~Nois' Annual Report: 23/24 Season

ANNUAL REPORT

2023 2024

Table of CONTENTS

1

President's Message

3

Artistic Director's Note

2 4-5 6 7 8 9

10-11 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 20-21 22-23

Executive Director's Note Year in Review

Our Mission, Vision and Values Commitment to Chicago Chicago Season

Featured Recording

Young Creators Fellowship

Recorded Media & Audience Overview Composers, 2023/2024 World Premieres

Commissioning & Programming Demographics Director of Finance's Note Expense Summary The ~Ensemble The ~Staff

Board of Directors Thank you Board Support ~Nois

Our Supporters

Greetings from our Future Board President No matter the genre or stage, ~Nois continues to impress me with their versatility and dedication to music making. Music is essential to life, and I passionately believe in sharing music with everyone we can. ~Nois represents the best of music making in Chicago with its unique multi-saxophone sound, and it is a great honor to step into the role of Board President for the upcoming season. Over the course of the past eight years, ~Nois has been able to create innovative, welcoming, and exceptional musical experiences that foster an inclusive artistic community through their engaging programs. Thank you to all of ~Nois’ generous donors, mentors, and patrons for your continued support – we look forward to another great season of artistry!

Amy 1

A Note from the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Each and every year, when the days get shorter and the weather gets cold, I find myself reflecting with pride on all that ~Nois has accomplished in the past season. My mind always wanders to the first of our core values ~ “We strive to not be limited by our abilities and continually challenge ourselves to grow.” Through constant experimentation, curiosity, and friendship we have constantly pushed this ensemble to grow and mature since our founding in 2016.

The 2023/2024 season was NO exception, with some of our largest organizational strides to date.

This past season we saw a ~35% increase in our operating budget, we DOUBLED the number of students our programming engaged, and the reach of our recorded media exploded thanks to collaborations with The Kinds of Kings composer collective, Annika Socolofsky, and our dear friend Cassie Wieland (Vines) - engaging over 140,000 unique listeners. NONE of these strides would have been possible without countless hours of hard work from our ensemble members and our board of directors, along with guidance from countless mentors in our beloved musical home of Chicago.

Looking ahead, there are some changes on the horizon for ~Nois. After 8 years of dedicated alto saxophone playing, our dear friend Hunter Bockes has decided to step away from ~Nois.

What’s next for Hunter? He is moving into a new role as Beverage Director and General Manager of Chicago’s newest (and best) cocktail bar/music venue, Clara. While we’ll miss playing music with Hunter on a daily basis, we’re so proud of all he has

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accomplished at Clara and are excited to see what the future holds for him. We wouldn’t be where we are today without all the hard work Hunter has put into ~Nois, and for that, we’re so grateful! We are SO excited to be announcing our next full time alto player in Summer of 2025. Stay tuned!

This is the second of many formal impact reports from ~Nois Performing Arts Organization NFP (and it’s fancier than the report I designed last year - Thanks Tess Peckman!). I hope that this report can not only be a reflection on the accomplishments of the past year, but also a celebration of things to come. As ~Nois continues to grow and learn through curiosity and exploration, we hope you’ll stick around for the journey. Your support is forever and always appreciated and we can’t wait to show y’all what is next for ~Nois.

JORDAN LULLOFF

A Note from the ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

The 23/24 Season was our opportunity to make a bold statement after years of hard work and planning. ~Nois premiered 20 works for saxophone quartet, gave 35 educational engagements, workshopped 18 student composition readings, performed 28 concerts, and was a part of 4 major album releases. It is no understatement when I proudly say that we are one of the few saxophone ensembles in the country with such a breadth of output.

We released our largest volume of recorded media to date which included our monumental album, Kinds of ~Nois. In addition to its critical acclaim and debut at #1 on Billboard’s Classical Crossover charts, it showcased the ensemble’s versatility and commitment to advancing contemporary classical literature to a wide variety of aesthetics. This journey is just beginning for us as the 24/25 Season will include tracking our upcoming album What is ~Nois. This album goes one step further into exploring the unique sound worlds the saxophone quartet inhabits; with performances that include electric guitar, punk rock drums, electronic dance beats, and Colin Stetson-esque saxophone musculature.

