Weekend Classical Music Picks

This trio of concerts includes solos, duets, and a bunch of people playing a concert entitled "Duality."

Cory Tiffin and Alejandro Acierto perform Saturday (Photo by Mireya Acierto)

• Clarinetists Alejandro Acierto and Cory Tiffin - "Forms of Flight"
  This concert has been a long time coming. Acierto and Tiffin met while undergraduates at DePaul University, but Saturday's performance will be their first official collaboration. The concert's creative embryo was "scelcric Fragments," a piece Acierto wrote for the duo but which hasn't yet been performed (they'll premiere the piece at their show in New York tonight). While programming the rest of the concert, the clarinetists noticed a "bird" theme developing, particularly with explicit references in Elliott Carter's "Hiyoku" (meaning "two wings"), Olivier Messiaen's "Abime des oiseaux" ("Abyss of the Birds") from his "Quartet for the End of Time," and George Flynn's "Forms of Flight," which became the concert's title. Also on the program are pieces by Augusta Reed Thomas, Francis Poulenc, and Giacinto Scelsi, as well as the Chicago premiere of Jeffrey Young's "Sacrifice."
  High Concept Laboratories, 1401 W. Wabansia (yes, there's something across the street from the Hideout), 7:30 p.m., $10 suggested donation

• dal niente - "Duality"
  dal niente hit the ground in 2009-2010 in a dead sprint, and they'll stop to catch their breath after this fourth and final concert of their Oktoberfest series. For Sunday's program, "Duality," the ensemble has chosen extremely different types of pieces in order to explore how people's brains process music. At one end are the slowly-evolving minimalist compositions of Steve Reich ("Vermont Counterpoint") and Arvo Pärt ("Fratres," a version of which appears in the film "There Will Be Blood"). At the other end are the highly complex works of Michael Finnissy ("Halbnackt") and Beat Furrer ("Aria").
  Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington, 3:00 p.m., FREE

• Garrick Ohlsson
  While the brilliant Ohlsson has expanded his repertoire in recent years, he'll stick with some oldies-but-goodies for his Symphony Center concert: Ludwig van Beethoven's Sonata in E-Flat Major, Franz Liszt's Sonata in B Minor, and Frederic Chopin's 24 Preludes. The Beethoven marks the beginning of a season-long look at the composer that will culminate in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Beethoven Festival in June, which will feature all nine symphonies.
  Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, 3:00 p.m., $20-$82, $10 student tickets available