Dal Niente’s return to Chicago’s Frequency Festival this February will feature the newly-commissioned Rain Under the Sea by San Diego-based composer, Lei Liang. Scored for two sopranos and mixed chamber ensemble, the piece is deeply informed by Lei’s research at LEI Lab at the University of California San Diego, where he works closely with oceanographer Joshua Jones collecting and listening to sound material from the ocean such as crackling ice forming, marine animals communicating, and pulsating sonar signals. As Lei writes, “Echoes of the ocean are carried into sound” and find their way into this new piece for Ensemble Dal Niente.

According to Liang, “Each week, [Oceanographer Joshua Jones and I] come together simply to listen. We listen to the sounds of the ocean—beginning with Arctic ice, moving through the voices of marine mammals, and into the deeper resonances of the sea….For some time, I have wanted to carry my ocean-inspired projects beyond electronics and into a purely instrumental realm, and working with Dal Niente feels like an ideal way to realize that transition.”

The program additionally features recent works by José Julio Diaz Infante, Ayanna Woods, Chaya Czernowin, and a performance of Helmut Lachenmann’s Dal Niente (Interieur III) for solo clarinet performed by Zachary Good.

A pre-performance talk with the composers and members of Ensemble Dal Niente will take place onstage at 7:30PM.