at the University of Chicago for decades.  We’ll play All in the Waiting, by recent California to Chicago transplant (like me!) Josh Rodriguez, which is a premiere of sorts, as it was originally written for viola.  We will be premiering the second movement of Catherine Neville’s Three Romantic Pieces, who lives in New York but now has a Chicago connection since she and I met via my Women’s History Month back in March.  And we’ll be giving the second-ever performance of Amos’ Gillespie’s piece, The Maloik, which he wrote expressly for the Wurtz-Berger Duo.  And Amos just happens to be my neighbor.

So, from geographic to emotional to musical connections, this concert highlights music and composers you don’t want to miss. The concert is FREE and open to in-person listeners, and if you can’t make it you can always watch online at this link anytime during or after the concert.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Tuesday, July 15, 7:30 pm

Experiemental Sound Studios

5925 N Ravenswood Ave

Chicago, IL 60660

LIVESTREAM LINK

Other upcoming events:

Thirsty Ears Festival 8/23-8/24/25

Friday Noonday Concert at Fourth Presbyterian Church 9/12/25

It wouldn’t be summer without THIRSTY EARS!!!

This one-of-a-kind street festival is dedicated to classical music, bringing it outdoors and into the streets for listeners to enjoy.  The festival takes place August 23-24 at the corner of Ravenswood and Wilson, and in addition to the music there are food trucks, arts and crafts, kids’ activities, and a beer tent.  I’ll be playing music from the Sound of Silent Film, where composers (including me) write new music for silent films, which is made even better when you can enjoy it played live in the open air under the stars on a summer evening.  Mark your calendars, and I’ll see you there!

Thirsty Ears Complete Info

I am absolutely thrilled to be returning to Fourth Presbyterian Church’s Friday Noonday concerts on September 12, 2025, at 12:10 pm, to present a concert of music dedicated to Planet Earth. I’ll share more about this when the concert gets closer but wanted to get the date out there!