Ars Nova Workshop presents the Chicago and Detroit based creative music ensemble Teiku at Solar Myth on Sunday, June 28, 2026.

Chicago pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit percussionist Jonathan Barahal founded Teiku on the foundation of the music they grew up singing: their Jewish-Ukranian ancestors’ Passover songs, unique to each respective family and passed down aurally over generations.  Harlow and Taylor’s families each steward a number of unique melodies that likely originated in their ancestral villages but survive only through their family lines.

The band is made complete by bass clarinetist Jason Stein (Natural Information Society, Hearts and Minds) and bassist Jaribu Shahid (Sun Ra Arkestra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Griot Galaxy), and the group moves fluidly between frenetic density, subtle timbral explorations, electronic processing, and complex mixed meter, among other stylistic territories. Teiku is a Talmudic acronym that roughly translates to “unanswered question,” a fitting description of the process of discovery that creative improvisers know well: creating spontaneous and cohesive sonic environments that are felt viscerally but cannot be expressed in words. This project reflects its leaders’ musical and spiritual sensibilities: a yearning for insight, an acute sensitivity to the present moment, a space made for searching deeper.