Ask the Ages

Ask the Ages is a Seattle based avant-jazz band comprised of Greg Campbell (drums and percussion), Steven Bell (Vibraphone ), Brian Heaney (guitar), Kate Olson (sax/woodwinds) and John Seman (bass). Influences are Sonny Sharrock, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders.

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Richard Webb & Mari Matsutoya

Richard Webb is a NYC based sound artist and musician usually playing and composing for the ensemble Lullabies for Falling Empires; Mari Matsutoya is a conceptual sound artist based in Berlin. Recent Transmissions, a Whisper and a Thief is a new work that is part song, part video, and part transmission, as Mari will play her parts via satellite from NYC.

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Epos Nemo Latrocinium: Album Release

noisepoetnobody (analog synths & stringboard) celebrates his new CD Epos Nemo Latrocinium (Latin: Epic Nobody Mercenary) with comrades Tom Swafford, violin; Dean Moore, percussion & resonant metals;  Joy Von Spain, voice & piano; Vanessa Skantze, butoh performance. Also: butoh performance by Alex Ruhe with sound by Sisiutl.

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Phil Kline's Unsilent Night + Party!

Presented by Seattle Composers' Salon, Nonsequitur, and Joshua Parmenter.

Phil Kline's Unsilent Night is a free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs and MP3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a cloud of sound which is different from every listener's perspective. Since 1992, this 45-minute work has grown into a worldwide annual communal event that has become an essential part of many winter holiday celebrations.

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Gust Burns: REAL BOOK

Pianist Gust Burns hosts this fundraising concert for REAL BOOK, his recent collection of scores made by erasing material from popular jazz songs in The New Real Book. First Set: Burns plays solo piano. Second Set: quartet w/ Paul Kikuchi, Carmen Rothwell, Jacob Zimmerman.

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John Cage: STEPS + Fontana Radif

John Cage’s STEPS: A Composition for a Painting to be Performed by Individuals or Groups (1989) receives a rare performance and Seattle premiere thanks to important performance notes provided by Ray Kass and the Mountain Lake Workshop where Cage created the original realization in 1989. This performance of STEPS is a collaboration of Seattle artists Jarrad Powell, Beth Graczyk and Robert Campbell, with assistance from Reilly Sinanan, Danielle Allinice, Matthew Matsuda, and dancers Corrie Befort, Shannon Stewart, Alia Swersky, Mary Margaret Moore.

Fontana Radif, created and performed by Jessika Kenney, is a vocal realization of Cage's graphic score Fontana Mix. Cage originally used Fontana Mix in 1958 to create a tape piece of the same name, but subsequently used the score to create several other pieces. Here Cage’s score provides a lens through which to experience in a new way the memory and practice of the classical Persian musical system known as radif or "row," consisting of over a hundred melodic patterns which express and symbolize an ancient tradition of the art of mode and melody.

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Robin Holcomb + Eric Barber

This evening will feature two intimate solo sets by new music performer/composers Robin Holcomb (piano, voice) and Eric Barber (saxophones and electronics). Robin will perform songs, improvisations, and compositions for piano. Eric will perform solo improvisations and compositions as well as large saxophone compositions for live performer and CD from an upcoming release.

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Lori Goldston & Friends

Vocalist Jessika Kenney, electric guitarist Dylan Carlson, percussionist and horn player Greg Campbell, and cellist Lori Goldston perform improvised works about love, longing, unity, wildness, mystery, etc.

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Amy Denio & Thollem McDonas

A collaboration by two multi-faceted improvisers: Amy Denio is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and international collaborator. Her main instruments are voice, accordion, alto saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar, and bass. Thollem McDonas is a pianist, vocalist, collaborator and facilitator. He is currently touring as a soloist, in collaboration with many other individuals and groups, as well as leading large ensemble free improvisation/collaboration workshops

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Triptet + Ask the Ages

Triptet returns to Seattle to celebrate the release of their new CD, Figure in the Carpet. Triptet is a meeting of minds and spontaneous electrical impulses between Michael Monhart (saxophones and percussion), Tom Baker (guitars and effects), and Greg Campbell (percussion and cheap electronics). They have released three albums: You Can See The Bottom (Present Sounds Recordings), Imaginary Perspective (Engine Records), and their newest release in 2012, Figure in the Carpet (Engine Records). Ask the Ages opens: Greg Campbell (drums and percussion), Steven Bell (Vibraphone ), Brian Heaney (guitar), Kate Olson (sax/woodwinds) and John Seman (bass).

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UW Composers Collective

The composition students at the University of Washington present an evening of new music by Ivan Arteaga, Jeff Bowen, Yiğit Kolat, Doug Niemela, Marcin Pączkowski, Kim Rivera, and Anthony Vine. An eclectic array of aesthetics and approaches will be showcased, including improvisation, electroacoustic music, instrumental music concrète, music for children, and much more.

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Any Ensemble: Flexible Music

Many Seattle composers are writing flexible music, a hybrid between composition and improvisation. The ensemble will be performing original works by local composers, each with their own style. Featuring Greg Campbell, Jacob Zimmerman, John Teske, Natalie Mai Hall, Neil Welch, Paul Kikuchi, and a piece by Tom Baker.

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Karen Bentley-Pollick

In Violin, Viola & Video Virtuosity, each work was created expressly for Karen Bentley Pollick and explores the synergy of video and solo strings: world premieres of Jeffrey Harrington’s Grand Tango for violin with video by the composer; Seattle composer Nat Evans’ and video artist Erin Elyse Burns’ desertscape Heat Whispers; and New York composer Stuart Diamond’s prismatic video created for his 1974 Baroque Fantasy. New York video artist Sheri Wills' videos are featured in Sapphire (2010) by New York composer Preston Stahly; Dilemma (1987) by Czech composer Jan Jirásek; The Red Curtain Dance (2003) and Letter to Avigdor (1990) by Israeli American composer Ofer Ben-Amots; and Metaman (2009) by Rome Prize winner Charles Norman Mason.

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Seattle Phonographers Union w/ Chris DeLaurenti

The Seattle Phonographers Union improvise collectively with unprocessed field recordings gathered in the (so-called) "real world." Sounds both common and unfamiliar are spontaneously layered to create unexpected juxtapositions, an abstract audio cinema of the mind. Tonight's line-up consists of Steve Barsotti, Pete Comely, Doug Haire, Susie Kozawa, Steve Peters, and new member Mark Cooper, joined by our relocated comrade Christopher DeLaurenti.

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Avram Fefer

Returning to the Chapel following his 2010 Earshot Jazz Festival appearance, NYC reed player Avram Fefer leads a Seattle trio featuring bassist Evan Flory-Barnes and drummer Greg Campbell.

