Ensembles-In-Residence

The University of Chicago Department of Music is home to world-class ensembles-in-residence who present public concerts at the University and provide coaching and individual instruction to students in the department's performing ensembles and programs.

Plena Libre

Plena Libre

Plena and bomba are distinctive musical styles of Puerto Rico, and the virtuoso musicians of Plena Libre are their contemporary masters. The four-time GRAMMY-nominated ensembles joins the Department of Music as the 2019-20 Don Michael Randel Ensemble-in-Residence, presenting concerts with UChicago graduate student composers, with the University Symphony Orchestra, and on UChicago Presents' Music Without Borders series. The ensemble will also visit Spanish language and music classes during their residencies, present Puerto Rican dance workshops, and offer matinee performances for CPS students.

Quatuor Diotima

Quatuor Diotima

The acclaimed French string quartet Quatuor Diotima, recognized around the world for interdisciplinary collaborations that cast a new light on both masterpieces of the quartet canon and contemporary additions to the genre, has been appointed the newest Don Michael Randel Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Chicago for the 2020-21 academic year. The quartet members—Yun-Peng Zhao, violin; Constance Ronzatti, violin; Franck Chevalier, viola; Pierre Morlet, cello—have made education a fundamental component of their work, both in traditional settings and in more innovative contexts, adapting programs and presenting concerts outside of the concert hall to new and diverse audiences. At the University of Chicago in the 2020-21 year, the ensemble will offer several performances in addition to leading masterclasses, participating in interdisciplinary panels and discussions, giving workshops and performances at UChicago Lab School and other school and community music programs, and more. Stay tuned for more information to be announced in summer of 2020.

Spektral Quartet sitting in armchairs with instruments in a library

Spektral Quartet

The University of Chicago’s resident Spektral Quartet is an invaluable part of the Department of Music’s mission to enhance students’ artistic life on campus and complement their academic pursuits and to further the musical art. Spektral Quartet actively pursues a vivid conversation between exhilarating works of the traditional canon and those written this decade, this year, or this week. It is known for creating seamless connections across centuries, drawing in the listener with charismatic deliveries, interactive concert formats, an up-close atmosphere, and bold, inquisitive programming. Each quarter, the Spektral Quartet presents a public concert at UChicago as well as an interactive open rehearsal.

New Budapest Orpheum Society

New Budapest Orpheum Society

The New Budapest Orpheum Society is an Ensemble-in-Residence in the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. NBOS presents 1-2 concerts each year, drawing upon a wide range of repertories, many forgotten, others preserved in European archives, all poignantly bearing witness to the great tradition of Jewish cabaret.