EPHRAIM CHAMPION

WORLD PREMIERE #2 @ ETF '25 Composer Showcase Featuring Lakeshore Rush: "grace" for mixed septet
2025-10-16 20:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | Constellation, 3111 North Western Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60618, United States
Happy to announce Lakeshore Rush will be premiering a piece of mine written for them and Soprano Voice, entitled “grace”. The piece is a setting of a poem of the same name written by the 23rd United States Poet Laureate (and first Native American to hold that honor), Joy Harjo. It will be featured on a program with other winners of the ETF ’25 composer showcase.
Event page/tickets:
Composer Showcase Featuring Lakeshore Rush — EAR TAXI FESTIVAL
Announcement post:
NEW COMMISSION FOR LAKESHORE RUSH!!!
Lakeshore Rush:
Erin Kendall Murphy, flute
Laura McLaughlin, clarinet
Pascal Innocenti, violin
Christopher Ferrer, cello
Elena Doubovitskaya, piano
Vocalist:
Angela De Venuto

WORLD PREMIERE #1 @ EAR TAXI FESTIVAL (ETF '25): "empty cup" for Constellation Men's Ensemble (CME)
2025-10-04 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Logan Center for the Arts (Penthouse), 915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL, 60637, United States
This is the first of—at the time of writing this—two world premieres I’ll have at this year’s Ear Taxi Festival!
Constellation Men’s Ensemble has been selected as one of the few ensembles to give a “Taxi” performance at the festival, and will be premiering a work of mine entitled “empty cup” on a program of existing works with the theme “pouring from empty cups”.
Be on the lookout here and especially on my socials for more details I’ll be sharing about the piece as we get closer to the date!

Event page/tickets (free/pay what you can):
CCC, Caroline Jesalva, Shannon McGinnis & Corrine Costello, Constellation Men’s Ensemble — EAR TAXI FESTIVAL

WORLD PREMIERE: "empty cup" for Constellation Men's Ensemble (CME) @ The CheckOut!
2025-10-03 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | The CheckOut, 4116 N Clark St, Chicago, IL, 60613, United States
Constellation Men’s Ensemble is premiering one of my latest works, “empty cup” for their program “pouring from empty cups”. This premiere will be at the recently-opened venue, The CheckOut, a former 7-Eleven turned music hub for classical, jazz, and cabaret music!
This program is among one of the first performances in this venue, and I’m so happy they’ll be not only one performance of this piece, but also another performance the following day at the Ear Taxi Music Festival!
Hope to see you at one of these premieres!!!

WORLD PREMIERE: "Sonder & Ozurie", Symphonic Sketch for Chamber Orchestra [Chicago Composers Orchestra]
2025-04-26 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | St. James Cathedral, 65 E Huron St, Chicago, IL, 60611, United States
Beyond thrilled to announce that my Symphonic Sketch for Chamber Orchestra, entitled “Sonder & Ozurie”, will be premiered by the Chicago Composers Orchestra (CCO) for their program, “an evening of world premieres”. It will be an exciting evening of new music!
(Stay tuned on my website for more details on what this emotional juggernaut of a piece will be about.)
Event page ticket/link can be accessed here: https://www.chicagocomposersorchestra.org/events/world-premieres
Hope to see you all there!

WORLD PREMIERE: "Pocketbook", Fantasia for Piano and One Percussionist @ Roosevelt University
2025-02-05 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Roosevelt University, 430 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL, 60605, United States
One of my first compositions ever, “Pocketbook” (for Piano and One Percussionist), will finally be getting its world premiere! This is a MASSIVE piece, an epic fantasia and I’m so excited to hear the Flannau Duo (Jonathan Hannau and Kyle Flens) annihilate this piece (in the best way possible). The performance will be at Roosevelt University for an alumni concert featuring world premieres by Kyong Mee Choi, Matthew Mason, and yours truly! More details are forthcoming—stay tuned beautiful people!

WORLD PREMIERE: "Vicariously Through You" @ Cali School of Music (Montclair State University)
2024-10-20 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Halifax) | Chapin Hall: Jed Leshowitz Recital Hall, College Ave, Montclair, NJ, 0704, United States
Another premiere!!!
For those of you in the NJ area, Timothy McAllister and Liz Ames will be premiering my latest work, “Vicariously Through You”, at Montclair State University (Cali School of Music) on October 20th @3pm.
As most of you know, this piece was commissioned for their upcoming Project Encore, Vol. 2 album, but this live performance is the first chance to hear it before the release!! The event page link can be found below!

WORLD PREMIERE: "Suite for the F Horn and Alto Saxophone" @ University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance (Ann Arbor, — Walgreen Drama Center/Stamps Auditorium)
2024-10-02 00:00 - 23:59 UTC | Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center, 1226 Murfin Ave, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, United States
Happy to announce that my suite for F horn and Alto Saxophone will receive its world premiere performance!
As some of you may know, the tenor sax and horn edition premiered at the 2023 World Saxophone Congress in Spain.
The piece, however, was originally written for alto sax instead, and I’m so happy to announce that world-renowned saxophonist (and dear friend), Timothy McAllister, along with the phenomenal horn player, Adam Unsworth, will premiere the original version at Adam’s faculty recital at the University of Michigan!
STAY UP-TO-DATE: VIEW EVENT PAGE HERE
