LIVE CONCERT SPOTLIGHT: April 9-14

by Maggie Molloy

This week’s crazy concert calendar has burgers, brews, British acousmatics, and Bach!

UW School of Music and DXARTS Presents Jonty Harrison

Jonty Harrison

Jonty Harrison

In today’s innovative arts scene, you can make music from just about anything. Computers, sound clips, found objects—anything is fair game. But in recent decades British composer Jonty Harrison has been pushing the envelope even further, popularizing the notion that perhaps even the concert hall itself can be an instrument of musical expression.

Harrison is highly regarded as one of the central figures behind the British acousmatic school of composition: a type of electroacoustic music which is specifically composed for presentation using speakers as opposed to live performance. In 1982, he founded BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), a sound diffusion system designed to present electronic music over an orchestra of loudspeakers. And this week, he is turning Seattle’s own Meany Theater into a stunning soundscape by presenting a variety of works from throughout his compositional career.

The performance is this Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the University of Washington’s Meany Theater.

Seattle Modern Orchestra Presents 21st Century Violin

21st Century Violin

Graeme Jennings

The violin has been one of the central solo instruments of Western music since the Baroque era—and even now, five centuries later, composers are still finding new ways of exploring this vibrant instrument’s vast sonic possibilities. This weekend, Seattle Modern Orchestra will celebrate a colorful palette of 21st century violin music in a special concert featuring Australian violinist Graeme Jennings.

Jennings will perform the world premiere of a piece written for him by Seattle Modern Orchestra co-Artistic Director, Jérémy Jolley. The piece, titled “Controclessidra,” is scored for violin and electric guitar. Next on the program, Jennings will tackle Luciano Berio’s virtuosic “Sequenza VIII” for solo violin, the U.S. premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino’s translucent “Le Stagioni Artificiali,” and finally, Franco Donatoni’s melodic and modal “Spiri.”

The performance is this Saturday, April 11 at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. A pre-concert presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the performance will begin at 8 p.m.

Bach, Brews, and Burgers at Naked City Brewery

Early Music Underground

Early Music Underground

What does Bach have to do with burgers? More than you might think. This weekend, Early Music Underground and Naked City Brewery are teaming up to present “Bach, Brews, and Burgers,” an evening of Baroque music in a not-so-Baroque setting: a local brewery and bar.

The concert setting may be new, but the music is classic—after all, if it’s not Baroque, don’t fix it, right? Feast your ears on the musical works of J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Johann Fasch, and Frantisek Tuma, performed by flautist Joshua Romatowski, violinist Steve Creswell, bassoonist Ron Evans, and harpsichordist Henry Lebedinsky.

Fun fact: C.P.E. Bach was known as “the Hamburg Bach” since he spent 20 years working as music director at the court in Hamburg, Germany (from which the American “hamburger” is derived). His famous “Hamburger Sonata” is on the program (or should we say menu?) for the evening’s performance.

The concert is next Tuesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. at Naked City Brewery in Greenwood.

For more concert listings, check out Second Inversion’s event calendar.

LIVE CONCERT SPOTLIGHT: February 5-10

by Maggie Molloy

“Baroque-N-Hearts,” eighth blackbird, and a brassy quartet are just a few of this week’s music events to help you start your February off right!

30th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival

ballon-600x400

Seattle’s favorite musical improvisers may be used to flying by the seat of their pants, but this weekend they’ve got some pretty big plans: the 30th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival. The three-day festival highlights the growth and expansion of new and experimental music in Seattle by featuring local and guest artists.

This Thursday, catch the electro-clarinet concoctions of Matthew Ostrowski and Paul Hoskin followed by a quartet of trumpets and trombones. Friday’s lineup features electronics, found objects, and plenty of jazzy, snazzy brass. And finally, Saturday will feature saxophonist Neil Welch joined by two harpists, as well as two different trios featuring electric guitar: one alongside cello and drums and the other alongside trumpet and electronics.

The festival is this Thursday, Feb. 5, through Saturday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. each night at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.

eighth blackbird on the UW World Series

eighth-blackbird

“I know noble accents and lucid, inescapable rhythms; but I know, too, that the blackbird is involved in what I know,” wrote the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens in his 1917 poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

It is from this verse that the Chicago-based new music ensemble eighth blackbird takes its name. The group combines the virtuosity and finesse of their classical music training with the energy and fearlessness of contemporary music.

This weekend, the sextet is coming through Seattle to perform an all-acoustic recital featuring works by György Ligeti, the National’s Bryce Dessner, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, and several other contemporary composers.

The performance is this Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse Theater at University of Washington.

Seattle Pro Musica’s New Sounds Northwest

Choir in Rehearsal

The Northwest is known for its beautiful mountain ranges, its gorgeous coastlines, and its lush forestry—with all of these breathtaking landscapes, it’s no wonder our region’s composers are so inspired. This weekend, Seattle Pro Musica is celebrating one of the most magnificent things about the Pacific Northwest: its music.

“New Sounds Northwest” is a series of outreach performances featuring new music by Northwest composers, performed by the celebrated Seattle Pro Musica choir. This weekend’s program features works by Morten Lauridsen, Vijay Singh, Brian Galante, Eric William Barnum, and more!

The performance is this Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tacoma. An additional performance is next Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore.

Early Music Underground Presents “Baroque-N-Hearts”

EMU

Whether you’re single or seeing someone, the new Early Music Underground has the perfect performance to put you in the Valentine’s Day mood. They’re teaming up with Naked City Brewery to present “Baroque-N-Hearts,” an evening of beautiful music, delightful company, and delicious food and drinks. Bach, brews, and burgers—sounds like a match made in heaven!

The event features Baroque music for (and against) Valentine’s Day performed by singer Madeline Bersamina, flutist Josh Romatowski, cellist Juliana Soltis, and harpsichordist Henry Lebedinsky.

“This is not museum music,” Lebedinsky said. “This is living, dynamic, passionate people playing music that can really connect and move people today, if given the chance.”

The performance is next Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at Naked City Brewery in Greenwood.