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Eyvind Kang: Time Medicine

Genre-defying violist/composer Eyvind Kang presents recent compositions and work from his new Tzadik CD Grass, with an ensemble of local greats: Stuart Dempster, trombone, percussion; Ahmad Yousefbeigi, Greg Campbell, Hyeonhee Park, and Dave Abramson, percussion; Moriah Neils, double bass; Taina Karr, oboe, English horn; Mary Riles, cello; Paul "Che Oke Ten" Wagner, Native flute.

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SMO plays John Cage

Seattle Modern Orchestra opens its 2012-13 season with an immersive event in the world of sounds and ideas of John Cage. In celebration of Cage's centennial, this evening features a multimedia presentation and documentary on the life of the composer, and a concert in collaboration with Seattle Percussion Collective. The program includes Trio, Living Room Music, Etcetera, But what about the noise...?, Five4. Pianist Stephen Drury joins us for the Concerto for Prepared Piano and Chamber Orchestra. Review here.

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Powers/Ziefel/Hoskin

Paul Hoskin (contrabass clarinet, baritone sax) and Greg Powers (trombone, tuba) have played in various settings for more than thirty years. Greg and Jenny Ziefel (bass clarinet, tenro sax) have extensive experience as cohorts in the Seattle orchestral world. Ziefel and Hoskin were two-thirds of a clarinet trio — Neume — with Jesse Canterbury. When Jesse moved to California, Paul and Jenny began a new trio with Greg. This wind/brass trio explores regions of sound ranging from the clearly melodic to the undecipherable.

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Seattle Composers' Salon

The Seattle Composers’ Salonfosters 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. Everyone is welcome! Composers for this month: Jessika Kenney, Steve Luksan, Tom Baker, S. Eric Scribner

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Earshot: Sumi Tonooka

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

The “fierce and fascinating composer and pianist” (Jazz Times) Sumi Tonooka performs solo. Born in Philadelphia, Tonooka started piano and music instruction at the age of seven and cites a teenage experience seeing Thelonious Monk for making her want to be a jazz musician. She holds a bachelor of music degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, and has gigged with Kenny Burrell, Little Jimmy Scott, Sonny Fortune, Red Rodney, Benny Golson and David “Fathead” Newman.

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Earshot: Jaap Blonk

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

Dutch vocal improviser Jaap Blonk uses synthesized sounds, including samples of his own voice, in powerful, joyful performances structured by the mathematical algorithms that are his other expertise. As a vocalist, Blonk is unique in his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. Tonight he presents his 4-channel-mix piece Polyphtong and Kurt Schwitters’ classic Ursonate.

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Lubomyr Melnyk

Canadian composer and pianist Lubomyr Melnyk is the pioneer of Continuous Music — a piano technique he has developed since the 1970s that uses extremely rapid notes and note-series to create a rich, pulsating tapestry of sound. Inspired by the phase and pattern musics of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley, yet frustrated by the ecstatic detachment from reality they can encourage, Continuous Music is based in the innovations of the minimalists but with its roots more deeply planted in harmony. Overtones blend or clash according to the harmonic changes. Melnyk released a number of solo piano and ensemble works on the Bandura label through the 1970s and 1980s, and has composed many more, though relatively little was heard from him until the CD reissue of KMH (Unseen Worlds, 2007).

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Keith Eisenbrey: Preludes in Seattle, Part 4

Seattle composer/pianist Keith Eisenbrey continues his tour through the Prelude cycles of Seattle composers Ken Benshoof, Greg Short, and Lockrem Johnson. In addition he will perform the entirety of his own cycle of 24 Preludes for Piano (2009 - 2011).

read more → Keith Eisenbrey: Preludes in Seattle, Part 4

Earshot: Phil Dadson & friends

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

New Zealand home-made-instrument innovator Phil Dadson performs with three inventive Seattle soundscapers: Bill Horist, Paul Kikuchi and Steve Barsotti.

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Earshot: Evan Flory-Barnes, 2 + 2

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

The featured artist of this year’s festival is one of Puget Sound’s most expansive creators. Bassist/composer Evan Flory-Barnes explores new musical possibilities with stellar Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame bassist Jeff Johnson and expressive pianist Dawn Clement.

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Dan Peck

New York-based tuba player Dan Peck makes a wide swing over to the Left Coast to join a crew of Seattle improvising stalwarts with Bill Horist (guitar), Eyvind Kang (viola), Lori Goldston (cello), Greg Campbell (percussion, French horn).

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Earshot: Tatsuya Nakatani

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival.

Tatsuya Nakatani is a creative percussionist originally from Osaka, Japan, currently based in Easton, PA. He uses drums, gongs, cymbals, singing bowls and much else to create organic, intense music. Tonight he plays solo and in a first-time duo improvisation with special guest violist Eyvind Kang.

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Earshot: Ab Baars & Ig Henneman

Presented by Earshot Jazz Festival. Support provided by the Consulate General of The Netherlands.

Reeds man Ab Baars and violist Ig Henneman, both long-established members of the theatrically avant-garde New Dutch Swing pantheon, bring an unmistakable playfulness to their collaborations as a musical duo. The husband-and-wife team deliver lyrical, expressive pieces that animate memories of tiptoeing down a hallway, dancing outside or hiding beneath the bed. For all of its sharp dissonances and off-kilter rhythms, their sound is like a simple game of tag.

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Percussion and Movement

Percussion by Dean Moore in collaboration with butoh artist Alan Sutherland and Acrobalance performers Jason Williams and Evelyn Bittner (aka Dr. Calamari & Acrophelia of Circus Contraption). With special guest percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani performing with butoh artist Vanessa Skantze.

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Tempered Steel + Lube Fondue

The long-awaited CD release from Tempered Steel, featuring Ffej, Frank Junk, and Dennis Rea playing amplified, electronically processed thumb pianos. The trio's seamless improvisations conjure everything from phantom harpsichords and subaquatic percussion to as-yet-uninvented stringed instruments and vintage musique concrete. Opening are Lube Fondue, featuring Noisepoetnobody and Briana Jones.

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Broken Bow Ensemble: murmur

Composed by John Teske, murmur explores through sound the subtleties of human consciousness, awareness and experience. As our society becomes more interconnected, it can feel as if time is accelerating and the sense of self, of authenticity and intention can be lost in a scattered existence. By slowing the experience of time through music, the listener's attention is brought to detail. This focus can open a door to a deeper awareness of the environment, sensations in the body, and other people. The Broken Bow Ensemble is a 26-piece orchestra dedicated to performing original contemporary classical music. This new ensemble features local musicians, including Tari Nelson-Zaglar, Brianna Atwell, Jessie Polin, Greg Campbell, and more.

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Neil Welch: solo saxophone

Local saxophonist Neil Welch explores the underbelly of the saxophone. From whisper soft gestures to bellowing cries, Welch's musical voice centers around extremes on the instrument - multiphonics, pitches clusters, and minimalist sound-cycle repetitions are strong components of his performances. The show tonight features two sets of acoustic material, some composed and some improvised.

