Three Duos

The Three Duos are, first of all, Ronin with Kenny Mandell on saxes, flutes, and percussion and Don Berman on drums and percussion. The second duo will feature percussionist, composer, and instrument builder Paul Kikuchi along with Steve Barsotti, an improviser, sound artist and educator who has been creating works for over twenty years. The third duo is the dynamic combination of drummer Gregg Keplinger and guitarist Simon Hennaman.

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Julian Priester Quartet

Presented by Nonsequitur. Julian Priester is the most distinctive solo voice on the trombone in jazz today. In a career spanning five decades, he's been part of some of the most groundbreaking and important contemporary music to date. Tonight he leads his recent quartet with pianist Dawn Clement, drummer Byron Vannoy, and bassist Geoff Harper. The group's loose and adventuresome spirit is evident on their 2002 CD, In Deep End Dance (Conduit Records).

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Sounds Outside Benefit 2/3

Presented by Monktail Creative Music Concern. For five years, Sounds Outside: A Celebration of Adventurous Music & Community has brought creative music of the highest caliber to audiences, for free, in Seattle's Cal Anderson Park. Due to tremendous financial difficulties that have gravely impacted our local economy, the festival carries a debt this year, for the first time in its history. To offset the deficit, the collective has created a series of three concerts highlighting the works of its members. All proceeds from the events will benefit Sounds Outside. Tonight's concert features Beth Fleenor, Gabriel C. Herbertson, Ken Jacobson, and David Milford.

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Rafael Anton Irisarri & Benoît Pioulard

The Fading Winter Lights Will Guide You Home Vol. 2: an evening of post-minimalist, modern classical and ambient electronic music featuring BENOÎT PIOULARD and Rafael RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI, with special guests KELLY WYSE (also performing live Aphex Twin's Drukqs on prepared piano) + Phil Petrocelli (drums & percussion).

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Jesse Canterbury & Crosstalk

Crosstalk is Jesse Canterbury (clarinets), Tiffany Lin (piano), Brian Cobb (bass), and Paul Kikuchi (drums). This new group pushes the boundaries of jazz and improvised music. The music draws on such disparate influences as Charles Ives, John Luther Adams, and clarinetist Michael Moore.

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Endangered Blood + Wayne Horvitz Quartet

Endangered Blood (NYC) is a dynamic ensemble featuring renowned tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Chris Speed (HumanFeel, ClaudiaQt., Bloodcount, Pachora, yeahNO), with Jim Black (Laurie Anderson, Bloodcount, Alas No Axis), Trevor Dunn (Fantamos, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn) as well as Brooklyn legend alto saxophonist Oscar Noriega (Los Totopos, Banda Sinaloense De Los Muertos). Wayne Horvitz (piano, electronics) opens with a quartet featuring Neil Welch (sax), Willem de Koch (trombone), and Luke Bergman (bass).

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Robert Krupnik: Lentz, Golijov, Berio

Pianist Robert Krupnick plays the world premiere of Dorcester Tropes (2008) by Daniel Lentz. The program also includes: ZZ's Dream (2008) and Levante (2004) by Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov, and the still outrageous Sequenza IV (1966) of Luciano Berio.

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Sunship

Taking its name from the album on which John Coltrane truly headed into outer orbits, Sunship has a good dose of all the things that matter – drive, flair, great imagination, nuance… You’ll probably be well aware of the inimitable Stuart Dempster, trombone master and conch-shell conjurer, long-ago North American pioneer of the didgeridoo, and grand vizier of open-eared and open-hearted sound. With him here is the stellar saxophonist Michael Monhart, a player steeped in musical traditions of the world. Sunship’s rhythm section – drummer David Revelli and electric bassist Andrew Luthringer – drives, thrusts, and anchors, while slashing and searing through the whole is the ridiculously too-little-acclaimed Brian Heaney, as fine a guitarist as any in the city, regardless of genre. This is an “intergalectric” ensemble that will reset your controls. - Peter Monaghan, Earshot Jazz

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S. Eric Scribner et al: StormSound Cycle

In a preview for the performance of the entire 21-movement StormSound Cycle next year, Seattle composer and pianist S. Eric Scribner presents three pieces from that larger work. A recent set of aleatory/improvisational compositions for various instruments and prerecorded sound, the StormSound Cycle is based on processed ambient nature sounds originally recorded by Jonathon Storm, Beth Fleenor, clarinet, and Bruce Greeley, bass clarinet.

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Acoustic Ecology Meeting + Seattle Phonogs Union

Inaugural meeting of the newly formed Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Society for Acoustic Ecology - anyone with interest in examining issues surrounding sound and the environment across the disciplines is welcome to attend! The meeting will last about an hour, followed by a performance by the Seattle Phonographers Union.

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Keith Eisenbrey/Aaron Keyt/Neal Meyer

Keith Eisenbrey, Aaron Keyt, and Neal Meyer have been conversing, collaborating and engaging in creative discussion for nearly three decades under the guise of Banned Rehearsal. This program represents the current state of the discussion through four new compositions: Keith Eisenbrey's Blood and Fire Hallelujah for piano; Aaron Keyt's Foliage for simple electronics, small percussion, and assorted other sounds, and the premier of his Bagatelles for solo piano; and Neal Meyer's Gradus: for Fux, Tesla and Milo the Wrestler for solo piano.

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Cristina Valdes, solo piano

Presented by Nonsequitur. Fearless pianist Cristina Valdes performs a challenging program of solo piano works: Olivier Messiaen's Petites Esquisses D'Oiseaux, Giacinto Scelsi's Quattro Illustrazioni, Jonathan Harvey's Le Tombeau de Messiaen, Helmut Lachenmann's Ein Kinderspiel, Theo Loevendie's Strides, and Charles Ives' Waltz Rondo.

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Ann Cummings & Talman Welle

Pianists Talman Welle and Ann Cummings play solo on the first portion of the program, with Welle playing Hommage to Chopin (1949) and Rudepoema (1921-1926), by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos; Cummings presents her signature, multi-media presentation of selections which include a Hungarian folk song by Bartok, Woodland Sketches, Opus 51 A Deserted Farm by MacDowell, Preludes, Opus 11, No. 16 Misterioso, by Skrjabin, Hesitation Tango, by Barber and Toccata, Opus 15 by Muczynski. Cummings and Welle then team up for Ligeti's Five Pieces.

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Three Butoh Solos

Three butoh solos with live music: Briana Jones / noisepoetnobody; Mer Sedna / vox vespertinus; Vanessa Skantze / Beth Fleenor

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Fandrich & Seman: Sounds Outside Benefit 1/3

Presented by Monktail Creative Music Concern. For five years, Sounds Outside has brought creative music of the highest caliber to audiences in Seattle's Cal Anderson Park. Due to financial difficulties that have impacted our local economy, the festival carries a debt this year for the first time. To combat the deficit, the Monktail collective presents a series of three concerts at the Chapel highlighting the works of its members. All proceeds will benefit Sounds Outside. Tonight's concert features Stephen Fandrich playing compositions and improvisations for piano, and bassist John Seman, co-founder of the Monktail Creative Music Concern, who will no doubt set the massive improvising ensemble on fire with his graphic scores.

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Earshot: Thomas Marriott

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival. Trumpeter Thomas Marriott performs with his new chamber ensemble, performing music from Constraints and Liberations, his new album of original compositions on Origin Records.

