Ensemble Dal Niente
Ensemble Dal Niente performs new and experimental chamber music with dedication, virtuosity, and an exploratory spirit. Flexible and adaptable, Dal Niente’s roster of 22 musicians presents an uncommonly broad range of contemporary music, guiding listeners towards music that transforms existing ideas and subverts convention. Audiences coming to Dal Niente shows can expect distinctive productions—from fully staged operas to multimedia spectacles to intimate solo performances—that are curated to pique curiosity and connect art, culture, and people.
The ensemble’s name, Dal Niente (“from nothing” in Italian), is a tribute to Helmut Lachenmann’s Dal niente (Interieur III), a work that upended traditional conceptions of instrumental technique; and also a reference to the group’s humble beginnings.
On Saturday and Sunday of Big Ears Festival weekend, the Knoxville Museum of Art hosts Ensemble Dal Niente for two full days of performances. See below for detailed schedule.
Saturday, March 26
10:15 AM solo sets: Emma Hospelhorn, Mabel Kwan
11:00 AM Katinka Kleijn’s Forward Echo
12:00 PM solo set: Ken Vandermark plays the music of Fred Anderson
1:00 PM Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music
2:00PM Alvin Lucier’s Music for Cello with One or More Amplified Vases & Jeff Parker’s Water on Glass
3:00PM James Tenney’s Swell Piece #1
4:00PM Luis Amaya’s Bestiario Tres
4:45PM Eliza Brown’s Masque Rondeau
Sunday, March 27
1:00 PM duo set: Ken Vandermark and Jesse Langen
2:00 PM George Lewis’ Artificial Life 2007
3:00 PM Katinka Kleijn’s Forward Echo
4:00 PM Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music
Ensemble Dal Niente – Georg Friedrich Haas’ “In Vain”
The Vandermark 5 – Vehicle (for Magnus Broo)