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KROMER + Empty Boat

Two great quartets in the Seattle avant jazz and experimental scene. Opening the night will be KROMER, featuring Ivan Arteaga (sax), Katie Jacobson (voice), Cameron Sharif (piano/keyboards), and Evan Woodle (drums). Empty Boat, led by drummer Don Berman, features Kate Olson (sax), Geoff Harper (bass), and Dennis Rea (guitar).

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Polarity Taskmasters + Magda Mayas

Flutist/vocalist Emily Hay, pianist Motoko Honda, and percussionist Brad Dutz are all major players in the Los Angeles experimental/ improvised music scene. As the trio Polarity Taskmasters they create abstract experimental soundscapes through intense improvised ensemble interaction combined with electronic effects, jazz idioms, extended classical techniques, primal vocals, and stories from the id. Developing a vocabulary utilizing both the inside as well as the exterior parts of the piano, using preparations and objects, German pianist Magda Mayas explores textural, linear and fast moving sound collage.

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Rova Saxophone Quartet

For over 30 years,  Rova Saxophone Quartet has explored the synthesis of composition and collective improvisation, creating exciting, genre-bending music that challenges and inspires. Founded in 1978 and inspired by a broad spectrum of musical influences - from Ives, Varese, Messiaen, Xenakis, and Feldman to Art Ensemble of Chicago, Coltrane, Braxton, Lacy, Taylor, Sun Ra and Ornette Coleman - ROVA began composing, touring, and recording, collaborating with such like-minded colleagues as guitarists Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith and saxophonist John Zorn, along with fellow Bay Area trailblazers Kronos Quartet and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. In 1983 ROVA became the first new music group from the USA to tour the Soviet Union. Their new projects are the Celestial Septet with the Nels Cline Singers, and Electric Ascension, an epic re-imagining of John Coltrane's masterwork with an all-star large ensemble.

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Paul Hoskin

Paul Hoskin's annual eighty-minute contrabass clarinet solo improvisation. Hoskin is currently working with language form as he extends his approach. He fully recognizes the vocal elements of a solo. Besides, he is currently listening to Archie Shepp's Blase. Extended technique is a given, simply develop form in the moment. Spontaneous composition rather than improvisation.

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Monktail Composers Series #10

Monktail Creative Music Concern presents an evening of new music for percussion and ensemble, featuring compositions and improvisations from Sam Yoder (Midday Veil), Nick Gonzalez (Curious Mystery), Mark Ostrowski, Stephen Fandrich and others.

read more → Monktail Composers Series #10

Big Crinkly Trio

Big Crinkly Trio was formed in 2010 by Jim Knodle, Doug Lilla, and Pete Turner, three musicians who have a long history, but hadn't played together for some time. The trio consists of the slightly unusual instrumentation of trumpet, bass, and drums with each member trying to maintain balance with the other two. The material they present consists of originals by all three members plus pieces by Monk, Steve Swallow, Carla Bley, Bill Frisell, Dave Holland and others.

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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. Everyone is welcome! Composers for this month: Matthew James Briggs, Keith Eisenbrey, John Teske, John Cage.

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Pacific Rims Percussion Qt.: Dear John

Pacific Rims Percussion Quartet performs two works written 49 years apart on this tribute to composer John Cage on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Credo in Us (1942) is a prime example of Cage’s early percussion work, strictly and conventionally notated, but innovative in form and content. The instrumentation uses not only piano, gongs and tom-toms, but employs found instruments such as tin cans, an electric buzzer, and a phonograph. Four4 (1991), is one of a large group of numbered pieces he wrote during his last years, this one for percussion quartet.

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Earshot: Splashgirl

Presented by Earshot Jazz. Splashgirl is three creative young Norwegian musicians – Andreas Stensland Løwe (piano/lofi electronics), Jo Berger Myhre (double bass/ zither/tone generator) and Andreas Lønmo Knudsrød (drums/percussion/sounds) – playing their own music inspired by any number of musical genres.

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Cat Lamb + Bryan Eubanks

Presented by Nonsequitur. Composer/performers Cat Lamb and Bryan Eubanks present solo compositions as part of a North American tour. Lamb will perform Shade/Gradations (2012) for viola and filtered oscillators and Eubanks will perform (test)Spectral Pattern (2012) for soprano saxophone, feedback, and digital synthesis.

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Nick Nihil + Cameron Sharif

St. Annie is the debut album of Nick Nihil. Featuring Chris Icasiano and Neil Welch (who comprise the acclaimed experimental jazz behemoth Bad Luck) and Tim Mendonsa (with whom Nihil plays in alt-rock up and comers Sad Face), the album unfolds a dreamscape narrative about the destructive nature of ego. The band weaves modern jazz, spoken word, noise, lounge crooner, and rock into an alternately terrifying and beautiful whole. Pianist Cameron Sharif has been an active participant in Seattle's improvised music scene for the past five years. Blending an angular compositional approach with sonorous piano textures, Sharif will be performing an original piece that uses both composed and improvised material as a template for expression.

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Jonah Parzen-Johnson + The Westerlies

The Westerlies are a NYC-based brass quartet comprised of four friends from Seattle. They stretch the limits of conventional chamber music by emphasizing original composition and improvisation, to create music that resides in the ever-narrowing gap between contemporary classical composition, jazz influenced improvisation, and North American folk music.

Jonah Parzen-Johnson is a baritone saxophonist living in Brooklyn. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, he was surrounded and inspired by the AACM and South Side music community. Before graduating from high school Jonah had studied under former AACM chairman Mwata Bowden and AACM member Matana Roberts. Under their tutelage he developed a dedicated focus on the essential role of composition in the life of a musician. Parzen-Johnson moved to New York in 2006.

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Christian Pincock + Ivan Arteaga

Saxophonist Ivan Arteaga presents Bark for solo saxophone and electronics and Kromer, his trio with Evan Woodle (drums) and Cameron Sharif (piano). Albuquerque-based composer and trombonist Christian Pincock performs his energetic original compositions with trumpeter Chad McCullough, keyboardist Aaron Otheim, bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Chris Icasiano.

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Neal Meyer: Cage's 2nd Time through the Wake

Neal Meyer performs John Cage's text piece Writing for the Second Time Through Finnegan's Wake (drawn from James Joyce's novel) in observance of the 20th Anniversary of Cage's passing (August 12), and of the hundredth anniversary of his birth (September 5). Cage's hour-long composition will be performed from memory, with sound engineering by Jake Thompson.

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ILLUHA + En + Marcus Fischer

Tomoyoshi Date and Corey Fuller, both currently residing in Tokyo, began collaborating as ILLUHA in 2008. Recorded in a historic 100+ year old church in Bellingham, WA, Shizuku is their debut album for 12k.

