Fifth House Ensemble to perform at Harper

A collaboration of chamber music and graphic artistry comes to Harper College April 19 in the form of the Fifth House Ensemble with its “Black Violet”.

The chamber music group, based in Chicago, will perform the second part of its collaboration with a graphic novelist to tell the story of Violet, a black cat in 17th century London.

It begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the Performing Arts Center of Harper College, 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine.

The Fifth House Ensemble members are attracted by unusual projects and have infused their programs with “dance, haute cuisine, theater, film and even winemaking.”

The story is based on a work by Ezra Claytan Daniels, a comic book artist, writer and designer. Daniels got the idea for “Black Violet” from his girlfriend, who was working on her master’s in early modern history at the University of Chicago.

“There was such a dramatic irony in how the slaughtering of London’s cats (in the Great Plague of 1665) led to a proliferation of the rats who were the actual carriers of the plague,” said Daniels.

Violet is an upper–class London house cat, whose owner, a doctor, doesn’t return after leaving to care for plague victims. Violet comes to rely on a mysterious albino rat, Tibia, although she is not sure of the rat’s intentions.

The performance, which is free, includes music from Brahms, Harbison, Shostakovich and Queen. Fifth House Ensemble also reaches out to those unable to make it by presenting concerts at the Self Help Center and Children’s Memorial Hospital. Call (847) 925-6100 or visit harpercollege.edu.