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Seattle Composers' Salon: Joël-François Durand

Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon. Composer Joël-François Durand, a professor at the University of Washington, discusses of his work and compositional process. We will hear several of Durand's works, and there will be the usual Q&A from the audience for him as well.

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Earshot: Wright/Burns/Kaylor

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

For more than twenty-five years, saxophonist/pianist Jack Wright has toured practically non-stop and rightfully claims that he has played in virtually every venue available to experimental improvised music in the United States, and many in Europe as well, collaborating with William Parker, Bob Marsh, Nate Wooley, Bhob Rainey and Andrew Drury, to name a very few. Joining him tonight are Seattle pianist Gust Burns and Portland drummer Mark Kaylor.

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Earshot: Matana Roberts' COIN COIN

Presented by Nonsequitur & Earshot Jazz Festival.

Chicago born and bred, Matana Roberts is an alto saxophonist/ composer active in New York since 2001. She has appeared on recordings and performances worldwide with her own ensembles and with a variety of collaborative groups, including Sticks and Stones, Burnt Sugar, Exploding Star Orchestra, Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Myra Melford, Jayne Cortez, and Merce Cunningham Dance. The first half of the concert features Matana's solo saxophone improvisations. The second half is devoted to her ongoing multimedia ensemble work COIN COIN, an epic sound narrative about the intricacies, contradictions and questions that surround the human bloodline experience, performed with ace Seattle musicians Tom Baker (guitar), Angelina Baldoz (trumpet), Brian Cobb (bass), Marchette DuBois (accordion), Greg Campbell (drums/percussion), Beth Fleenor (clarinets), Lori Goldston (cello), Tari Nelson-Zagar (violin), and Greg Powers (trombone).

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Christoph Heeman

Christoph Heemann (born 1964 in Aachen, Germany) began his musical work in 1983 as a founding member of the group HIRSCHE NICHT AUFS SOFA, who released several albums of their surreal collagemusic between 1985 and 1993, drawing inspiration from such diverse elements as musique concrete, avantgarde, krautrock and improvised music. After the group disbanded Heemann continued working solo and with the group MIMIR (with Edward Ka-spel and Jim O'Rourke), the drone projects MIRROR (with Andrew Chalk), and IN CAMERA (with Timo van Luyck). Heemann's solo compositions have often been described as "ear-movies", in which he fuses field recordings, acoustic instruments, electronics, and electroacoustic sounds into audio narratives. Aside from this Heemann has done a series of musical collaborations (with Jim O'Rourke, Lee Ranaldo, Charlemagne Palestine, William Basinski) and works as a producer (Keiji Haino, Charlemagne Palestine, Limpe Fuchs, Current 93). Since 1994 he runs the Streamline label.

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Earshot: Eugene Chadbourne + MURAL

Presented by Nonsequitur & Earshot Jazz Festival.

Hailing from North Carolina, Eugene Chadbourne (aka "Doc Chadula") is a legendary improvising guitarist/banjo player, as well as a virtuoso on various noisy instruments of his own design. A long-time resident of North Carolina, he has also performed original folk/protest songs, free-improvised country & western be-bop, and crazed psychedelia with the seminal band Shockabilly.

Sharing the evening are MURAL, a trio consisting of Norwegians Kim Myhr (guitar) and Ingar Zach (percussion), and Australian saxophonist Jim Denley.

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Paul Hoskin

8:00 PM; $5 - $15 sliding scale suggested donation at the door.

Veteran multi-reed player and founder of the Seattle Improvised Music Festival performs his annual concert of solo contrabass clarinet improvisations.

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Natalie Lerch & Lucy Wenger: She said/He said

Soprano Natalie Lerch and pianist Lucy Wenger explore the writings of female poets as interpreted by male composers. With only a few known selections by Debussy and Poulenc, the duo have assembled a program of new music featuring piano solos and songs for voice and piano by contemporary composers on texts by Emily Dickenson, Edna St. Vincent Milay, Roxanne Rea and Louise de Vilmorin. Included in the program are songs by Eric Banks, Gordon Getty, Bill Rea, Adam Stern and Paul Vasile. Piano rags by William Bolcom and tangos by Ernesto Nazareth offer additional variety.

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Open Graves (& Friends)

Open Graves is a duo consisting of Bay Area multi-instrumentalist Jesse Olsen and Seattle percussionist/instrument builder Paul Kikuchi. FLIGHTPATTERNS is the second Open Graves album to be recorded in the Dan Harpole Cistern in Port Townsend, WA. Joined by cistern veteran Stuart Dempster, the ensemble covers a broad expanse of musical territory, from meditative drones to feedback psychedelia. The FLIGHTPATTERNS release concert will include Kikuchi, Olsen, and Dempster, along with Seattle musician/sound artist Chris DeLaurenti.

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Seattle Percussion Collective

The Seattle Percussion Collective present a diverse program of chamber music for percussion and other instrumentalists. The concert features a world premiere of Seattle composer Greg Sinibaldi’s Quintet for percussion and piano (with pianist Tiffany Lin); Mark Applebaum's percussion trio, Catfish, for metal and wood instruments and drums; Peter Garland’s monumental Three Songs for Mad Coyote; Wake by Dale Speicher, for found metal sounds and drums; Exercise 26 and 27 by Christian Wolff for solo snare drum; and Corporel, a percussion solo for the human body by Vinko Globokar. SPC is joined by guitarist Tom Baker, flautist Sarah Bassingthwaighte, and clarinetists Jesse Canterbury and Jenny Ziefel for 96 by Frederic Rzewski, a canon composed as a celebration of one of Elliot Carter’s many birthdays.

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Double Yoko + Orkes Manohara

Experimental performance duo Double Yoko (Beth Fleenor and Paris Hurley) weave their unusual blend of lush orchestral scoring, pointillism and keening noir-pop, using clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, voices and electronics. Orkes Manohara (Krusnedi Sukarwanto and Maeg O'Donoghue-Williams Sukarwanto) play experimental and traditional Javanese keroncong music, centered around the cello and voice.

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Faith a Flag Waivers

Event auteur Sharon Alexander organizes another multi-media evening featuring Charles Karasek as Apocalyptic Preacher; Spencer Moody as Compelling Anti-Folk Constituent; Dan Raphael as Visceral Force of Nature. Music by Baby Guns, Krys Mason, Perpetual Ritual. Readings by Ezra Mark and others. Sound and audio collages by Andrew Bleeker and Ryan Rood. Visual art by Ken Hales, IsaBella Leary, Tyler Holm and Sharon Alexander. Zine tabling by ZAPP and others.

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Foday Musa Suso

Presented by Nonsequitur.

Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognized musician and a Mandingo griot from the West African nation of Gambia. He formed the Mandingo Griot Society in Chicago, and after thirty-two years there he now lives in Seattle. Foday has not only brought the traditional griot music of his homeland to American audiences, but he has brought the kora into more contemporary and experimental settings, collaborating with jazz, rock, and classical musicians as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Philip Glass, and the Kronos Quartet. This special concert in the intimate setting of the Chapel will focus on his own solo compositions, drawing on his traditional roots while exploring unusual new directions.