San Francisco duo En is Maxwell August Croy and James Devane. Using various instruments fed through an array of complex systems and software, En create resplendently textured, carefully crafted waves of dream-inducing sound evoking the unplaceable nostalgia associated with the imaginary landscapes of memory.

Marcus Fischer is a musician & multimedia artist with early roots in the LA independent music scene, now living in Portland. Field recordings, chance, and DIY instruments, coupled with acoustic instrumentation and visual art, define what has become his minimal signature.

read more → ILLUHA + En + Marcus Fischer

Mouth of Gravity

Mouth of Gravity is a trio of modern improvisation acousticians, featuring renowned saxophonist and music guru Denney Goodhew performing on piano (and various accoutrement), globe-trotting, multi-faceted guitarist Mark Oi, and dimensional drum ace Adam Kessler.

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Substrata: Widesky + Loscil + Hecker + Pan•American

Substrata 1.2 continues: Widesky (New Mexico); Loscil (Vancouver); Tim Hecker (Montreal); Pan•American (Chicago)

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Substrata: English + Scanner + Menche

Substrata 1.2 is the second edition of Seattle’s intimate weekend festival exploring varying perspectives of scale though the use of sound, composition and visuals. The first night explores the breadth of the spectrum of amplified sound, from the acoustic and environmental, the synthetic and processed, to the timbres hidden in radio signals and the distortion of electricity itself. Expect an evening of both extreme dynamics and subtle susurration, of immersion in nuanced tonalities and the lashing of dissonant cascades. Lawrence English (Australia); Robin Rimbaud, aka Scanner (London); Daniel Menche (Portland)

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Free Form Flute

With deep roots in free improvisation, new jazz and classical music old and new, Robert Dick (NYC) has established himself as an artist who has redefined the flute, his music going wherever his imagination and boundless chops flow to at any moment. Clifford Dunn (Seattle) has premiered nearly 100 new works for flute, and has received commissions by dozens of ensembles and individual performers. John C. Savage (Portland) has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, and Ian Anderson. Paul Taub (Seattle) is a founding member of the world famous Seattle Chamber Players.

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GRID

In GRID, we set ourselves as the audience: to each other, to sound, to the space between sounds. We may borrow a theme as a street corner, a place to meet. We may play familiar instruments or objects we’ve never touched before. We may use principles of conducting to shape, to communicate. But the intention is to listen, and then: to get in.

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Earshot: Robin Holcomb + BUZZ

Presented by Earshot Jazz. Jazz: The Second Century is our open question to that artistic community: So, what’s happening now? Robin Holcomb is a prolific singer, pianist, composer and songwriter with influences from free jazz piano to folk music and world percussion. Her Second Century solo piano performance recalls her 2006 Tzadik release John Brown’s Body. Also performing tonight, Wayne Horvitz’s BUZZ group. BUZZ is Hovitz on piano and electronics, Geoff Harper on bass, Kate Olson on sax and Steve O’Brien on trumpet.

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Chris Stover's Acquired Involuntary Narcissism

Seattle trombone giant Chris Stover returns from New York with his band Acquired Involuntary Narcissism, playing his original compositions as well as "recompositions" of music by Elvis Costello, Bob Marley, and Johannes Brahms. It's a mix of new and old music, covering a wide range of expressive ground: lush, lyrical textures; far-reaching dissonances, subtly shifting compositional processes, and powerful grooves. With Stuart MacDonald, Steve Treseler, Eric Barber, James DeJoie (reeds); Greg Lyons, Thomas Marriott, Al Keith (trumpets); Andy Clausen, Nelson Bell (trombones); Bill Anschell, John Silverman, Greg Williamson (rhythm).

read more → Chris Stover's Acquired Involuntary Narcissism

Jen Boyd + Susie Kozawa

California-based sound artist Jen Boyd records sounds in her environment and arranges them into layered soundscapes, using contact microphones to explore the textures and timbres in trees and other found objects. Some sounds unfold naturally while others are processed. While her work mostly relies on 'natural' sounds she uses a wide variety of sound sources to paint sonic pictures for the listener. Seattle's own Susie Kozawa shares the evening, with her witty blend of found objects and homemade instruments.

read more → Jen Boyd + Susie Kozawa

Burn List + MetriLodic

Burn List features trumpeter Cuong Vu, tenor saxophonist Greg Sinibaldi, keyboardist Aaron Otheim, and drummer Chris Icasiano. Having been on the forefront of the scene as established veterans, Vu and Sinibaldi each offer unique compositional approaches and styles that have helped shape the newest generation of musicians in Seattle. Icasiano and Otheim are, in part, products of those contributions, pushing to create a new sonic approach to the music and group improvisation. Siphoned through the band’s collective aesthetics, the music freely crisscrosses genres resulting in a new musical sound that is thoughtful, energetic, current and original.

MetriLodic is is Eric Barber (saxophone, loops, iPad and synth), Byron Vannoy (drums) and Paul Kemmish (electric bass). Eric Barber's MetriLodic is an all-original, freely improvised trio that breaks most of the rules of groove-based ensembles. Featuring Eric Barber on sax and electronics, this band creates a sonic palette that is simultaneously complex and entertaining. With longtime collaborators PK on electric bass and Byron Vannoy on drums, this band take rhythm, meter, groove, and melody in a new direction.

read more → Burn List + MetriLodic

Earshot: Bill Horist + Trio Orangutan

Presented by Earshot Jazz. Seattle guitarist Bill Horist has worked with John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Stuart Dempster, Trey Gunn, Secret Chiefs 3, Shazaad Ismaily, Saadet Turkoz, Jack Wright, Amy Denio, Eyvind Kang, Paul Hoskin, Wally Shoup, Paul Kikuchi, Jessica Lurie, Tucker Martine and Master Musicians of Bukkake, Axolotl and the Paul Rucker Ensemble, in addition to extensive solo activity. Trio Orangutan is Kate Olson (soprano sax), Naomi Siegel (trombone) and Jason Levis (percussion). They play composed pieces and improvise in search of the “timbral possibilities of trombone, soprano and percussion.”

read more → Earshot: Bill Horist + Trio Orangutan

Seattle Occultural Music Festival Ends!

The final concert of the last Seattle Occultural Music Festival features Port of the Sun, Cohosh, and Drone for Peace in the Key of F, with Neil Welch, John Teske, David Balatero Jacob Zimmerman, Chris Icasiano, Jen Gilleran, Bryxan Amsterdam, Michaud Savage, Aslan Rife, Derek M. Johnson, Spencer Grossman, Brendon Hohmann, Michal Szostalo, and more.

read more → Seattle Occultural Music Festival Ends!

