Presenting: World-premiere by award-winning teenage cellist Lucie Ticho, featuring the first-ever performance of “Wintram” by Chicago composer Kim Diehnelt, Chicago's first performance of “Shades of Red” by composer David Froom, and other repertoire. Both Diehnelt and Froom will address the audience, and the audience is invited to meet all three musicians at a reception.

This venue, the Second Presbyterian Church, was designed by architect James Renwick and completed in 1874. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is designated a Chicago Landmark by the city, and features more than twenty stained glass windows by artists including Louis C. Tiffany.

Doors open at 5 pm; performance starts promptly at 6 pm. The program should last about an hour; a reception follows. Concert-goers can enter the church off of Cullerton or via the handicapped ramp off of Michigan; parking is available on the street, or after 5 pm in the Ada S.McKinley Community Services parking lot, 1863 S. Wabash Av.

This is local cellist Lucie Ticho's last Chicago concert before heading east to study in a combined Columbia-Juilliard program (BA from Columbia, Masters from Juilliard).

The Eye Specialists Center has underwritten this event and has purchased all 1200 seats, making tickets available to the public at no charge -- in addition, the Eye Specialists Center will sponsor a free shuttle bus leaving from its Chicago Ridge location (10436 Southwest Hwy) at 4 pm. Please RSVP separately for the shuttle bus to jmcdade@eyespeccenter.com.

About Lucie Ticho: Ticho began a love of cello at age 2, and has studied with Roosevelt University’s Tanya Carey for over 12 years. She is principal cellist (and a member for eight years) with the award-winning Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and has soloed with its Encore Chamber Orchestra as well as its Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, the Elgin Symphony and Northwest Symphony Orchestra.

Her broadcast performances include National Public Radio programs From the Top and Performance Today.

She participated in the 2015 New York String Orchestra symposium culminating in two performances at Carnegie Hall in December 2015, and will travel to Europe this summer as a member of the National Youth Orchestra.

Awards, scholarships and fellowships include:

• Stulberg International String Competitions, 2014, semifinalist
• Irving Klein International String Competition, 2014, semifinalist
• Johansen International Competition, 2015, semifinalist
• YoungArts, 2016, honorable mention
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Crain Maling Concerto Competition, 2014, 2nd place
• Music Teachers National Association Competition, 2014, 2nd place
• Aspen Music Festival’s New Horizons Fellowship
• Musicians Club of Women’s Farwell Trust Award

About Kim Diehnelt: Maestra Kim Diehnelt established her craft as a conductor, composer and artistic coach in both Finland and Switzerland leading Baltic, Russian, and European ensembles. She founded the Helsinki Camerata, a group dedicated to a chamber music approach to orchestral performance. She is the Music Director and Conductor of the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of Sounds of the South Loop Music Series. Diehnelt was recently named an American Prize 2015 semifinalist composer for orchestra (professional division). She describes her piece Wintram as “Robust and soaring, extending a playful glance to the era of Bach while confronting the chaos and beauty of the present day.”

About David Froom: David Froom’s music has been performed extensively throughout the United States by major orchestras, ensembles, and soloists, including Louisville, Seattle, Utah, and Chesapeake Symphony Orchestras, US Marine and Navy Bands, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Twentieth Century Consort and the New York New Music Ensemble. His music is available on CD from labels including Bridge, New Dimensions, Delos, Arabesque, Capriccio, Centaur, Sonora, Crystal, Opus 3, and Altissimmo. Froom has received multiple prestigious honors from organizations ranging from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim, Fromm, Koussevitzky, and Barlow Foundations, the Kennedy Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Music Teachers National Association and the state of Maryland.