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Danse Perdue: Irruptions

Butoh: Danse Perdue (Alex Ruhe, Kaoru Okumura, Vanessa Skantze)
Sound: Noisepoetnobody, Joy Von Spain, loopool

An exquisite night of structured improvisation encompassing surges and shocks, dancing the adaptive mutation of creatures and nature's unbridled exuberance in the face of humankind's wanton destruction. We celebrate the scavengers foraging at the borders of the civilized world, crafting their own makeshift environments and thriving in their afflictions. Each dancer will be paired with a musician. There will be three solos — each dancer with their musician partner, then one brief duet as a dancer/musician pair comes in at the final of last solo, and then a trio as the third dancer/musician pairing enters the fray.

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Eye Music

For this concert, Eye Music will be performing prose pieces by Christian Wolff, Fluxus performance scores, and the world premiere of Clifford Burke's 96.

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John Teske: Six Graphic Scores

John Teske is a composer, improviser and double bassist who writes music that provokes thought and reflection. These scores are based on the idea of sound coming in and out of focus. Each score will be performed twice: once with an instrumental ensemble and once with a vocal ensemble, to explore different interpretations of the same forms.

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Scrape: an original music string orchestra

Jazz geniuses Jim Knapp and Eyvind Kang unveil the first phase of a new musical project called Scrape, a conductor-less, democratic ensemble of 15 string players and 2 harpists with Eyvind as soloist/ improviser. The all-original music composed by Jim and Eyvind is gorgeous and fascinating stuff. The ensemble's ranks are filled with conservatory-trained, improvising-friendly string players, with violist Heather Bentley leading as concertmaster.

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Denney Goodhew & Beth Fleenor = BLING!

Screaming silence in a whirling pool of stillness, BLING! formed in 2004 to bring together mentor and student in a performance dynamic that investigates and activates new levels of awareness. The duo, featuring Denney Goodhew on piano and Beth Fleenor on clarinet, explores mostly spontaneously composed chamber music, occasionally throwing in a composed work by Goodhew, with a commitment to ensemble intention and focused energy. BLING! opens itself to the space and the audience to channel, reveal and magnify subtleties in texture, timbre and tone and their inherent rhythm, melody and harmonic form - a meditation on presence and being.

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Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers' Salon is an informal presentation of new music by regional composers. The salon meets the first Friday of every other month, and features finished works, previews, and works-in-progress. It brings together composers, performers and audience members in a casual setting that allows for discussion and experimentation. This month's featured composers include Keith Eisenbrey, David Mesler, Doug Palmer, and Tom Baker.

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Wyndel Hunt Benefit: CGT/Horist/Galloway

Presented by Nonsequitur.

On June 19, Seattle artist/experimental musician Wyndel Hunt was seriously injured in a bicycle accident. All money from this concert goes directly to his recovery fund.

Climax Golden Twins is the inscrutable and ever-morphing sonic beast animated by Rob Millis and Jeffrey Taylor. Their extensive catalog of recordings includes permutations of mutant rock, ungodly noise, and minimal ambient drone. Among many other things.

Bill Horist is a free improvising prepared guitarist of impeccable taste and devilish wit, and a finger-picking acoustic guitarist of astonishing musicality in the post-Fahey lineage.

Vance Galloway is one of the people who makes the Decibel Festival a reality. He is also an inventive musician who pulls beautiful sounds out of electric guitars and computers.

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Eric Barber: Solo & Trio

Saxophonist Eric Barber presents new solo works for saxophone as well as trio improvisations featuring Paul Kemmish, bass, and Paul Kikuchi, percussion. This concert will showcase Eric's deep, personal sound world with complex rhythms and meters. Eric has performed and recorded with many luminaries of new and improvised music, as well as forged world music hybrid ensembles with musicians from Bulgaria, India, Indonesia, and Iran. He is the recipient of the 2009 Earshot Golden Ear Award for Outstanding Jazz Instrumentalist of the year. His main ensemble, the Ziggurat Quartet, just released their first CD, Calculated Gestures, on Origin Records.

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Brazilian pianist Ruth Serrão

Presented by Nonsequitur. Brazilian pianist Ruth Serrão performs a solo program of rarely-heard contemporary music by composers from Brazil: Heitor Villa-Lobos' Prelúdio, Claudia Caldeira's Pra Piano #1, Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes' Ciclo #3, Cesar Guerra-Peixe's The Spotted Cat and Maiden Swallow (a love story) and Five Tropical Preludes.

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Raymond MacDonald plus 4

World-renowned alto saxophonist from Scotland Raymond MacDonald performs with four of Seattle's finest improvisers: Paul Hoskin, reeds; Tari Nelson-Zagar, violin; Lori Goldston, cello; Greg Campbell, percussion.

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Pulses: an evening of minimalism

Saxophonist/composer Ryan Marsh presents a program showcasing music of the minimalist era, and original new works that share a similar style and approach; music by John Adams, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and the premier of Marsh’s own Death and the Angel. Performers include Nicole Barnes, Jay Easton, Scott Granlund, and Bryan Smith (saxophones); Akiko Iguchi (piano); Mary Ellen Hodges and Pam Moser (marimbas); and live painting by local artist Gail Baker.

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Michael Pisaro (ensemble)

Presented by Nonsequitur & Seattle Improvised Music.

Tyler Wilcox, Gust Burns, Mara Sedlins, John Teske, Wilson Shook, and other Seattle improvisers perform selections from Michael Pisaro's harmony series.

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Michael Pisaro (solo)

Michael Pisaro performs the North American premiere of a new composition for solo guitar and sine waves, fields have ears (6). Guitarist/composer Michael Pisaro (born 1961, Buffalo, NY) is currently on the composition faculty at Cal Arts. A member of the Wandelweiser Composers Ensemble, he has composed over 80 works for a great variety of instrumental combinations, including several pieces for variable instrumentation. Most of his music of the last several years is published by Edition Wandelweiser (Germany).

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Pran (Greg Powers & Stuart Dempster)

Pran celebrates the release of their new CD, Traveler's Todi. This unique brass duo performs the East Indian style of Dhrupad. Greg Powers is a pioneer in adapting Indian music to the trombone, and is the only trombonist in the world performing this ancient style of music. Stuart Dempster provides the centering drone on his big brass didjeridu. While the instruments are western, they remain true to the Dagarbhani School of Dhrupad.

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Joe McPhee

Presented by Nonsequitur as part of a nation-wide celebration of the 30th anniversary of The Improvisor magazine, the international journal of free improvisation. Free jazz saxophone/trumpet legend Joe McPhee plays a very rare Seattle solo show dedicated to the memory of two recently departed giants of the music, Bill Dixon and Fred Anderson.

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Pulse Emitter + Stella Haze + Spare Death Icon

Gift Tapes presents SYNTH NIGHT 3, an evening of meditative music showcasing distinct minimalist synth works by three NW artists: Pulse Emitter is the synthesizer music of Portland's Daryl Groetsch. Seattle-based Cristin Miller Stella Haze uses vocals as a central element in her sound, weaving thick fields of synthesizer and effects to create dreamy, minimalist soundworlds. Spare Death Icon is one of several solo projects by Seattle's Jason E. Anderson, recalling the atmospheric zones of early new age pioneers and early 80's underground tape music.

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Tom Varner Quintet

French horn ace Tom Varner and his four top guests — Chris Fagan, alto sax, Eric Barber, tenor sax, Phil Sparks, bass, Byron Vannoy, drums — present an evening of summer sound meditations, new works, selections from Tom's new tentet CD Heaven and Hell, and at least two works — Heaps and TVTV — from Tom's very first recording.