Ask the Ages + Moraine

Ask the Ages and Moraine team up for a benefit concert in remembrance of the victims of the Cafe Racer tragedy, whose lives touched our own in countless ways. We're also greatly honored that master musician Stuart Dempster has written a piece to be performed by both bands together! If you can only make it out to one show this month, let this be the one, and please donate generously to the Cafe Racer victims' recovery fund.

read more → Ask the Ages + Moraine

Earshot: MetriLodic + Lil Coop Sextet

Presented by Earshot Jazz. Jazz: The Second Century is our open question to that artistic community: So, what’s happening now? Their answers can be heard on Thursday evenings in July.

MetriLodic is saxophonist Eric Barber, drummer Byron Vannoy, and bassist Paul Kemmish (PK). The trio uses groove and meter, not always linear, as a launch for all original improvisations. Barber brings his global influences as a collaborator in India, Iran and the Balkans to the ensemble. Lil Coop Sextet is a new ensemble from Monktail Creative Music Concern's bassist and director John Seman (bass), with Mark Ostrowski (drums), Stephen Fandrich (piano), Bill Monto (alto sax), Darian Asplund (tenor sax) and Robby Beasley (trumpet).

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Fred Sturm plays Federico Ibarra

Presented by Nonsequitur. New Mexico-based pianist Fred Sturm has specialized in the music of Latin America for over twenty-five years, most recently focusing on the music of Mexican composers, and Federico Ibarra in particular, performing all of Ibarra’s piano works over a series of concerts devoted to music of Mexico and Spain.

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Lori Goldston & Dana Reason

Lori Goldston, cello and Dana Reason, piano. Duo improvisations.

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Rob Angus + Rea/Masters

Best known for their electric playing in instrumental bands such as Moraine and Outhouse, adventurous guitarists Dennis Rea and Ken Masters pair up for a rare acoustic outing on a variety of guitars. The duo will be augmented for part of their set by violinist Karl Scheer. 

Rob Angus builds kinetic ambient-industrial soundscapes using a variety of acoustic instruments and toys to generate sounds that are manipulated, layered, and sent out into a multi-channel surround-sound system.

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The Harvard Trio

The Harvard Trio performs Alexander Zemlinsky, Trio Op. 3 for clarinet, cello and piano; John Ireland, Trio in D minor for clarinet, cello and piano; Rick Sowash, The View from Carew for clarinet, cello and piano; Daniel Schnyder, A Friday Night in August for clarinet, cello and piano.

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Keith Eisenbrey

Seattle composer/pianist Keith Eisenbrey performs his own compositions, as well as exciting works by local composers Emily Doolittle and Aaron Keyt, and J. K. Randall’s exhaustive and exquisitely strange study of the spaces between notes, Greek Nickel #1. The program will also include Eisenbrey's recently renovated Sonata in Two Movements (1988), and the first public performance of Seven Cues Without Film (1984).

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David Stutz - AM Turing: Automatic Elegy

Composer David Stutz weaves new chant and experimental vocal music together with electronic drones, field recordings, the sound of looms, and percussion to create a ritualized tribute to computer scientist and mathematician Alan Turing. The concert takes place amidst an installation based on artifacts from Turing's life and work, with gentle mechanical sounds, spoken word, and synthesized electronic drones, all algorithmically derived from Turing's own mathematical work. With Geoff Shilling, Perri Lynch, Beth Glosten, Jim Bennett, Erika Chang, Linda Strandberg, David Krueger, Markdavin Obenza, Josh Haberman, and Dean Moore.

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Bee Mask + Matt Calrson + Spare Death Icon

Presented by Gift Tapes and Debacle Records

Bee Mask is a project of Chris Madak (Philadelphia), who over the course of thirty-plus releases has cultivated an intricately wrought and deeply warped sensibility that draws equally on the ecstatic human/machine couplings of 1970s west coast synthesis, the fractured gloss of sampler concrète, the iridescent thumbprint of High Minimalism on the IQ-decimating throb of trunk bass, and the barely-sublimated currents of vertigo and terror that course beneath the finest and most unsettling moments in the canon of home-recorded psychedelia. Matt Carlson is an active participant in Portland's underground and experimental music scene. In his recent music, he uses his body and voice to interact with a large analog modular synthesizer. Spare Death Icon is a solo project of Jason E. Anderson, head of the Gift Tapes/DRAFT label and half of synth duo Brother Raven. He employs "dated" synthesizers and drum machines to craft a sound recalling b-movie action and horror soundtracks, offset by influences from early 80's underground tape music and atmospheric ambient.

read more → Bee Mask + Matt Calrson + Spare Death Icon

Molten Vocals

Molten Vocals is a dynamic quintet of seasoned vocalists – Gina Sala, Christian Swenson, Rebekka Goldsmith, Joanne Lauterjung Kelly, and Kate Thompson – singing world scat, creating lush vocal landscapes, and popping a-cappella wheelies. They intend to unfold your mind, body, and soul to the heart of the voice through improvisation in an evening of music never to be heard again.

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Better World

New York drummer extraordinaire Bob Meyer returns to the northwest! Bob has garnered praise throughout the planet with his rhythmic prowess, performing with, among others, Joe Lavano, John Abercrombie, Kenny Werner, Glenn Moore, Jacki Byard, Gary Peacock, Bert Wilson, Mal Waldron, David Friesen, Diane Schurr, Jim Pepper and Itzhak Perlman! Tonight he's joined by Marc Smason (trombone), Craig Hoyer (piano), and Michael Barnett (bass) in a combo known as Better World.

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Seattle Rock Orchestra

Seattle Rock Orchestra closes its season with all new rock-inspired compositions by SRO's in-house team of composers: Scott Teske, Ian Williams, Emily Westman, Andrew Josyln, and Barry Uhl, plus winners of SRO's first annual composition contest: Alex Guy, Michael Owcharuk, and John Teske.

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Chris Cochrane + Climax Golden Twins

Presented by Nonsequitur. One of downtown NYC's great, unsung guitar heroes, Chris Cochrane's raw, angular guitar style embraces a gamut of tender, bluesy lyricism and harsh noise. Tonight he performs music from his new CD, Them (Tzadik), composed for a 1985 performance with choreographer Ishmael Houston-Jones and writer Dennis Cooper. Climax Golden Twins is the inscrutable and ever-morphing sonic beast animated by Rob Millis and Jeffrey Taylor. Together, individually and with others, they push the definition of a "band" to its limits, making live movie soundtracks, gallery installations, weird ethnographic films, and deeply immersing themselves in the dusty, crackling grooves of old 78s.

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Lalage + Asplund/Campbell Trio

Lalage is the duo of poet, librettist, playwright, screenwriter, and singer Lara Candland and Canadian-American composer/performer Christian Asplund. Co-founders of Seattle Experimental Opera, as a team they have composed A Girl’s Body at Crepuscule, The Archivist, Floralesque, Liquid Girls, and Sunset with Pink Pastoral. Lalage layers text, drones and live sampling, using only vocal sounds made by Candland during their performances. The naked human voice is heard, transformed into celestial chorales, words are understood, then reduced to shimmering shards laced with new meaning.