With Chicago as a central pillar to ~Nois’ artistic output, we continued our mission of contributing to the ecosystem of Chicago’s unique and brilliant musical community. We saw record attendance for our Chicagoland self-presented series CURIOSITY and DISCOVERY. We were able to collaborate with Chicago artists from a variety of ages and experiences through commissions,

Fulcrum Point, and the Young Creators Fellowship. For our 23/24 commissioned premieres, 71% of works were by Chicago artists and all but one of these were performed in Chicago throughout the season.

We embark into the 24/25 Season with the search for our newest core alto saxophonist and administrator with a sense of optimism for the future. ~Nois is not the same graduate-student ensemble it was almost a decade ago, and this hiring process has given us the opportunity to reassess the aspirations of the ensemble. We are grateful to have established a core infrastructure that allows us to continue our mission and reach with one less member for this season.

We will emerge at the end of our 24/25 Season with a new core member, a continued strong output, and a strong vision for ~Nois’ future as we approach our 10 year anniversary.

JULIAN VELASCO 3

3 24 2

10 States

28

Concerts

3k

Audience Members

2k

Students Reached

YEAR HIGHLIGHTS 4

35

Educational Engagements

Our Vision

AN INVITING AND CURIOUS WORLDWIDE MUSICAL COMMUNITY...

Our Mission is to create innovative, welcoming, and exceptional musical experiences that foster an inclusive artistic community.

Our Values

1. We strive to not be limited by our abilities and continually challenge ourselves to grow.

2. We achieve the highest level of artistry and chamber playing through an eagerness to experiment and a dedication to quality.

3. The success of ~Nois is only as valuable as the kindness, openness, honesty, and respect we share with each other.

4. We aim to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment through our artistic and operational decisions.

5. ~Nois is a product of Chicago’s welcoming, generous, and unique musical culture. It is our responsibility to contribute to the fabric of our city’s musical community through performance, collaboration, and stewardship.

6. ~Nois exists as a proof of concept that classically-trained musicians pursuing career paths outside of the normative structures are able to succeed.

7. As educators, we aim to be a resource to young and inquisitive creators who are looking to discover and explore their curiosities.

8. We challenge the expectations of the saxophone quartet medium in an anti-stuffy approach to performance that respects the quality of the art.

9. We aspire to cultivate a global audience, leaving a meaningful legacy on the genre of saxophone quartet through recording, performance, and outreach.

10. We seek to leave behind a body of engaging, substantial, and thought-provoking repertoire for future generations to perform and listen to.

11. We thrive in the collaborative process and above all else, seek to bring the collective vision to life.

12. If we do our job well, anyone can enjoy a ~Nois show.

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OUR COMMITMENT TO CHICAGO Chicago is a unique catalyst for creative individuals and we owe so much to this city’s immensely vibrant musical community for supporting our endeavors. Putting the ~Nois in Illinois, we are committed to contributing to the artistic fabric of Chicago.

Chicago Educational Outreach

Every year we provide hands-on educational outreach opportunities for secondary and university students of all ages in the city. We have collaborated with local universities such as University of Chicago, DePaul University, Northwestern University, University of Illinois Chicago. We provide a fellowship for high-school creatives called the ~Nois Young Creators Fellowship. This fellowship features two high school Chicago creatives every year where we premiere their works here in the city at our DISCOVERY concert. As part of this fellowship, we provide free concerts and presentations to Chicago-area schools. In the 2023/2024 season, We provided educational programming for 1300 students ages 4 - 18 in the Chicago-land area.

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Chicago-Focused Programming

60% of our World Premieres are by Chicago composers (that’s 55 so far… for those keeping track at home). When touring around the country, we focus on including works from Chicago composers as part of our concert programs.

Locally Presented Shows

Each year, ~Nois self-presents multiple concerts in the Chicagoland area. Our season opener - CURIOSITY - focuses on commissioning and presenting Chicago artists. Our season closer - DISCOVERY - focuses on bringing exciting new works from around the country back to the city and showcasing some of our city's best emerging high school composers. Additionally, throughout our season we collaborate with other Chicago artists to present concerts across the city.

CURIOSITY

Featuring world premieres by guest artists Masso Quartet and Carlos Bandera & Kari Watson

KINDS OF ~NOIS Album Release performance at Evanston SPACE

DISCOVERY

Featuring the World Premiere of Shakespeare's Jesters by Augusta Read Thomas 7

Featured RECORDING

“Performances are note-perfect and assuredly interpreted.” ~Sequenza 21

Music is a universal language that allows the communication of human emotion without a prerequisite of understanding. As we have new experiences, our understanding of music changes, our musical language evolves, and the emotions we are trying to communicate morph.