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Ask the Ages

Ask the Ages brings together new and old friends from several worlds: Greg Campbell, drums; John Seman, bass; Matt Reid, trumpet & electronics; and Brian Heaney, electric guitar and compositions. Joining the quartet are trombonist Stuart Dempster, classical harpist Melissa Walsh, and Indian karnatic singer Archana Bennur. They'll perform music drawn from the edges of jazz and new music with sights set for drone und drang. Opening the show is the guitar trio of Dennis Rea, Stephen Parris and Brian Heaney.

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Earshot: Trio Illogic + Helix

Presented by Earshot Jazz as part of their Jazz: the 2nd Century series. Helix is an ensemble with an unusual lineup: two saxophones and two percussionists. Eric Barber and Greg Sinibaldi perform on tenor saxophones, while Paul Kikuchi and Greg Campbell play drumsets and other percussion instruments. Trio Illogic consists of three relative newcomers to the Seattle jazz scene: trumpeter Riley Mulherkar, pianist Julian Garvue, and trombonist Willem de Koch, who make sense of the New Orleans traditional jazz approach by pulling it apart and putting it back together for modern times.

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Paul Taub & Cristina Valdes

Paul Taub, flute and Cristina Valdes, piano perform music from this century and the last: Aaron Copland, Duo for Flute and Piano; Julie Mandel, Blues for Paul; Olivier Messiaen, Le Merle Noir from Petites Esquisses D’Oiseaux; Jovino Santos Neto, Sertao Carioca; Wayne Horvitz, Inside Morning; Peteris Vasks, Sonata for Solo Flute; Bela Bartok, Suite Paysanne Hongroise

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S. Eric Scribner & Neal Meyer

S. Eric Scribner is a pianist, composer, and improviser. Much of his music is involved with aleatory sequences and improvisation. Discarded Poems is a theatrical piece in which the performers gradually move from sounds of the here-and-now into sounds of the eternal, figuratively “discarding” texts along the way. Also on the program: two short pieces for piano and percussion, and an improvised set with Neal Meyer.

Seattle composer Neal Meyer has been working on Gradus: For Fux, Tesla, and Milo the Wrestler since 1987: Learn to play the piano one note at a time. Devote an extended improvisation session to each note on the piano, and to each possible combination of notes in turn. Begin with pitch-class A. Play in such a way (patiently, quietly, with lots of space) that the music is experienced and heard as a duo for pianist and piano, with unintended ambient sound joining in chorus.

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Andy Hayleck & Paul Neidhardt

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music.

Andy Hayleck and Paul Neidhardt, both percussionists from Baltimore dedicated to exploring new sounds and forms through surface and vibration (with Hayleck on computer and electronics as well), are core members of Baltimore's improvised music scene. They will perform as a duo and in collaboration with Seattle improvisers, including Gust Burns (piano) and Tyler Wilcox (saxophone).

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Affinity Chamber Players

The Affinity Chamber Players perform music by four contemporary composers, including one world premiere and two local premieres. The program includes Eric Flesher's Three Movements from “Wandering Rocks”, Stephen Lilly's A Sextet of Seven for Ecstya, Chris Stover's ôvo, and Ryan M. Hare's Chamber Concerto.

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Lara Candland & Christian Asplund

Utah-based poet and singer, Lara Candland and composer-performer Christian Asplund have evolved a unique style of performance involving an ethereal and lush mix of speech, singing, live sampling, looping, layering, drones, and electronics. They will draw from poems in Candland's recently published Alburnum of the Green and Living Tree. For this performance they will be joined by Seattle virtuosi Jesse Canterbury (clarinet), Greg Campbell (percussion), and Stuart Dempster (trombone).

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Gust Burns & Adrienne Varner

Two of Seattle's most notable pianists explore directions in 20th century and contemporary piano music. Adrienne Varner performs Yuji Takahashi's 3 Poems of Mao Tse-Tung and Chained Hands in Prayer, as well as Cage's Music for Marcel Duchamp, for prepared piano. Gust Burns performs his own music: imhc ik, inspired by the Geomungo music of Im Seok-Yun, and nsdpsm10, a new work for inside piano.

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Boris Savoldelli with Dennis Rea

Italian singer Boris Savoldelli is an inimitable performer who has gained international acclaim for exploring the extraordinary possibilities of the human voice. With a background in classical vocal techniques and jazz singing (under the tutelage of mentor Mark Murphy), his recent work has ranged from rock and funk to an avant-garde, experimental approach to vocalizing. For his first-ever Seattle appearance, Savoldelli will demonstrate both the melodic and experimental sides of his work, and will be joined by celebrated Seattle guitarist Dennis Rea for part of the set.

read more → Boris Savoldelli with Dennis Rea

Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers' Salon is an informal presentation of new music by regional composers. The salon meets the first Friday of every other month, and features finished works, previews, and works-in-progress. It brings together composers, performers and audience members in a casual setting that allows for discussion and experimentation.

This month's featured composers include Nat Evans, Steve Scribner, Kam Morrill, and Tom Baker.

read more → Seattle Composers' Salon

Robert Rich

Nonsequitur presents ambient music pioneer Robert Rich, performing in support of his new album, Ylang, using live electronics with analog modular synthesizer, keyboards and computer, along with his signature handmade flutes and steel guitar to create a hypnotic, atmospheric blend of composition and improvisation.

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Dance, Tanze, Dança!

Schoenfield’s Samba and rambunctious Square Dance will fiercely contrast with Turina’s Second Piano Trio, while the nostalgic sounds of Tin Pan Alley will complement the Tangos by Albéniz and Piazzolla. Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances will inspire your imagination to carry you away to the hills of Transylvania. Featuring Victoria Parker, violin, Arthur Zadinsky, violin, Eric Gaenslen, cello, Oana Rusu Tomai, piano, Derek Zadinsky, bass and Parker Duo, violin and guitar.

read more → Dance, Tanze, Dança!

Michael Nicolella & Friends

Classical guitarist Michael Nicolella, along with violinist Irene Mitri, flutist Jim O'Halloran and percussionist Andrew Schloss (all members of Cuban music ensemble Charanga Danzon) will perform a concert of 20th and 21st century chamber music featuring works for both classical and electric guitar by composers Lou Harrison, Toru Takemitsu, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Robert Beaser, Barbara Kolb and Michael Nicolella.

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Gust Burns & Tyler Wilcox: Eulachon

Gust Burns (piano) and Tyler Wilcox (saxophone) present duo improvisations and compositions written for specific musicians, exploring, among other things, the uses of duration, and silence within improvisation and composition. Other performers include Wilson Shook (saxophone), Mara Sedlins (viola), and Mark Collins (bass).

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Seattle Pianist Collective: Fine Pop

The Seattle Pianist Collective (Peter V. Stevens, Kelly Wyse and Michael Owcharuk) is committed to the presentation of engaging and open programs of new and used music for piano. Tonight they perform an eclectic and dynamic program of music by living composers, including Henryk Gorecki, Wayne Horvitz, and Peter Vukmirovic Stevens, featuring new works for piano and Buddha Machine.

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The Golden Tree Story

Presented by Jack Straw Productions. The Golden Tree Story (songwriter/vocalist/pianist Cynthia Dillard, guitarist Cameron Peace, bassist Birch Pereira, and drummer Dave Bush) are joined by various friends to perform music from their new CD, Openings, recorded during an Artist Support recording residency at Jack Straw Productions.