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Neal Kosaly-Meyer & friends: John Cage tribute

An evening of solo compositions, and one ensemble piece, spanning the career of John Cage, in the year of his one hundredth birthday.
Sonata - William O. Smith, clarinet
One7 - Neal Meyer, voice
In a Landscape - Melissa Walsh, harp
Solo - Stuart Dempster, trombone
Four6 - Stuart Dempster, Neal Meyer, William O. Smith, Melissa Walsh (any way of producing sounds)

read more → Neal Kosaly-Meyer & friends: John Cage tribute

S. Eric Scribner

S. Eric Scribner (piano), new works, with Matt Kocmierowski and Keith Eisenbrey (found objects); Bruce Greeley (bass clarinet); Natalie Mai Hall (cello); and Mike Sentkewitz (string bass). Includes SoundScrolls VII for a trio of bass instruments; Four Places on Planet Earth for found objects and prerecorded sound; and Ukiyo-e, an extended piece for solo piano.

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SMO: Music on Paintings

For its season finale, Seattle Modern Orchestra presents two pieces where the ideas and emotions unique to the visual arts are transformed into music. To start the program, French composer Hugues Dufourt's L'Asie d'aprés Tiepolo (2009) reflects on Italian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo's Allegory of the Planets and Continents (1752), while the second half features the celebrated Rothko Chapel (1971) by American composer Morton Feldman.

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Many Duo + Sue Ann Harkey/Tari Nelson-Zagar

The Many Duo (Matt Williams, guitar; Kevin Haag, percussion) will perform improvised music in celebration of their new release, improvised democracy, which explores the tension between living joyfully and creatively amidst societal decline. Sue Ann Harkey (prepared 12 string guitar) and Tari Nelson-Zagar (violin) will play an improvisational duet to begin the evening.

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Monktail Composers' Series, Vol. 9

Presented by Monktail Creative Music Concern. Kenneth Mandell (sax, flute) presents new compositions for solo sax and sax/bass duo, and structured improvisations with Bill Monto (sax), John Seman (bass), Stephen Fandrich (Piano), Simon Henneman (guitar), and Don Berman (drums).

read more → Monktail Composers' Series, Vol. 9

Novi_sad

Living and working in Athens, Greece, Novi_sad explores sound as sensation, pulling apart its physical properties to reveal its relationship with human perception. Amplified environmental recordings, drone manipulations, structured ambient soundscapes, microtones and overtones based on various methods of audio analysis and quantitative and numerical data derived from various non-musical sources.

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Nat Evans, Christopher Roberts, Jim Fox

Composer Nat Evans presents a program of recent West Coast music that explores the aesthetics of nature and place. Christopher Roberts will play Last Cicada Singing, his serene, entrancing suite of four pieces for solo qin. Nat Evans presents Still Life with Transmigration, a new work for field recordings, trombones, conch shells, and other natural objects. Jim Fox’s The pleasure of being lost is a suite of five short piano pieces with or without a recorded backdrop; pianist Cristina Valdes premieres it in its unaccompanied form.

read more → Nat Evans, Christopher Roberts, Jim Fox

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. Everyone is welcome! Join us this month for an evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers Anne Cummings, Emily Doolittle, Steve Scribner, Yvonne Hoar.

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GRID

GRID formed after random meetings between like-minded crazy people. Gregg Keplinger, Sean Lane, Andrew Rudd, CJ Stout, Erica Carlson and Jen Gilleran have played with a bunch of different folks over the years in all different settings all over the country and in some other countries. GRID offers us the opportunity to play out instincts and to structure the edges – doing our best to create opportunity. Our guest this performance is Robert Price from Brooklyn.

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Confluence/Influence

The Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble has joined forces with Karin Stevens Dance to produce an evening of new work created through an idiosyncratic Composer/Choreographer pairing. Four composers have been paired with four choreographers to generate the new work, together, from the ground up. Featured artists: Karin Stevens Dance + Michael Owcharuk, UMAMI Performance + Beth Fleenor, Amy Weaver + Catherine Grealish, and Khambatta Dance Company + Stephen Fandrich.

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Confluence/Influence

The Seattle Jazz Composers Ensemble has joined forces with Karin Stevens Dance to produce an evening of new work created through an idiosyncratic Composer/Choreographer pairing. Four composers have been paired with four choreographers to generate the new work, together, from the ground up. Featured artists: Karin Stevens Dance + Michael Owcharuk, UMAMI Performance + Beth Fleenor, Amy Weaver + Catherine Grealish, and Khambatta Dance Company + Stephen Fandrich.

read more → Confluence/Influence

Pacific Exchange 2012

The Pacific Exchange concert series brings composers and performers from diverse areas of the Pacific Rim together in order to exchange ideas and emphasize their commonalities. This year’s Pacific Exchange events have taken place in Tokyo, the SF Bay Area, and now Seattle, featuring new music and collaborations by Paul Kikuchi (Seattle) with his group Portable Sanctuary, and the Thingamajigs Performance Group (Oakland). Pacific Exchange 2012 is co-presented by Prefecture Records.

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Adrienne Varner, piano

Pianist Adrienne Varner performs music for solo piano: Philip Glass, Opening; Janice Giteck, Tara's Love Will Melt the Sword; Henry Cowell, The Tides of Manaunan and The Voice of Lir; Jarrad Powell, Ellie and Prelude; John Cage, In A Landscape and Dream; Bunita Marcus, Sugar Cubes (for John Cage).

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Gavin Bryars: The Sinking of the Titanic

Presented by Nonsequitur. Composer Steve Peters and over thirty Seattle artists commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Titanic tragedy with an epic realization of The Sinking of the Titanic (1969), by British composer Gavin Bryars. The three-hour performance features six different half-hour segments of improvisations based on hymns played by the ship's band as she sank: winds (trombonist Stuart Dempster, trumpeter Lesli Dalaba, clarinetist Beth Fleenor, contrabass clarinetist Paul Hoskin, French hornist Greg Campbell); strings (violinists Claude Ginsburg, Tari Nelson-Zagar, and Mara Sedlins, cellists Paul Rucker and Lori Goldston, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes); free reeds (Amy Denio, Marchette DuBois, Steven Arntson, Tiffany Lin); solo piano by Robin Holcomb; and chorus. Also: Toy piano by Tiffany Lin! Period 78s on vintage Victrolas by Climax Golden Twins! Field recordings by the Seattle Phonographers Union! Electronic processing by Joshua Parmenter! Percussion by Dean Moore and Dale Speicher! Video projections by Killing Frenzy!

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Natalie Lerch & Guinever Saenger

Come experience the visions of spring through the music of Messiaen, Crumb and Heggie - and featuring music by Seattle composers, David Duvall and Don Skirvin. The music in this concert evokes images of birdsong, rustling leaves, moonlight and the spring-like weather we crave! Performed by soprano Natalie Lerch and pianist Guinevere Saenger.

read more → Natalie Lerch & Guinever Saenger

Jay Hamilton: Who are you, and how do you know?

