Landing the three-year gig as a Chicago Symphony Orchestra Mead composer-in-residence is a bit like winning "Top Chef," which is to say the intensified limelight may result in a tan and one's name abruptly enters a national conversation.

Landing the three-year gig as a Chicago Symphony Orchestra Mead composer-in-residence is a bit like winning "Top Chef," which is to say the intensified limelight may result in a tan and one's name abruptly enters a national conversation. In addition to penning works for the CSO, incoming duo Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek also will curate the symphony's MusicNow new-music series. We caught up with them recently to talk about their swanky new job.

As the job market for classical music continues to trend toward upstart chamber ensembles, many specializing in contemporary music, a discouraging number of universities have been slow to adapt. That is not the case at DePaul University, where assistant professor of instrumental ensembles Michael Lewanski is confidently programming 20th- and 21st-century masterworks to inspire the next generation of professional musicians. A fixture at new music concerts across Chicago, Lewanski, 36, is conductor of Ensemble Dal Niente, founder of DePaul's Ensemble 20+ and an in-demand album producer and consultant for many of the city's chamber groups. With an impressive number of scores on deck for him this season, we caught up with this young conductor to talk about new music and the invigorating year ahead.

The Chicago variant of Paris' Fete de la Musique may not yet be the day off work it is to the French, but Make Music Chicago is one of the most inclusive and vibrant musical events of the year. Since 2011, Rush Hour Concerts has produced this kaleidoscopic celebration every June 21, coordinating play-alongs and mini-performances at 40 sites across the city with more than 1,000 amateur and professional musicians. We caught up with Make Music Chicago director Kuang-Hao Huang to find out what's new and why we ought to dust off our ukulele and take to the streets.

If the phrase "experimental electronic improvisation" sounds as appetizing as "figgy pudding," it's time to meet composer and performer Tristan Perich. His sound installations landed him exhibits at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in recent years, and the landscapes he creates are the perfect entry point to outre electronic music for any curious explorer. The composer returns to Chicago's bastion of experimental music, the nonprofit Lampo series, at the Smart Museum of Art Dec. 13 to introduce his "Noise Patterns" project, which features him manipulating his custom-made circuit boards. We caught up with him by phone as he trekked through the woods near his home.