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Dana Reason + Lisa Miller: Piano Solos

Dana Reason is a leading figure in the new generation of pianists who are equally comfortable on both the jazz and classical concert stages. Born in Toronto, she began studying piano at age three. She was a member of The Space Between, with Pauline Oliveros (accordion) and Philip Gelb (shakuhachi). She has worked with bassists Lisle Ellis, Barre Phillips, Jöelle Léandre, Peter Kowald, and Matthew Sperry, as well as saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonist George Lewis, and saxophonist Jon Raskin. She currently leads a trio with bassist Dominic Duvall and drummer Tim DuRoche.

Sharing the evening will be Vancouver pianist, Lisa Miller. Her work combines her interests in jazz, modern composition, and free improvisation in a vibrant and challenging context. She performs with Eyvind Kang, Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Jeremy Berkman, Jesse Zubot, Ron Samworth, Alita Dupary, Steve Smith, the NOW Orchestra, ion zoo, and stop time.

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Bill Horist

Bill Horist (Master Musicians of Bukkake, Ghidra, Nervewheel) celebrates the release of his latest CD, Covalent Lodge, with two solo sets. The first will represent new acoustic works and pieces from Covalent Lodge. The second set will consist of Bill's trademark electric prepared guitar improvisations.

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Beth Fleenor & Denney Goodhew are BLING!

8:00 PM; $5 - $15 sliding scale suggested donation at the door.

Beth Fleenor (clarinet) and Denney Goodhew (piano) have collaborated on a variety of projects over the last eight years. Growing out of Goodhew's mentorship of Fleenor at Cornish College of the Arts, where Fleenor studied privately and in ensemble settings, the two began performing together professionally in 2004 in Goodhew's band, the Qhromatics. Bling! began in 2005 as an outlet for the duo to further explore motion, tone and color, in the form of improvised chamber music.

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Keith Eisenbrey

Seattle composer/pianist Keith Eisenbrey will perform his own compositions, as well as exciting new works by local composers Richard Johnson, Brian Cobb, and Sean Osborn. The thematic focus of the recital will be performances of Liebeslied (Amended), Keith's 2006 completion of Benjamin Boretz's intriguingly unfinished Liebeslied (1974), together with two large scale works that branch directly from it: Boretz's 1976 (“...my chart shines high where the blue milks upset...”), and the pianist's 2010 Sonata Liebeslied.

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Curtis Taylor: Séance

Filmmaker and theater artist Curtis Taylor presents a brief variety show in the form of a séance. Redd Foxx and Andrei Tarkovsky will both be summoned forth by a concealed medium. Mr. Taylor will screen two short music films, Church Weather and Bachianas No. 5. There will also be an excerpted stage reading from A White White Day, a work-in-progress being created for his 2011 residency at New City Theater in Seattle. Music by the folk-grass duo The Gloria Darlings.

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Jessika Kenney & Friends

Presented by Nonsequitur.

Jessika Kenney is well known to Seattle audiences as a long-time member of Gamelan Pacifica and Seattle Harmonic Voices. Tonight she will be joined by violist Eyvind Kang, Iranian tar player and vocalist Parvaneh Daneshvar, and jazz pianist and vocalist Dawn Clement to play original poly-modal compositions and improvisations with a spirituo-linguistic relationship to Classical Persian poetry.

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Richard Webb: Lullabies for Falling Empires

Lullabies for Falling Empires was formed by composer Richard Webb after recording Under the Sour Trees, released as a split CD with producer/musician Jherek Bishoff. The group has been writing a collaborative song cycle that consists of chamber music, sonic landscapes, electronic sounds and quiet lullabies dedicated to soothing lost worlds, hopeless love and crumbling empires. Band members include Richard Webb (vocals, guitar, ukuleles, digital effects), Carlos Esparza (Fender Rhodes, piano, harp, glockenspiel, percussion, John Delp (percussion), Lillian Sullam (violin), Jackie An (viola), Tracy Hagan (cello) Asher Christl (cello, bass), Hanna Benn (vocals, bells), Leo Mayberry (video projections).

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An Evening of Paper

Pilot Books presents An Evening of Paper – unfolding as probable and improbable geography of the arts. Creative events auteur Sharon Alexander has arranged a montage of ideas, images and sounds for your experience and enjoyment. The early evening tabling portion of this event includes an array of innovative books, ephemera and artwork curated by Pilot Books and friends, including Speck Print, Profanity Hill and Dark Coast Press. Readings by Stacey Levine, Em Kanskje, Evelyn Hampton, Jarret Middleton, William Allegrezza, Summer Robinson, Tyler Holm, local zinesters and special guests. Music, field recordings, and soundscapes by Wilson Shook, John Teske, Moriah Neils, Ryan Rood and assorted improvisers. Short films . . . tea and oranges . . . sunset and stained glass.

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SOMF: Anna Homler & Friends

Presented by Nonsequitur & Seattle Occultural Music. Los Angeles vocalist Anna Homler sings in a spontaneous mystery language, extending the possibilities of meaning and communication and blurring the line between words and music. She is joined by Seattle musicians Amy Denio, Lori Goldston, Byron Au Yong, Doug Haire, and Susie Kozawa.

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Seattle Occultural Music Festival

The Third Annual Seattle Occultural Music Festival celebrates new and experimental music in the Pacific Northwest of psychic, ecological, or otherwise deeply resonant importance. Our diverse program incorporates performers and composers spanning the region's breadth of genres and musical generations, consistently mixing established artists, new talent, and influence not from the immediate Seattle area. Tonight's show features the psychedelic vocal harmonies of Honey Moon Tree, warped strings & voice of EQlateral, along with Christopher Greenchild, and Count Constantin's Voronets Blue.

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Shelley Hirsch

Presented by Nonsequitur. Based in New York City, Shelley Hirsch is an unorthodox, extraordinary fusion of vocalist, composer, and performance artist whose work encompasses story telling, staged performances, compositions, improvisations, collaborations, installations, and radio plays. Among other things, she'll be singing over electronic "song drapes" composed for her by the late, great Jerry Hunt.

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Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers' Salon is an informal presentation of new music by regional composers. The salon meets the first Friday of every other month, and features finished works, previews, and works-in-progress. It brings together composers, performers and audience members in a casual setting that allows for discussion and experimentation.

This month's featured composers include Gavin Borchert, David Mesler, and Tim Huling. We are also very excited to present new works by the winning student composers of the Simon Fiset Composition Competition. The student composers range in from primary to grade 12.

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WA Composers Forum 25th Anniversary

Presented by Washington Composers Forum and Jack Straw Productions as part of WCF's Transport Series.

Washington Composers Forum celebrates its 25th anniversary with a concert of world and regional premieres featuring the Icicle Creek Piano Trio, Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet, violist Melia Watras, and the Seattle Phonographers Union. Highlighted on the program is the premiere of a new work by composer Wayne Horvitz, an inaugural commission by WCF, launching the organization's new commissioning program. Program: Christopher Bailey, Harvest Kitchen Part IIa; Karlheinz Stochausen, Tierkreis; Seattle Phonographers Union, improvisation with unprocessed field recordings; Wayne Horvitz, world premiere of new work commissioned by WCF; Diane Thome, And Yet...; Huck Hodge, Zeremonie; John Cage, Third Construction.

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Rachel Matthews: New Chamber Music

Presented by Jack Straw Productions with assistance from 4Culture.