The result of the past six years of collaboration between Kinds of Kings and ~Nois; Kinds of ~Nois is an exploration of personal and musical change. From darkness to light, a yearning for a brighter future, this is an album of two parts.

“There are legions of string quartets but far fewer of the saxophone kind. There’s PRISM Quartet, of course, and outfits such as Apollo Saxophone Quartet, World Saxophone Quartet, and Rova Saxophone Quartet have brought deserved attention to the format. With Kinds of ~Nois, this proud Chicago unit makes a compelling case for its right to stand with such distinguished company.” ~textura

5 World Premiere Recordings 6 Years of Collaboration #1 ON BILLBOARD CLASSICAL CROSSOVER CHARTS 8

CHICAGO-AREA HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE

Young Creators

FELLOWSHIP THROUGH THE CREATION OF THIS PROGRAM, OUR AIM WAS TO ACHIEVE THE FOLLOWING GOALS:

1 2 To encourage young, Chicago based artists to create new work.

To provide a platform for young artists to have their work performed for a larger audience.

This season saw the second year of our annual program geared towards aspiring young creatives: the Young Creators Fellowship. This program selects two local high school-aged students to collaborate with us on two new works for saxophone quartet, with each winner receiving a $500 prize, a series of collaborative workshops with the ensemble, and a professional live recording of their new piece on our seasonclosing DISCOVERY Series concert. Thanks to our Creative Mentor on the project, Joey Meland, each winner was also able to receive one-on-one composition lessons to help guide them in the process of creating these new works.

In its second year, this Fellowship continued to achieve these goals and was largely a success. We are already looking towards next year’s Fellowship and discussing how it can be improved. While this year saw an expanded recruitment effort, we are hoping to expand even further next season - offering a series of free educational programs for up to 10 local high schools.

This will serve to encourage more students to apply, and will help expand our educational outreach within our local community.

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To offer real-world collaborative experience that will prepare these students for a future career in music.

We want to congratulate this year’s two selected winners Fabrizio Milcent and Ezra Weisz for demonstrating a willingness to experiment and an enthusiasm for the collaborative process.

Together, we explored new musical worlds inspired by their individual musical experiences.

Both fellows showed incredible growth during the short three months we worked together, and we are excited to watch the development of their already promising careers in music.

“This was a great program because it encouraged me to explore different ways of writing music. Normally, I write all of my music on a keyboard in my attic, but the Fellowship helped to expand my knowledge of composition by working with other people.”

- Ezra Weisz

STREAMING 2023 2024 140,000+ LISTENERS 500,000+ STREAMS 25,000+ PLAYLIST ADDS

RECORDED

Media 10

Kinds of ~Nois ~Nois March 2024 Bright Shiny Things

Dot : Line : Sigh

Osnat Netzer - Portrait Album February 2024 New Focus Recordings

Gossamer (Vines Version) Vines (Cassie Wieland) September 2023 Self Release

I Tell You Me

Annika Socolofsky September 2023 Carrier Records

birthday party

Vines (Cassie Wieland) August 2023 Self Release

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WORLD PREMIERES Over the course of the 2023/2024 season the group presented 21 world premieres in 5 states. In addition to our own commissioning, we partnered with The University of Colorado Boulder, The University of Florida, Connecticut Summer Fest, and Fulcrum Point New Music Project on these premieres.

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2023 | 2024 COMPOSERS Abbie Klemens Augusta Read Thomas Brendan Sweeney Brock Nofsinger Carlos Bandera Daniel Cui Daniel Townsend Edward Lu Ezra Weisz Fabrizio Milcent Hoáng Phó Isabel Badlose Jane Kozhevnikova Josie Arnett Kari Watson Max Edinoff Neda Nadim Russell Avellanosa Shawn Okpebholo Shelley Washington Yunmeng Su

Commissionary & Programming

DEMOGRAPHICS ~Nois’ commissions and programming advocates for the medium of saxophone quartet as an exceptional avenue for chamber music, while generating the next generation of repertoire that embraces a more diverse and equitable future.

33 UNIQUE WORKS PROGRAMMED AT ~NOIS SHOWS ACROSS THE COUNTRY

GENDER

ETHNICITY

FEMALE

WHITE

43%

57%

48%

43%

MALE

ALAANA

9%

NON-BINARY

21 WORLD PREMIERES

GENDER

ETHNICITY

FEMALE

WHITE

29% 57% MALE

62% 38%

ALAANA

14%

NON-BINARY

*ALAANA stands for African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American individuals and communities.

