Think you know what a saxophone quartet sounds like? ~Nois is here to change your mind.

Hailed by Musical America as “the American saxophone quartet du jour,” Chicago’s ~Nois Quartet celebrates its 10th season doing what it does best: pushing four saxophones into places you never expected them to go.

For their Rendezvous Arts debut, ~Nois brings a program as adventurous and versatile as the instrument itself. Arturo Márquez’s Danzón No. 5 and Paquito d’Rivera’s Wapango bring irresistible rhythmic energy, while a wonderfully unexpected Schumann arrangement reveals an entirely different side of the quartet.

From there, we move firmly into the music of today, with works by Sarah Kirkland Snider, Emma O’Halloran, Augusta Read Thomas, Shelley Washington, and Travis Laplante. These are composers writing with completely different voices, giving ~Nois the chance to move from intimate and atmospheric to playful, explosive, and exhilarating.

Over the past decade, the quartet has premiered more than 120 new works and built a national reputation as an ensemble redefining what the saxophone quartet can be.

Now we get to experience them up close.