Long known to Seattle-area audiences as a pianist, Rachel Matthews presents an evening of her recent compositions. The program includes Voices of Trees for clarinet and piano, featuring clarinetist Laura DeLuca and the Seattle premiere of Piano Quintet, with violinists Mikhail Shmidt and Ingrid Matthews, violist Elizabeth Oakes, cellist Andrew Kolb, and Rachel Matthews on piano. Other works on the program include two world premieres: Partita for unaccompanied violin (inspired by the solo violin works of J.S. Bach), performed by Ingrid Matthews, for whom it was written, and Dreams for viola and piano, performed by internationally-acclaimed violist Helen Callus.

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Peter Garland: Solo Piano Concert

Presented by Nonsequitur and Washington Composers Forum.

The reclusive Maine composer Peter Garland (see previous post for bio) performs his own works for solo piano spanning four decades: Three Dawns (1981-82), After the Wars (2007-08), Bush Radio Calling (1992), and The Days Run Away (1971).

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Peter Garland: Music for Small Ensembles

Presented by Nonsequitur and Washington Composers Forum.

Peter Garland is one of the great heirs of the cranky American Experimental Tradition that includes composers such as Ives, Ruggles, Cowell, Cage, Harrison, Nancarrow, and Partch. Currently living in Maine, Garland spent many years living in the American Southwest and Mexico, studying and absorbing various indigenous folk musics. His mature music combines elements of minimalism with folky dance rhythms and gentle lyricism to stunningly beautiful effect. Tonight's program features some of Garland's works for chamber ensembles, performed by Seattle musicians: I Have Had to Learn the Simplest Things Last (Cristina Valdes, piano; Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet, vibraphone/marimba/claves/tambourine); Songs of Exile & Wine (Emily Greenleaf, mezzo soprano; Cristina Valdes, piano); Symphony No. 1: "New Chants" (Sarah Bassingthwaighte, flute/piccolo; Jesse Canterbury, clarinet; Chris Stover, trombone).

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Wally Shoup/Gust Burns/Mark Ostrowski Trio

Three of Seattle's most experienced free improvisers join forces to present an evening of "Heavy Chamber Jazz". Saxman Wally Shoup, pianist Gust Burns, and drummer Mark Ostrowski combine intuitive interaction, harmonic exploration and rhythmic propulsion to push jazz deeper into the 21st Century.

read more → Wally Shoup/Gust Burns/Mark Ostrowski Trio

Cuong Vu + Greg Sinibaldi & Goat

Presented by the Improvised Music Project and Earshot Jazz.

Join Cuong Vu’s internationally acclaimed quartet (with Stomu Takeishi, Ted Poor and Luke Bergman) for a live recording of Vu’s originals along with the group’s interpretations of a set of standards from the American Songbook. Sharing the evening are Greg Sinibaldi and Goat, a unique trio that utilizes an arsenal of loops and electronic gadgetry combined with woodwinds, electric guitar, and drumset. In addition to Sinibaldi, the members of Goat are guitarist Zach Stewart and drummer Denali Williams.

read more → Cuong Vu + Greg Sinibaldi & Goat

Cuong Vu + Bad Luck + Operation ID

Presented by the Improvised Music Project and Earshot Jazz.

Cuong Vu’s quartet teams up with Bad Luck and Operation ID. Bad Luck offers tightly-woven original compositions and is co-led by drummer Chris Icasiano and saxophonist Neil Welch (both UW Music grads). Operation ID plays original compositions influenced by rock, electronica, jazz and modern classical music and features free and group improvisation. Group members are Ivan Arteaga (sax), Jared Borkowski (guitar), David Balatero (bass), Rob Hanlon (keyboard/electronics), and Evan Woodle (drums). Arteaga and Woodle are current Jazz Studies students; Borkowski is a recent graduate.

read more → Cuong Vu + Bad Luck + Operation ID

Cuong Vu + Heatwarmer

Presented by the Improvised Music Project and Earshot Jazz.

Join Cuong Vu’s internationally acclaimed quartet (with Stomu Takeishi, Ted Poor and Luke Bergman) for a live recording of Vu’s originals along with the group’s interpretations of a set of standards from the American Songbook. Sharing the evening are Heatwarmer.

read more → Cuong Vu + Heatwarmer

Jay Hamilton: FRED

Composer Jay Hamilton and the Turtling Dithers (Maurice Colasurdo, guitars; Darryl Estes, winds; Gordon Frazier, other stuff) present Fred, a new work that is the sequel to Casserole.

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Gebhard Ullman Trio + JA Deane

Presented by Earshot Jazz & Nonsequitur, with support from the Berlin Senate Cultural Affairs Department and the Goethe Institute.

German multi-reed virtuoso Gebhard Ullmann is considered one of the leading personalities in today's Berlin and international music scenes. His Clarinet Trio with Jurgen Kupke and Michael Thieke employs minimalistic techniques, overtones, and multiphonics to give the impression of more than three players. J.A. Deane (Dino) has performed with John Zorn, Jon Hassell, and Butch Morris, adapting Morris' conduction technique to his own Out of Context ensemble in New Mexico. Long known as a trombonist, he now plays a custom-made dulcimer/guqin, layering melodic cells, prickly harmonics, and lush, bowed backgrounds through his assortment of electronics.

read more → Gebhard Ullman Trio + JA Deane

Danse Perdue: "Atrocity Exhibition: Prequel"

Presented by Danse Perdu. This performance is an initial foray into explorations based on original writing by Alex Ruhe and inspired by the nakedly empathetic witnessing of everyday violence by artists and writers such as our teacher Atsushi Takenouchi, founder of Jinen butoh; William T. Vollman, J.G. Ballard, Kathe Kollwitz and Francis Bacon (to name a few). With dancers Alex Ruhe, Vanessa Skantze, Kaoru Okumura, Angela Martinelli, Katrina Ellison, Lugh, Richard Woods, Katrina Wolfe, Ben. Original sound by celadon, cursed chimera, sataray.

read more → Danse Perdue: "Atrocity Exhibition: Prequel"

Zachary Watkins & Tiffany Lin

Presented by Nonsequitur. Movable, long commutes between loved ones, music for motors and resonant strings is the elusive yet evocative title for the new composition by Bay Area composer Zachary James Watkins. This new evening length work, premiered by Seattle pianist Tiffany Lin, is scored for retuned piano and a new mechanical extension called the Piano Monster built by NYC artist Ranjit Bhatnagar that uses 16 MIDI triggered voltage controlled motors with attached objects that resonate piano strings. Zachary James Watkins received a Subito in California grant to assist in the production of this composition.

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Wayne Horvitz/Briggan Krauss/Lê Quan Ninh

Presented by Earshot Jazz, with support from the CMA/FACE French-American Jazz Exchange. Featuring keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, tenor saxophonist Briggan Krauss, and percussionist Lê Quan Ninh, this is a diverse and crackling trio. The band, of course, promises far more than the sum of its parts.

read more → Wayne Horvitz/Briggan Krauss/Lê Quan Ninh

Clifford Dunn & Racketology

Seattle’s newest ensemble dedicated to new music, Racketology, gives its first public performance with a program full of new works intended to reinvigorate excitement for experimental music. Ensemble members include Clifford Dunn (flute), Brianna Atwell (viola), Josiah Boothby (horn), Bonnie Whiting Smith (percussion), and Douglas Niemela (electric bass guitar). Included in the program are Mark Applebaum's The Metaphysics of Notation; Brian Cobb's D. & A.; Clifford Dunn's Splinters; Evan Florey-Barnes' The Nuances of Rachel; Doug Niemela's Quintology (For Racketology); Jeremy Jolley's Essai; and James Welsch's Trio minus Mandy Patinkin.

