ONE COMPOSER, ONE COMMUNITY

First launched in 2021, the Music Institute of Chicago’s One Composer, One Community (OCOC) focuses on the life and work of a single, often underrepresented BIPOC composer over the course of an academic year. This composer’s work is featured on the Nichols Concert Hall series as well as in other special events, including gatherings to discuss aspects of the composer’s life and music through autobiographical, biographical, or critical writing, as well as though active music listening.

HEITOR VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959)

This year we celebrate the life and work of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. Considered the single most significant creative figure in 20th century Brazilian art music, Villa-Lobos synthesized contemporary European techniques with elements of national music to create his unique compositional style. A prolific composer, Villa-Lobos penned more than 2,000 orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and vocal works.

This fall the Calcifer Quartet and the Pelios Quartet from the Music Institute of Chicago’s Academy had the opportunity to perform quartets by Heitor Villa-Lobos for the awardwinning Cuarteto Latinoamericano at Nichols Concert Hall in a special master class.