Plugged-in folk fluting at the Atlantic

I'm performing with Canadian folk duo Russell & Gray tonight at the Atlantic Bar & Grill in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood!

This is my "non-classical" gig, in which I can wear jeans or a short skirt if I want - instead of concert black - and I will be plugged in. Even though I have a Master's degree in flute performance and played the Nielsen concerto by memory in graduate school in front of an orchestra, nothing makes me nervous the way that having a microphone hooked on to my flute does. My academic training prepared me to be a great sight-reader and how to tune with a wind section in a chamber group or an orchestra, but playing with amplification is a test of different sorts. The microphone doesn't have a junk filter, so I feel a bit under a microscope like this. A boomy concert hall or a church can be acoustically forgiving. Will the microphone pick up the junky noise of my key pads, my breaths, the pulses in my vibrato?

And I'll be playing some dumbek as well. The dumbek is a Middle-Eastern drum which I feel in love with on my trip to Morocco last summer. I've been studying the rhythms of Arabic music since I came back from my trip, but won't be playing in that style this evening. And I don't dare call myself a percussionist yet.

The Atlantic is located in the heart of Lincoln Square at 5062 N Lincoln Avenue. Music will begin around 8pm.

Alicia Poot performs works by Elliot Carter and Brian Baxter, 1/23/11

New Music at the Green Mill - a once-a-month tradition started by Chicago composer George Flynn.

George Flynn hosts this month's New Music at the Green Mill, in an annual celebration of his birthday. This concert will feature a premiere by Flynn, "Howl," in homage to the Allen Ginsberg poem written in 1955, and various other works by composers from Chicago and elsewhere.

I will join clarinetist Cory Tiffin (principal clarinetist of the Green Bay Symphony and co-founder of Anaphora Ensemble) to perform Elliot Carter's "Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux," for flute and clarinet, then percussionist Rebecca Laurito will join the two of us on Chicago composer Brian Baxter's "Noise Pollution" for flute, clarinet, and percussion.

You'll have to show up to find out what else is on the program. If you opt out to watch the Bears vs. the Packers, of course we'll understand.

Cover is $5.
Show starts at 2:00

The Green Mill is at 4802 N Broadway.