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Occultural Music Festival Benefit

This fundraiser for the upcoming third annual Seattle Occultural Music Festival features ten very different guitarists performing 10-minute sets: Dave Knott, Lori Peterson, Ken Jacobson, Resistor, Tom Baker, Crystal Perez, Demian Johnston, Sky Lynn, Timm Mason & Mark Schlipper.

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Danny Holt + Steven Arntson

Los Angeles-based pianist Danny Holt’s Piano/Percussion Project situates the pianist amidst an array of percussion instruments, as he is called on to perform on both simultaneously. An eclectic lineup of composers from around the globe has written works specifically for Holt’s piano/percussion setup, each responding to the instrumentation in his/her own way. Opening is Seattle-based concertinist Steven Arntson, whose focus on the classical tradition and extended performance techniques aims to expand the limits of what can be done with the humble concertina.

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Splash! – Contemporary Cowboy"

Seattle chamber group Splash! (Roger Nelson, piano; Janna Wächter, voice; special guest soprano Anneliese von Goerken) present an evening of traditional cowboy songs, Morton Feldman and Jarrad Powell piano works, Ivan Sokolov and Charles Ives songs, Aaron Copland Emily Dickinson poems, Libby Larsen Calamity Jane songs and the premiere of Janna Wächter's Contemporary Cowboy. The combination of the a capella cowboy songs dating back to 1865 and Morton Feldman's piano music creates an atmosphere similar to the immense prairie. Wächter has woven contemporary sounds with her own original "cowboy music".

read more → Splash! – Contemporary Cowboy"

Karen Bentley Pollick: Violin & Alternating Currents

Presented by Nonsequitur. Karen Bentley Pollick gives the Seattle premiere of four new compositions for violin with electronics by Alabama composers: Charles Norman Mason's Metaman, Dorothy Hindman's Fantasia for Karen Alone, Capital Spheres by Michael Angell, and Duetto con Bobik by Brian Moon. Also, Sole Injection by Illinois composer Zack Browning, Impossible Animals by Californian David A. Jaffe, Vista by Washington composer Alex Shapiro, and Solo Blues for Violin and Piano by New Yorker Dan Tepfer.

read more → Karen Bentley Pollick: Violin & Alternating Currents

Splash! – Contemporary Cowboy"

Seattle chamber group Splash! (Roger Nelson, piano; Janna Wächter, voice; special guest soprano Anneliese von Goerken) present an evening of traditional cowboy songs, Morton Feldman and Jarrad Powell piano works, Ivan Sokolov and Charles Ives songs, Aaron Copland Emily Dickinson poems, Libby Larsen Calamity Jane songs and the premiere of Janna Wächter's Contemporary Cowboy. The combination of the a capella cowboy songs dating back to 1865 and Morton Feldman's piano music creates an atmosphere similar to the immense prairie. Wächter has woven contemporary sounds with her own original "cowboy music".

read more → Splash! – Contemporary Cowboy"

Crepuscule Trio + Vertigo

Presented by Nonsequitur. Operating for many years under the radar of the Los Angeles mainstream jazz world, the Crepuscule Trio represents the most fundamental and vital aspects and values of what came to be termed "free jazz." Saxophonist Ken Kawamura, bassist Anthony Shadduck, and drummer Alan Cook mine the tradition they know intimately while blasting it open into the realm of spacious and multi-directional musical possibility. Seattle clarinetist Jesse Canterbury leads Vertigo, an all-acoustic quartet in a strikingly original mix of chamber music, improvisation, and tune-oriented melodic material.

read more → Crepuscule Trio + Vertigo

Wyndel Hunt + Christopher DeLaurenti

Wyndel Hunt integrates melody and noise using electronics, acoustic instruments, field recordings, and the occasional piece of amplified trash. His recent work focuses on conceiving narrative, painting, and sculpture as analogues for structuring composition and shaping sound. Christopher DeLaurenti debuts new field recordings as well improvisations with software-based sound generation, including phase-based compression, spectral inscription, and databending.

read more → Wyndel Hunt + Christopher DeLaurenti

Affinity Chamber Players: Young Adventurers

The Affinity Chamber Players plus soprano Kimberly Giordano, present a program of adventurous new music chosen from works submitted in response to Affinity’s call for scores, the call for scores for the Young Adventurers Competition, plus the music of preeminent composers of the Pacific Northwest: Brad Sherman's Fire, Elizabeth Alexander's My Aunt Gives Me a Clarinet Lesson, Tom Baker's Three Songs, and Emily Doolittle's Four Pieces about Water, as well as the young and talented Benjamin Davis' The Puppet Show.

read more → Affinity Chamber Players: Young Adventurers

Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers’ Salon fosters the development, performance and appreciation of new music by regional composers and performers. At bi-monthly, informal presentations, the Salon features finished works, previews, and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion. This month's composers: Marcus Oldham, Clifford Dunn, Tom Baker, Brad Sherman, and Jonathan Haek.

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Transport Series: Mari Kimura

Presented by Washington Composers Forum. Violinist Mari Kimura continues the great tradition of the virtuoso composer/performer. She embraces the worlds of extended violin techniques and interactive computer music, making them her own. She is also well known for developing the extended technique of “Subharmonics” — playing notes below the open-G string without lowering the tuning of the instrument. The program includes several of Ms. Kimura's own works, and music by Salvatore Sciarrino, Jean-Claude Risset, Takayuki Rai, Frances White, and Conlon Nancarrow.

read more → Transport Series: Mari Kimura

Lubomyr Melnyk: Continuous Music

Presented by Nonsequitur & Unseen Worlds Records. Read a preview in The Stranger.

Ukrainian-Canadian composer/pianist Lubomyr Melnyk's Continuous Music is based on the principle of a continuous, unbroken line of sound from the piano, created by generating a constant flow of rapid notes, usually with the pedal sustained non-stop. Often classified as Minimalism, Melnyk refutes that term, since he has to generate so many notes to create these "Fourth Dimensions of Sound." His earlier works devoted much attention to the overtones which the piano generates, but his more recent works are more involved with the melodic potential of this music. His classic 1978 album KMH was reissued in 2007 by Unseen Worlds.

read more → Lubomyr Melnyk: Continuous Music

Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk's Well

The Fisher Ensemble, led by composer Garrett Fisher, present their eighth chamber opera, At the Hawk’s Well, based on a play by Irish poet W. B. Yeats. Reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.

read more → Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk's Well

Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk's Well

The Fisher Ensemble, led by composer Garrett Fisher, present their eighth chamber opera, At the Hawk’s Well, based on a play by Irish poet W. B. Yeats, the first play in English that emulated Japanese Noh theater. Performers include vocalists Jeremiah Cawley, Maria Mannisto, and Kristen Ramer Liang; flutist Clifford Dunn; bassist Greg Bagley; harmonium player Esther Sugai, percussionist Dean Moore, and choreographer/dancer Christy Fisher. Reviewed in the Wall Street Journal.