Jay Hamilton & the Turtling Dithers ( Maurice Colasurdo, Roger Nelson, Paul Karaitis). Who are you, and how do you know? explores how we perceive ourselves, how we think we are perceived, and how we are remembered. The piece is in three sections: the Overture sets out some ideas about this; Lir, based on a story in Brut by a secular English priest circa 1200, is about building an empire to be remembered. Enkidu, from Gilgamesh legend, is about how even shards can keep us remembered thousands of years later.

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Clifford Dunn, Anne LaBerge, Lisa Miller

Improvisations and compositions by Clifford Dunn, flute and electronics; Anne LaBerge, flute; Lisa Miller, piano; with guests Tom Baker, guitar and Jessika Kenney, voice.

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SCRAPE + Bill Frisell: Village

Scrape, an original music string orchestra, performs a selection of recent music by Bill Frisell, including pieces from the Sign of Life and Kaddish suites, composed at the Vermont Studio Center in 2010/11. Also on the program are pieces by Eyvind Kang and James Knapp, featuring Bill Frisell as soloist, and vocalist Jessika Kenney.

read more → SCRAPE + Bill Frisell: Village

SCRAPE + Bill Frisell: Village

Scrape, an original music string orchestra, performs a selection of recent music by Bill Frisell, including pieces from the Sign of Life and Kaddish suites, composed at the Vermont Studio Center in 2010/11. Also on the program are pieces by Eyvind Kang and James Knapp, featuring Bill Frisell as soloist, and vocalist Jessika Kenney.

read more → SCRAPE + Bill Frisell: Village

Anton Batagov: Drowned Cathedral, Pt. 2

Presented by DoubleSharp. Distinguished Russian composer/pianist Anton Batagov returns to Seattle with the Drowned Cathedral project, offering three recitals with different programs each night. This second concert is devoted entirely to Batagov's own compositions for solo piano. [A third concert on Sunday, March 31 at 7:30 PM - not part of the Wayward Music Series - will feature the music of J.S. Bach.]

read more → Anton Batagov: Drowned Cathedral, Pt. 2

Anton Batagov: Drowned Cathedral, Pt. 1

Presented by DoubleSharp. Distinguished Russian composer/pianist Anton Batagov returns to Seattle with the Drowned Cathedral project, offering three recitals with different programs each night. This first concert pairs music of Philip Glass with Debussy's Twelve Preludes. [A third concert on Sunday, March 31 at 7:30 PM - not part of the Wayward Music Series - will feature the music of J.S. Bach.]

read more → Anton Batagov: Drowned Cathedral, Pt. 1

Magma Festival

Presented by Hollow Earth Radio, Bad for Jazz, Table & Chairs Music. Tonight’s event features four diverse performances by just a fraction of Seattle’s young and seasoned jazz interpreters: King Tears Bat Trip, Figeater, WA, T'th & Hare. All artists are expected to improvise their sets, making this a one-of-a-kind happening not to brush off the radar of must-attend shows.

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Seattle Pianist Collective

The Seattle Pianist Collective (Julie Ives, Brian Kinsella, Tiffany Lin, and Peter Vukmirovic Stevens) perform an unusual and eclectic program of works in the spirit of the “end times” and the apocalypse. Four players will feature piano works of Olivier Messiaen and other complementary piano and cello works including jazz and toy piano compositions.

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Magma Festival: 3 x 4

Presented by Hollow Earth Radio and Nonsequitur. Seattle's favorite online community radio station, throws this annual love fest for the local music community, presenting all kinds of music in venues all over town throughout the month of March. Tonight features four sets of eclectic improvised music by trios of similar instruments: Angelina Baldoz, Samantha Boshnack, Lesli Dalaba (trumpets); Byron Au Yong (erhu), Tari Nelson-Zagar (violin), Paul Rucker (cello); Beth Fleenor, Paul Hoskin, Jenny Zeifel (clarinets); Stuart Dempster, Paul Kikuchi, Susie Kozawa (percussion/toys/found stuff/homemades).

read more → Magma Festival: 3 x 4

The City As Allegory: Three from L.A.

Ambient electronic music in 6.1 surround sound by three emerging Los Angeles artists: Recently transplanted from Seattle to Los Angeles, Yann Novak is a sound, video, and installation artist. His sound/video installation, Blue.Hour, is currently showing at Jack Straw New Media Gallery in Seattle. Robert Crouch is an artist and curator who works across a wide range of media including photography, sound, installation, video, and sculpture. Sublamp is sound and video artist Ryan Connor. Using textural sound and images, he explores an intuitive and emotional response to sensory experiences.

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Monktail Composers Series, Vol. 8

Presented by Monktail Creative Music Concern. Monktail Composers Series Vol. 8 features new music from Stephen Parris, Bill Monto, and Gust Burns with performances by Adrian Varner, Beth Fleenor, Stephen Fandrich, Paul Hoskin, Darian Asplund, Kenny Mandell, Mara Sedlins, and Jonathan Way.

read more → Monktail Composers Series, Vol. 8

Andy Clausen: "Wishbone Suite" CD Release

Seattle native/New York-based composer and trombonist Andy Clausen celebrates the release of a new album of pieces workshopped and fine-tuned over the last year-and-a-half by his Wishbone Ensemble. The album, The Wishbone Suite, is being released on Seattle label Table & Chairs. Acoustic guitar duo Thousands opens the show.

read more → Andy Clausen: "Wishbone Suite" CD Release

Electro-Gals

Presented by Nonsequitur. Electrogals is an organization dedicated to promoting and inspiring electronic music and digital art by women. For this show, collective members Christi Denton (Portland), Briana Marela (Olympia), and Heather Perkins (Portland) employ hand-built electronic instruments, cassette-deck-loopers, vocoders, electric guitar, hand-coded music software, and gesture-operated synthesizers, to create rich sonic environments.

read more → Electro-Gals

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. Everyone is welcome! Join us this month for an evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers Jay Hamilton, Clement Reid, John Teske, and Terry Wergeland.

read more → Seattle Composers' Salon

Adam Tendler: Cage's Sonatas & Interludes

Presented by Nonsequitur. John Cage was at Cornish College in Seattle in 1940, when he was asked by Syvilla Fort to score a new dance called Bacchanale. He was mainly writing percussion music then, but the stage was too small to accommodate his instruments. He placed a variety of objects between and on the strings of a piano, thus putting "in the hands of a single pianist the equivalent of an entire percussion orchestra." Cage went on to compose many works for "prepared piano," including the wonderful Sonatas & Interludes (1946-48). Tonight, acclaimed pianist Adam Tendler performs the complete 70-minute work from memory.

read more → Adam Tendler: Cage's Sonatas & Interludes

Crystal Beth

Crystal Beth* (multi-instrumentalist/composer Beth Fleenor) spins sound using voice, clarinet, loops and effects, weaving a participatory aural ritual that encompasses Fleenor's body of urban tribal chants & improvisations, alien disco breaks and robot love songs.