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Director of Finance JANOS CSONTOS

Thanks to the generous support from foundations and individual donors, ~Nois’s 23/24 season has continued the organization’s promising trajectory of financial and operational growth.

These income streams have allowed the ensemble to pursue our most ambitious commissioning and recording projects to date while continuing to provide innovative live programming to audiences across the country.

Income Summary: 3 Season Overview 4% Foundation Support 27% Individual Giving

4% Government Support 8% Foundation Support 20% Individual Giving

11% Government Support 13% Foundation Support

20% Individual Giving

69% Earned Income

68% Earned Income 56% Earned Income

2021 2022

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$79,088

2022 $106,935 2023

2023 $148,181 2024

Expense

SUMMARY

2023 2024 Dollar Amount

2022 2023 10k

20k

2021 2022 30k

40k

60k

70k

Salary & Guest Artists

Commisioning & Recording

Touring Expenses

Marketing

Organization Expenses

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THE ~ENSEMBLE

Take your preconceived notions of ‘noise’ and toss them out the window. Equal parts “fiendishly good and fiendishly goofy” The Chicago Tribune

~Nois is a Chicago-based saxophone quartet dedicated to connecting with diverse audiences through the creation of new work. Since its founding in 2016, “~Nois continues to legitimize the saxophone quartet as a premiere ensemble formation for classical music” (thank you Brutal New Music) through commissioning repertoire that is thought-provoking, engaging, and honestly just really good, by some of today’s most inspiring compositional voices.

As proud residents of Chicago, the ensemble members seek to serve the diverse neighborhoods of the city through an annual season of self-presented concerts and programs. Each year, ~Nois’ Curiosity Series brings together Chicago residents and artists for an evening of music exclusively featuring the work of composers and performers with strong ties to the city, with a particular focus on advocating for younger creators in Chicago. Additionally, ~Nois serves

Chicago youth through their Young Creators Fellowship, which selects two local high school-aged students each year to collaborate with the ensemble on new works for saxophone.

At the core of ~Nois’ ethos is a fierce dedication to the commissioning of living composers, with a particular emphasis on developing a personal friendship with all collaborators they work with. In doing so, the ensemble aims to create new works of art that reflect and exemplify the values of human connection, which are central to the quartet’s mission. With more than 100 world premieres to date, the members of ~Nois have had the privilege of working closely with some of the world’s leading voices in composition to create new works for saxophone quartet, including Nico Muhly, Augusta Read Thomas, Shelley Washington, Alex Mincek, Hans Thomalla, and Tonia Ko, among others.

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The

~STAFF HUNTER BOCKES

JANOS CSONTOS

NATALIA WARTHEN

JULIAN VELASCO

Director of Development

Administrative Intern

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Director of Finance

Artistic Director

JORDAN LULLOFF Executive Director

2023 - 2024

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

We would like to extend a huge thank you to our Board of Directors for the tremendous support and guidance in the 2023/2024 season. We are honored to have these leaders as a part of the ~Nois Family <3

AMY BOONSTRA

Executive Director of the Center for Decision Research The Booth School of Business, University of Chicago

GEORGE HAMPTON

JANOS CSONTOS

Director of Finance at ~Nois Performing Arts Organization

FABIOLA VALENZUELA

Associate at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Senior Advisor to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All

SJ CHAPMAN

Partner at Bielski Chapman, Ltd.

PETER GILLETTE

Director of Development Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations at Chicago Sinfonietta

CHRIS SINTA

Client Financial Analyst at Arthur J. Gallagher International

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SUPPORT

~Nois

As a 21st century artist-driven organization, ~Nois relies on contributions, both large and small, to support innovative programming, high-caliber performances, and education programs to young musicians and audiences. Your generosity enables us to continue our mission of presenting the fiercest music of recent decades and serves as an investment not only in our organization, but also in the future of contemporary music and art. But this isn’t just about the four of us — it’s about ALL of us. By supporting artists, we build bridges between communities and inspire conversations about all of life’s complexities. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our commissioning efforts, and we strive to use our platform to advocate for the work of underrepresented composers. We work towards creating a diverse body of repertoire for future generations to perform.

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Donations to ~Nois can be made via check

made out to ~Nois Performing Arts Organization and mailed to 7012 Church St. Morton Grove, IL 60053 Or online via www.noissaxophone.com/tildedonate ~Nois Performing Arts Organization, NFP (EIN: 84-3205738) is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your donation is tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

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The Tilde ~TEAM

As a mission-focused organization, ~Nois operates with an incredibly slim 6% overhead operating budget, meaning the vast majority (94%) of our income goes directly to the creation of new art.