read more → Fisher Ensemble: At the Hawk's Well

Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur, with assistance from 4Culture. The 25th annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival concludes with music by Jeffrey McGrath (trumpet), Greg Powers (trombone), Chris Cochrane (guitar), Evan Gallagher (keyboards), Jeph Jerman (percussion), Paul Hoskin (contrabass clarinet)

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Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur, with assistance from 4Culture. The 25th annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival continues with music by Michael Johnsen (home made electronics); Kelvin Pittman (saxophones); Gust Burns (piano)/Mara Sidlins (viola)/Tyler Wilcox (saxophone) + full group

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SPEAK: CD Release Concert

The bombastic post-jazz quintet speak celebrates the release of their debut CD on Origin records. Be prepared for soaring, beauteous melodies, cataclysmic free improvisations, pluck-at-your-heartstrings indie-rock ballads, muscular aggro-metal and sure-fire free jazz anthems from this diverse ensemble. Guitar-wizard Andrew McInnis and noise-prophet Kristian Garrard open the show.

read more → SPEAK: CD Release Concert

Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur, with assistance from 4Culture. The 25th annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival continues with music by Wilson Shook (alto saxophone)/Jack Wright (saxophone)/Robert Pedersen (electronics)/Paul Neidhardt (percussion); Tyler Wilcox (soprano saxophone)/Gust Burns (piano)/Paul Neidhardt (percussion)/Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello) + large group set

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Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur, with assistance from 4Culture. 2010 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Seattle Improvised Music Festival with two consecutive weekends. Tonight: Birgit Ulher (trumpet)/Leonel Kaplan (trumpet)/Jaime Fennelly electronics); Rachael Wadham (prepared zither)/Mara Sedlins (viola); Paul Hoskin (contra-bass clarinet) & Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello); Jack Wright (saxophone)/Gust Burns (piano)

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Seattle Chamber Players

The Seattle Chamber Players perform an evening of music by Armenian composer/keyboardist Artur Avanesov. The program also features music of Tigran Mansurian, the leading composer of Armenia and a mentor of Avanesov.

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Non Grata

The flagship big band of the Monktail Creative Music Concern, NON GRATA consists of all given members of the Monktail collective at a given point, and relies on patterns, textures and forms developed through ensemble practice. It is new composition in a spontaneous music combat zone. Basically, we’re the bastard children of art music and we’re running with scissors.

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Is That Jazz? Tom Baker Qt. + Cuong Vu Trio

IS THAT JAZZ? Festival is dedicated to daring and exploratory artists who are redrawing the boundaries of jazz. Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon, Present Sounds Recordings, Seattle Percussion Collective, and Nonsequitur, with support from 4Culture. Seattle Times preview.

Seattle guitarist and composer Tom Baker, with clarinetist Jesse Canterbury, bassist Brian Cobb, and drummer Greg Campbell. The brilliantly creative Cuong Vu brings his trio mates (Stomu Takeishi and Ted Poor) from New York to headline and close out the festival.

read more → Is That Jazz? Tom Baker Qt. + Cuong Vu Trio

Is That Jazz? Bad Luck + Jesse Canterbury & Vertigo

IS THAT JAZZ? Festival is dedicated to daring and exploratory artists who are redrawing the boundaries of jazz. Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon, Present Sounds Recordings, Seattle Percussion Collective, and Nonsequitur, with support from 4Culture. Seattle Times preview.

Bad Luck, co-led by drummer Chris Icasiano and saxophonist Neil Welch, use loops and electronics to propel the music into new aural fields. Seattle clarinetist Jesse Canterbury's acoustic ensemble Vertigo mixes chamber music, improvisation, and tune-oriented melodic material.

read more → Is That Jazz? Bad Luck + Jesse Canterbury & Vertigo

Is That Jazz? Bill Smith Trio + Threat of Beauty

IS THAT JAZZ? Festival is dedicated to daring and exploratory artists who are redrawing the boundaries of jazz. Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon, Present Sounds Recordings, Seattle Percussion Collective, and Nonsequitur, with support from 4Culture. Seattle Times preview.

Master composer and clarinetist Bill Smith leads this impressive jazz trio (with bassist Brian Cobb and drummer Greg Campbell) through his original compositions and improvisations. Seattle’s prolific young jazz lion, Evan Flory-Barnes brings his big band, Threat of Beauty, featuring voices, brass, harp, and percussion.

read more → Is That Jazz? Bill Smith Trio + Threat of Beauty

Is That Jazz? Sunship + Sun Ra Tribute Band

IS THAT JAZZ? Festival is dedicated to daring and exploratory artists who are redrawing the boundaries of jazz. Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon, Present Sounds Recordings, Seattle Percussion Collective, and Nonsequitur, with support from 4Culture. Seattle Times preview.

Sunship features Brian Heaney, one of Seattle’s most creative guitarists, with New York saxophonist Michael Monhart, drummer David Revelli, bassist Andrew Luthringer, and trombonist Stuart Dempster. Also, an all-star dectet reunites to pay tribute to the inspirational iconoclast Sun Ra, playing many of his compositions from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

read more → Is That Jazz? Sunship + Sun Ra Tribute Band

Floss

Wildman saxophonist Izaak Mills leads the formidable bopcore trio Floss featuring Monktail Creative Music Concern founders John Seman and Mark Ostrowski on bass and drums. Floss draws its sound from the hardcore records of the eighties, but its soul belongs to the free improvisation scene of late sixties Chicago. Tonight they celebrate the release of their new CD, Vitamin A.

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Seattle Percussion Collective

See previews at Seattle Times and the Stranger.

The Seattle Percussion Collective presents their second program, Metal and Breath: An Evening of Contemporary Music. The concert will include the rarely heard jazz-influenced All Set (joined by Brian Cobb, Harumi Flesher, Stuart MacDonald, Greg Sinibaldi, Chris Stover, and Matthew Swihart, conducted by Jonathan Pasternack) and Homily by Milton Babbitt; The Raccoon King of Plastic and Tin by Jeff Aaron Bryant (World Premiere); The Light in Amsterdam by Greg Campbell; Sonnet No.4 and A Slightly Evil Machine By James Romig; Mornings by Stuart Saunders Smith (World Premiere); Cross Hatch by Toru Takemitsu; and Metal and Breath by Christian Wolff. Thanks to the City of Seattle’s smART Ventures program for support.

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Amy Denio + Beth Fleenor & Figeater

Presented by Nonsequitur.

Amy Denio is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and singer based in Seattle. Since the mid-80s she has maintained a constant flurry of musical activity spanning many genres: free improvisation, art rock, scores for dance and film, solo and in groups such as the Tiptons Sax Quartet, Hell's Bellows accordion ensemble, Kultur Shock, Correo Aereo. Beth Fleenor's robust, malleable sound, organic approach to improvisation, and openness to experimentation in all forms have fueled a list of collaborations. Tonight she brings her band Figeater, whose disjunctive, raucous, soaring, and powerful improvisations are punctuated, buttoned, and launched by original compositions and song-like psychedelic episodes.

read more → Amy Denio + Beth Fleenor & Figeater

Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers’ Salon fosters the development, performance and appreciation of new music by regional composers and performers. At bi-monthly, informal presentations, the Salon features finished works, previews, and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion. This month's composers: Gavin Borchert, Keith Eisenbrey, Jay Hamilton, Steve Scribner, Peter Stevens.

read more → Seattle Composers' Salon