AWE Festival Chicago | 14-17 April 2025

A spring festival of chamber music, At the World’s Edge is forging new creative pathways between Aotearoa New Zealand and Chicago USA - from the great lakes of Central Otago to the shores of Lake Michigan.

With three thematically interlinked programmes, join AWE’s celebration of shared creativity and collaboration through much loved masterpieces woven between music less heard or discovered on a journey through three inspiring Chicago venues.

Our esteemed performers include AWE Artistic Director and violinist Benjamin Baker, violinist Natalie Lin Douglas, violist Zoe Martin-Doike, cellist Julia Yang, pianist Albert Cano Smit, and the celebrated British horn soloist Ben Goldscheider.

Festival Performances

1 | GATEWAY

Monday 14 April, 12pm
Marae Gallery, Field Museum

    • Augusta Read Thomas (Chicago) Dream Catcher for solo violin

    • Georg Telemann (Germany) Gulliver’s Travels for two violins

    • Gareth Farr (NZ) Wakatipu for solo violin

    • Eleanor Alberga (UK) Shining Gate of Morpheus for horn and string quartet

  • Ben Goldscheider - French Horn
    Benjamin Baker - Violin
    Natalie Lin Douglas - Violin
    Zoe Martin-Doike - Viola
    Julia Yang - Cello

  • Performance takes place in front of Ruatepupuke II, Māori Meeting House.

    Field Museum
    1400 S. Dusable Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605

  • Presented in partnership with the Field Museum. Entrance fee to museum applies, with free entry to performance within the Marae Gallery.

AWE Chicago 2025 opens in a place of deep spiritual significance for Aotearoa New Zealand - in front of Ruatepupuke II, the wharenui (Māori meeting house) from Tokamaru Bay within Chicago’s Field Museum.

Celebrating 120 years of Ruatepupuke II’s place within the museum’s collection, join us for a powerful cultural exchange through the prism of chamber music, where music from Aotearoa New Zealand, Chicago, and beyond creates a bridge between past and present. Set on sacred ground, this wharenui was built as a gateway for the living to connect with their ancestors, history, and new communities—a spirit we honor as AWE brings its performance to this special space.

Presented in partnership with the Field Museum. Entrance Fee to Museum applies, with free entry into performance.

2 | HOMMAGE

Tuesday 15 April, 6pm
Guarneri Hall NFP

    • György Ligeti Trio for horn, violin and piano

    • Salina Fisher Mata-au for string trio, AWE 2021 Commission

    • Brahms Horn Trio, op.40

  • Ben Goldscheider - French Horn
    Benjamin Baker - Violin
    Zoe Martin-Doike - Viola
    Julian Yang - Cello
    Albert Cano Smit - Piano

  • Guarneri Hall NFP
    11 East Adams Street/3rd floor
    Downtown Chicago, IL 60603

  • This is a private invite event, however should you be interested to attend, please email us to request seats. info@awemusicfoundation.org

    All welcome. Koha/donation suggested.

The second waypoint in AWE Chicago 2025’s journey is at the intimate Guarneri Hall—described as a “classical music speakeasy” and “one of Chicago’s best-kept secrets,” hidden within an unassuming office building.

Paired with New Zealand wines from Chasing Harvest—a Central Otago winery founded by two Chicagoans—this program showcases two masterpieces for violin, horn, and piano: György Ligeti’s 20th-century hommage to Johannes Brahms’ 19th-century trio, and Mata-Au, a string trio by New Zealand composer Salina Fisher, inspired by the breathtaking landscapes of the Queenstown Lakes.

3 | HOMELAND

Wednesday 16 April, 6pm
Murphy Auditorium, Driehaus Museum

    • Samuel Barber String Quartet in b minor, op.11

    • Victoria Kelly Ensemble for horn, violin and cello, AWE 2023 Commission

    • Edwin York Bowen Horn Quintet in c minor, op.85

  • Ben Goldscheider - French Horn
    Benjamin Baker - Violin
    Natalie Lin Douglas - Violin
    Zoe Martin-Doike - Viola
    Julia Yang - Cello

  • The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Murphy Auditorium
    50 East Erie Street
    Chicago, IL 60611

  • Presented in partnership with the Driehaus Museum, within their Third Wednesday Free Series.

    The museum is open with free entry prior to the performance.

    Though the concert is free entry, registrations are recommended so as not to miss out.

AWE Chicago 2025’s final concert unfolds in the grandeur of the Driehaus Museum’s Murphy Auditorium, a tribute to Chicago’s Gilded Age. The programme opens with Samuel Barber’s deeply expressive String Quartet in b minor, op.11, composed shortly after he moved to Europe, and featuring his famous Adagio which is often associated with his personal struggles.

The US Premiere of AWE’s 2023 Commission follows - Ensemble for horn, violin and cello from New Zealand composer Victoria Kelly, a reflection on musical and personal connections across time and space. AWE Chicago 2025 then concludes with the rich sounds of the French horn in Edwin York Bowen’s Horn Quintet in c minor, op.85. A celebrated British composer, his works brim with lyrical beauty and perhaps the sounds of a bygone era.

Presented in partnership with the Driehaus Museum, within their Third Wednesday Free Series.

AWE+ in the Community

Following our three festival performances at the Field Museum, Guarneri Hall and the Driehaus Musuem, AWE Festival Artists will spend a day performing in Chicago public Schools on Thursday 17 April.

Schools programme presented in partnership with the Chicago Philharmonic

We would like to acknowledge and express our heartfelt thanks to:


AWE Music Foundation Cornerstone Patrons

Abby O’Neil and Carroll Joynes

Scobie Ward

AWE Music Foundation Patrons

Paul & Linda Gridley

Paul Sekhri

Judy Evnin

Mitch Sikora

Simon Prisk & Helen Meates

Angela & Bill Haines

Seth Dubin & Barbara Field

Nancy and Joe Dwyer

Greg Cmaeron and Greg Thompson

Rishi Bhandari and Suchet Venkatesh

Peter and Jill Litton

Cate and Michael Mascari