Jennifer Higdon Came to Chicago to Hear it First
On March 11, 2026, Rabia Brooke and pianist Nathanael Canfield gave the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Art Measures for Violin and Piano at Guarneri Hall, with the composer in the room.
The piece began with a meeting at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, where Rabia first came to know Higdon. Later, as a student at The Juilliard School, Rabia approached her about a new work for violin and piano, with Nova Linea Musica funding the commission in full. Higdon is among the most sought-after composers of her time and does not take on every commission that comes her way; her agreement made the project a true collaboration between composer and performer. The result is Art Measures, a piece about how art itself is made.
“This is also how performing artists make the greatest impression in music history… they commission and champion new works, creating the history of the piece that they help bring to the world.”
— Jennifer Higdon, on Art Measures
Higdon, a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy winner whose works average some three hundred performances a year worldwide, chose to spend that evening in a sixty-seat room in Chicago. She joined Nova Linea Musica Artistic Director Desirée Ruhstrat for a pre-concert conversation before hearing her own music played live for the first time.
“I was deeply moved by how intensely and personally Rabia felt the music, especially the slow movement. Her dynamic energy in the first and last movements blew me away.”
— Jennifer Higdon
Higdon arrived in Chicago the day before the premiere and spent it in a workshop with Rabia and Nathanael Canfield, shaping the piece together, measure by measure.
“Working with a composer of Jennifer’s stature was truly transformative. Every step of the process was made all the more meaningful by her presence and the depth of her artistry.”
— Rabia Brooke
“…a brilliant and virtuosic new work that received an appropriately brilliant and virtuosic first performance.”
— Robert Dillon, Third Coast Percussion