Our 2023/2024 season cost $145,000 to bring to life, and none of this would have been possible without the support of the individuals in the Tilde ~Team and generous grants from the foundations and family funds listed below.

We are eternally grateful for your support!

At @ Angel

$1000 and Above Anonymous John Bierbusse Amy & Brian Boonstra Russ Irwin Kinds of Kings Janet & Joe Lulloff Bill, Vicki, & Andrew Morton Chris Sinta Finn & Zoe Truckenbrod Edmund & Wendy Velasco Dave Zampa The Amphion Foundation Paul M. Angell Family Foundation The Alice M. Ditson Fund The MacArthur Funds for Culture, Equity, and the Arts at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation The Illinois Arts Council Agency The Reizner Family Fund The Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands Trust

Percent % Patron $500 to $999

SJ Chapman Logan Dougherty Evanston Space Michael Glass David Henderson Bruce Oltman Sarah Forbes Orwig & Clark Costen

Dollar $ Donor $250 to $499

Holly & Dave Bockes Mary & Rick Bockes Penny Capps Donna Haile Helen Holman Grace May Nick Zoulek 22

Caret ^ Contributor $100 to $249

Doyle Armbrust Ruthie & Chip Bailey Flora Csontos Sarolta Csontos-Diab Robert Dillon Sally & Bernard Dobroski Luke Ellard Dan Gelok Andre Gonyea Andrea Moore Healy Makenzie Hoffmeyer Therese & David Hueholt Jason Kalajainen Maria Kaoutzani Jackie & Eric Kirchner Robin Koelsch Michael Maccaferri Mark Main Karol & Patrick Mikula Donald Nally Osnat Netzer Nick Photinos Agnes Redei Amanda Simmons Liza Sobel Taimur Sullivan Curtis Vanzandt Virginia & Don Ward Nina Williams Flora Wuellner Lucy Wuellner Tyler Young

Hashtag # Helper $1 to $99

Sam Alvarez Luis Fernando Amaya Mathew Arrellin Timothy Bachman Nicole Bartell Leah Benson Ruth Beresh John Bielski Brendan Bockes Richard Brasseale

Barbara Brotman & Chuck Berman Rodrigo Bussad Gavin Chuck Will Cicola Harrison Clarke Nicholas Cline Sean Connors Paul Cotton Paul Dellevigne Matthew Duvall Peggy Egli Megan Elks Dannel Espinoza Christine Ewald Teagan Faran Alyse Freilich Xin Gao Kara & Tim Gazdziak Grace Gelpi Casey Grev Jonathan Hannau Delan Hao Deirdre Harrison Momoko Hasselbring Alanna Hawley Marco Herrera-Rendon Tom Hicks Jennifer Higdon Joon Im Brad Jefferson Molly Jones Lisa Kaplan Diane Krycia May Lee Jeffrey Leung Er-Hsuan LI Chelsea Lyons Clara M. Lyon Peter Martin Ricardo Martinez Elaine Martone Joanne McCoubrey Rebecca McDaniel Jobelle Mesa Connor Mikula Christopher Miller Ted Moore Ben Morris Christopher Narloch

Giulio Ongaro Olivia Phaneuf Wilson Poffenberger Susan Prange William Pyle Brandon Quarles David Reminick Debra Richtmeyer Brenda Rincon Russell Rolen Sophia Rollins Nicki Roman Claire Ross Jake Saunders Julie Schlaifer Halley Shefler Chris Sideris David Skidmore Sarah Smelser Philip Snyder Tami Stoddard Yu-Lien The Hans Thomalla Philippa Thompson Hannah Truckenbrod Cindy Tuisku Seth Van Embden Kathryn Vetter P. Kellach Waddle Dylan Ward Nowell Warthen Eli Wilson Jocelyn Zelasko Karen Zhang Eric Zheng David Zielinski This list reflects gifts from August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2023.

Every effort was made to ensure the accuracy of this list.

If you notice an error, please accept our apology and contact janos@noissaxophone.com

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PHOTOGRAPHY Nick Zoulek Brendan Sweeney Jaclyn Simpson BRANDING Christie Evenson GRAPHIC DESIGN Tess Peckman

NOISSAXOPHONE.COM @NOISSAXOPHONE