• Icehouse MPLS (map)
  • 2528 Nicollet Ave S
  • Minneapolis, MN, 55404
  • United States

6PM DOORS — FULL FOOD AND BEVERAGE MENU AVAILABLE
8PM SHOWTIME // $12 ADVANCE // $15 DAY OF SHOW

Sophia Kickhofel is our resident curator for Monday nights in June! This week features The Sophia Kickhofel Quartet and Atlantis Quartet.

Atlantis Quartet emerged as a leading voice in the twin cities’ burgeoning modern jazz scene after forming in 2006, featuring four of Minnesota’s most exciting jazz artists, saxophonist Brandon Wozniak, guitarist Zacc Harris, bassist Chris Bates, and drummer Pete Hennig. Initially formed as a weekly composing collective to workshop, create and explore fresh and original sounds in the heart of and on the edges of the jazz idiom. The quartet soon realized that they had developed a group sound and their blend of complexity and accessibility has proven a perfect fit for all listeners.

Atlantis Quartet has released five albums to date, Hello Human (Shifting Paradigm Records, 2018) Expansion (SPR, 2013), Lines In the Sand (2011), Animal Progress (2009), and Again, Too Soon (2007). The band headlined the opening night of the 2014 Twin Cities Jazz Festival and performed on the main stage at the Iowa City Jazz Fest along with touring throughout the Midwest and East Coast. They were named Best Jazz Artist by the Star Tribune in 2012 and also by the City Pages in 2011, who said, “No jazz band in the Twin Cities is on the prowl both creatively and in gaining national recognition quite like the Atlantis Quartet…Each player’s ideas and strengths seem to infiltrate the others’ consciousness, so the music evolves as a constantly shifting mosaic of textures, rhythmic patterns, and tonal colors…This is a band without limits.”

In 2015, Atlantis Quartet was awarded the McKnight Fellowship for Performing Artists. After taking some time off during the pandemic to work on new material, the group has added to their catalog of compositions and is set to record its sixth album in 2023.

Sophia Kickhofel is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist currently studying jazz music in New York City. She is originally from Minnesota, but has moved to the East Coast in order to study at the prestigious Juilliard School. Sophia has performed around the world with many notable musicians including Sean Jones, Ulysses Owens Jr, and jazz historian Loren Schoenberg. The Sophia Kickhofel Quartet combines traditional hard-bop jazz language with European classical and free jazz music. Through original composition and arrangements of jazz standards, this group strives to create a setting in which the audience can experience empathy and joy.