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Jim Bartz/StringStation

The StringStation is a new guitar-like instrument that combines 40 strings with a vast array of original perspective and new technique. An accelerated music evolution designed by former Passport recording artist and engineer/producer Jim Bartz.

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Viva Vocalists: Two One-Act Operas

Viva Vocalists, the first class taught through Fisher Ensemble’s new education division, led by instructors Shawna Avinger and Kristen Ramer Liang, presents two one-act operas: Kurt Weill's Down In The Valley (1945-1948) combines American folk tunes with strikingly modern harmonies to tell the Depression-era tale of two star-crossed lovers. Douglas Moore's Gallantry (1958) pokes fun at the melodramatic world of television soap operas.

read more → Viva Vocalists: Two One-Act Operas

Viva Vocalists: Two One-Act Operas

Viva Vocalists, the first class taught through Fisher Ensemble’s new education division, led by instructors Shawna Avinger and Kristen Ramer Liang, presents two one-act operas: Kurt Weill's Down In The Valley (1945-1948) combines American folk tunes with strikingly modern harmonies to tell the Depression-era tale of two star-crossed lovers. Douglas Moore's Gallantry (1958) pokes fun at the melodramatic world of television soap operas.

read more → Viva Vocalists: Two One-Act Operas

Quatrain

Quatrain is a small ensemble with the core instrumentation of Taina Karr (oboe/English horn), Mary Riles (cello), and Moriah Neils (double bass) that performs contemporary repertoire. For this concert we will present four works with wide-ranging style, including music by Mark Jurcisin and Seattle composers Eyvind Kang, Jherek Bischoff, and Sarah Bassingthwaighte. With guest performers Maria Mannisto (soprano), Heather Bentley (violin), and Monica Schley (harp).

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Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. Made possible in part by support from the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Now in its 27th year, the Seattle Improvised Music Festival is the longest running festival of its kind in North America. This year’s festival features visionary musicians visiting from Tokyo, Berlin, Arizona, BC, Philadelphia, Portland and of course Seattle, performing in solo and duos, as well as first-time collaborations with Seattle Improvisers. For a complete list of artists, instrumentation, and bios, go here.

Wednesday, February 8
Jeph Jerman / Jonathan Way / Matthieu Ruhlmann
Paul Hoskin / Lance Olsen / Wilson Shook / John Teske / Mark Collins
The Seattle Phonographers Union
Jamie Drouin / Lance Olsen / Mattieu Ruhlmann

Thursday, February 9
Jamie Drouin / John Teske / Matthieu Ruhlmann / Jonathan Way
Taku Sugimoto composition
Mara Sedlins / Jamie Drouin / Lance Olsen / Mark Collins / Jack Wright
Paul Hoskin / Jeph Jerman / Doug Theriault

Friday, February 10
Matthew Carlson / Jason Anderson
Jack Wright / Gust Burns / Tim DuRoche
Jonathan Way / Tyler Wilcox / Jeph Jerman / Mara Sedlins
Taku Sugimoto solo

Saturday, February 11
Tim DuRoche / Tari Nelson-Zagar / Wilson Shook / Mark Collins / Doug Theriault
Jack Wright solo
Taku Sugimoto / Jeph Jerman / Tyler Wilcox / Gust Burns
Large ensemble

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Leviathan Worship Service + Derek Johnson + Ffej

Leviathan Worship Service creates a cocktail of space-age drone with uncontrollable noise through the keyboards and percussion of J. James Taylor and the guitar and theremin of B. Arthur Rouda. Utilizing broken loops and a bi-polar guitar they construct improvised and meditative soundscapes.

Olympia cellist Derek M. Johnson plays the acoustic/electric cello in non-traditional and improvisational settings, often as a soundtrack to a hand-made, direct animation slide show of his own creation.

Ffej is an analog synthesist, songwriter and sound artist on the run from normality. His experimental compositions defy description as does his multifaceted musical life. As well as playing his own material solo, he has participated in a number of group projects including Mutant Data Orchestra, Chaosmosis and has been a key member of the Sonicabal, a Seattle based collective of experimental musicians. He is the man behind Seattle's online creative music calendar, Cognitive Dissidents.

read more → Leviathan Worship Service + Derek Johnson + Ffej

SIMF Benefit: One-Minute Solos

A broad range of Seattle musicians improvise solos, each lasting one minute, in support of the 2012 Seattle Improvised Music Festival. Performers include Andrew Joslyn, Andrew Olmstead, Begin Scarseth, Brad Hawkins, Bruce Greeley, Cynthia Marie, Eric Rynes, Gust Burns, Ivan Arteaga, Jason Parker, Jim Knodle, John Teske, Justin Parker, Mara Sedlins, Michael Owcharuk, Michael Sentkewitz, Natalie Mai Hall, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, Neil Welch, Schraepfer Harvey, Steve Scribner, Wilson Shook and more.

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Marc Barreca & Doug Haire

Marc Barreca (digital accordion, computer/electronics) and Doug Haire (field recordings) together create a layered, multi-channel sonic environment, blending phonography, loop-based textures and live electronic instruments.

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The Box Is Empty plays Lang & Reich

The Box Is Empty, Seattle’s newest contemporary music ensemble, performs David Lang’s Pulitzer-prize-winning the little match girl passion (Northwest premiere) and Steve Reich’s Proverb. With Maria Mannisto and Christina Siemens, sopranos; Kathea Yarnell, alto; Mark Leuning and Brian Winnie, Tenors; Tim Blok and Yigit Kolat, electric organs; Becca Baggenstoss and Denali Williams, percussion. Jeremiah Cawley, conductor.

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Manna Presence

Manna Presence performs acoustic/electro-acoustic improvisations plus songs from the last 5 years by Serge Gubelman (words/vocals, didgeridu, hang, percussion, dulcimer, waterphone) and Mark Fauver (guide of the “digital brain”, keyboards, windsynth, kalimba). With support by Bill Patton (Gold Leaves, Low Hums), Davis Martin (LeRoy Bell, Maktub), Jane Hall (Spirit House, House of Tarab), Mark Renner (Spirit House, Angel Aparicio), and Terrance Stearns (Spirit House, Superkali, Red Rose Thieves).

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RONIN 3 + Ask the Ages

RONIN 3 features Kenny Mandell (sax,flute/percussion), Don Berman (drums), and Simon Henneman (guitars) performing original, unadulterated, uncompromising avant/new jazz in the tradition of the Art Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, and other adventurous souls.

read more → RONIN 3 + Ask the Ages