Jherek Bischoff's Ambient Chamber Orchestra

Seattle composer/musician/producer Jherek Bischoff (Ribbons, Dead Science, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Xiu Xiu, Evangelista) premiers a collection of ten ambient pieces composed during a recent residency at Pt. Townsend’s Fort Warden State Park, specifically written for and recorded in the park’s massive cistern — an empty, two million gallon underground water tank boasting an incredible 45-second reverb. For this event, Jherek will be joined by a live orchestra and sound engineers to help recreate the incredible sonic ambience of the cistern.

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Frances-Marie Uitti

Presented by Nonsequitur. The remarkable Amsterdam-based cellist, composer and improviser Frances-Marie Uitti has pioneered a revolutionary dimension to the cello by using two bows in one hand, transforming it for the first time into a polyphonic instrument capable of sustained chordal and intricate multi-voiced writing, contemporaneous cross accents, multiple timbres, contrasting 4-voiced dynamics, and simultaneous legato/articulated playing. Tonight she performs works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Jonathan Harvey, Giacinto Scelsi, Lisa Bielawa, Annie Gosfield, György Kurtág, and her own Rap't.

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Seattle Phonographers Union: for Julius

Breaking away from their usual "politburo" performance set up, the Seattle Phonographers Union honors the recent passing of the German sound artist and composer of "small music" Rolf Julius (1939 - 2011) with a performative sound environment. While still using unprocessed field recordings as source material, group members will be spread (and in some cases moving) throughout the space, playing through small, localized sound systems to create a sonic environment made up of many smaller micro-climates, with the audience free to move through the space or sit if they wish.

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26th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival

February 9 - 12. Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. The longest running festival of its kind in North America, the annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival presents a host of international improvisers representing a sampling of the world’s major players/scenes/movements. This year’s line up includes: Jeffrey Allport percussion (Vancouver), Gill Arno radios (NYC), Gust Burns piano, inside piano (Seattle), Lou Cohen laptop/Csound (Boston), James Coleman theremin (Boston), Mark Collins bass (Seattle), Paul Hoskin contrabass clarinet (Seattle), Andrew Lafkas bass (NYC), Radu Malfatti trombone (Vienna), Wilson Shook alto saxophone (Seattle), Jonathan Way field recordings (Seattle), Tyler Wilcox soprano saxophone (Seattle), John Teske bass (Seattle).

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Tribute to Tricia Woods

Pianist/composer Tricia Woods recently lost a long battle with breast cancer. She was an important contributor to the Seattle music scene before moving to New York, and was part of an influential group of young musicians that included Mike Stone, Briggan Krauss, Geoff Harper, Tari Nelson-Zagar, Andrew Drury, Craig Flory, Hans Teuber, Eyvind Kang, Reggie Watts and many more. As a celebration of Tricia's life and artistic vitality, musicians from the Seattle community are putting together an event filled with music she would have been passionate about. Performers include Geoff Harper, Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb, Craig Flory, Dawn Clement, Tom Varner, Mike Stone, Andy Roth, and others. All proceeds will be given to Tricia’s son.

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S. Eric Scribner + Hexaphone

S. Eric Scribner performs new, partially improvised works for environmental sound, piano, hammer dulcimer and found objects, including two pieces from his “SoundScrolls” cycle. Eric’s music is modal and/or microtonal, often contemplative, and explores guided improvisation within a fixed framework and the non-randomness inherent in “random” aesthetic events. Hexafone opens (Bruce Greeley, bass clarinet; Mike Sentkewitz, acoustic bass; Ryan Burt, drums/percussion).

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Artur Avanesov, pianist

Presented by Seattle Chamber Players. Armenian pianist/composer Artur Avanesov performs his own works, as well as music by his mentor, the great Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian, Ukrainian master Valentin Silvestrov, the SCP commission Linee e Contorni by the brilliant Lithuanian composer Onute Narbutaite, and music by Alban Berg.

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