Continuing the CheckOut’s Opening Festival, the Palomar Ensemble performed an interesting program before a nearly full audience on Wednesday evening. Founded by Access Contemporary Music, the CheckOut is a new club dedicated to contemporary classical music in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Visible through the unshaded windows was the lighted sign out front advertising the performance, giving the CheckOut the feel of any other bar that stages live concerts.
Palomar is the CheckOut’s ensemble in residence, and its line-up can fluctuate. On Wednesday evening, it was a trio of Henry Zheng on violin, Alyson Berger on Cello, and Amy Wurtz on piano.
After almost two weeks in existence, the CheckOut’s laid-back ambiance was ever present, with nearly every table full and the crowd very much engaged. Patrons were there to be entertained with classical music, but it wasn’t the formalistic approach one usually finds. The printed programs simply listed the performers and the music to be played, without performer biographies or liner notes explaining each piece. Instead, ACM Executive Director Seth Boustead introduced the musicians, and in between each piece, the performers explained them.
The music reflected this loose vibe. Instead of performing lengthy multi-movement works, Palomar offered individual movements of longer works. While it might have been nice to have heard the composer’s full intentions, this approach allowed for more composers and a wider variety of musical styles.
The opening piece was the first movement of Café Music by Paul Schoenfield, which started with a rousing charge and it settled into fun and frolic. Technical demands on the performers were huge. Henry Zheng led the way with a flowing melody on violin, and Amy Wurtz’s fingers were smoothly but rapidly flying across the keyboard. After playing a lengthy melody, Alyson Berger on cello interacted nicely with Zheng, who made twanging pizzicato noises as requested in the score.
Joan Tower’s Big Sky provided a nice contrast. It started with a slow meditation by Zheng and Berger; perfect intonation made it sing. The music progressed from quiet lower notes to louder higher notes. Zheng and Wurtz paired off playing at the top of their instruments’ range. Wurtz and Berger also paired off. Very well played.
The first movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in e-minor provided moodiness. As Berger explained, the cello opened with a lengthy passage of false harmonics, that she played effortlessly. This placed the violin’s notes below those of the cello, while Wurtz provided haunting chords. While scored in e-minor, the piece has Shostakovich’s typical tonalities. After a while it breaks out into a bit more tunefulness. The ensemble handled these various moods well.
The high point of the evening for me was Saans (Breath) by Reena Esmail. Wurtz explained how it started life as a concerto but was reworked as a trio to be performed at a wedding. She then returned to the piano bench and delicately played a charming melody with lots of turns and mordants. Berger soon joined with the right timbre, followed by a wailing violin. It was a very ethereal sound that created a wonderful aural canopy.
The next work, Light and Matter by Kaija Saariaho, had each performer dig into the variety of bowing, plucking, and other techniques available. Wurtz stood and plucked the piano strings. While I did not particularly care for the work, its fascinating intricacies were fun to hear and watch.
The program shifted to Argentina for the final work, Otoño Porteño (Autumn), a tango by Astor Piazzolla. The trio fully absorbed the niceties of this work, especially moving from quiet to a burst of fiery energy in the middle.
Tonight, the CheckOut's Opening Festival continues with pianist Marianne Parker: Transit, which melds piano and video to create an aural and visual tapestry. 4116 N. Clark, Friday, September 26, 2025, 7:30 pm.
Tomorrow night, the CheckOut will feature pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev to perform Sean Hickey’s Sapience. 4116 N. Clark, Saturday, September 27, 2025, 7:30 pm. Check out the CheckOut.
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