Photo: Donald Nally leads BCE and musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Samuel Adams’ “Light Readings.” Photo by Todd Rosenberg.

The Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble’s (BCE) recent world premiere of “Light Readings,” a commissioned work by Samuel Adams, received stellar reviews from the Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein, who stated BCE “demonstrated astonishing technical and musical proficiency under [Donald] Nally's firm command.”

The performance took place Monday, June 6, at Harris Theater as part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s final MusicNOW concert in the 2015-2016 series. Professor Donald Nally conducted the piece, which featured a supporting group of eight CSO instrumentalists, and also led BCE in the U.S.-premiere of "Fjoloy" by Qasim Naqvi as part of the night's program.

Von Rhein said that in both the Naqvi and Adams pieces, BCE demonstrated “a highly disciplined sense of pitch that would be the envy of many a professional mixed chorus.”

Read the full Chicago Tribune story online.

Samuel Adams is Mead Composer-in-Residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His father, John Adams, received the Bienen School’s inaugural Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition.