From Symphonic Premieres to Improvised Festivals: New Music for February

Posted on January 30, 2018 by maestrobeats

Second Inversion and the Live Music Project create a monthly calendar featuring contemporary classical, cross-genre, and experimental performances in Seattle, the Eastside, Tacoma, and places in between!

Keep an eye out for our this flyer in concert programs and coffee shops around town. Feel free to download, print, and distribute it yourself! If you’d like to be included on this list, submit your event to the Live Music Project at least 6 weeks prior to the event and tag it with “new music.”

Program Insert - February 2018

Wayward Music Series
Concerts of contemporary composition, free improvisation, electroacoustic music, and sonic experiments. This month: improvised musical games, digital synthesis, site-specific sounds works, and piano pieces with alliterative pretensions.
Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival: Ashley Bathgate
Cellist Ashley Bathgate is constantly pushing the boundaries of traditional cello repertoire with her performances of contemporary, avant-garde, and experimental works. For this performance she plays music with and without electronics by Steve Reich, Martin Bresnick, Fjola Evans, Emily Cooley, and Alex Weiser.
Thurs, 2/1, 8pm, Rainier Arts Center | $20

Karen Bentley Pollick: New York Women Composers
Violinist Karen Bentley Pollick premieres a new original solo violin piece in a program of music by New York women composers. Plus, Seattle violist Heather Bentley joins for the Washington premiere of Victoria Bond’s Woven for violin and viola.
Thurs, 2/1, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Matrio & Resonant Bodies
Taking its name from the Japanese word for “the space between two structural parts,” Matrio is an improvising collective that creates set-long experiences which explore the space between sound, noise, music, and silence. They’re joined by the jazz trumpet and percussion duo Resonant Bodies.
Thurs, 2/1, 8pm, The Royal Room | $8-$12

Byrd Ensemble: Paradise
There is no shortage of masterpieces about death and the afterlife. From Renaissance works to the early 20th century and the contemporary era, the Byrd Ensemble performs a program of the most hauntingly beautiful motets across the ages.
Sat, 2/3, 8pm, St. James Cathedral | $20-$30

200 Years of Music by Black Composers
Internationally acclaimed countertenor Reginald L. Mobley joins pianist Henry Lebedinsky for a program of music by Black composers from the Classical era to the present, including art songs, spirituals, and gospel. Featured composers include José Mauricio Nuñes Garcia, Florence B. Price, William Grant Still, and Harry Burleigh.
Wed, 2/7, 12pm, Christ Our Hope at the Josephinum | FREE

Seattle Symphony: David Lang World Premiere
David Lang is a pretty big deal in new music world. He’s a Pulitzer Prize and Grammy-winning composer, one of the founders of the Bang on a Can collective, the list goes on and on. This month the Seattle Symphony performs the world premiere of Lang’s symphony without a hero, playfully juxtaposed with a performance of Richard Strauss’s epic tone poem, A Hero’s Life.
Thurs, 2/8, 7:30pm, Benaroya Hall | $22-$74
Sat, 2/10, 8pm, Benaroya Hall | $22-$74

The Sound Ensemble: A Life Transformed
Seattle’s Sound Ensemble performs an evening of monumental works inspired by transformative experiences in either the life of the composer or the character of the piece. Featured works include Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, John Adams’ Chamber Symphony, and a new work by composer Kevin Clark.
Sat, 2/10, 7pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Seattle Improvised Music Festival
No scores, no plans, no safety net: just a whole bunch of artists from all different musical backgrounds collaborating in an atmosphere of spontaneity, intuition, and discovery. Featured performers include Tomeka Reid, Tom Baker, Evan Flory-Barnes, and many, many more.
Feb. 10-17, Various times and locations | $5-$15

Seattle Symphony: Celebrate Asia
Erhu and sitar soloists perform with the Seattle Symphony in their 10th annual Celebrate Asia concert featuring contemporary (and traditional) music by Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Indian composers. Arrive early and stay late for pre- and post-concert entertainment in the lobby.
Sun, 2/11, 4pm, Benaroya Hall | $29-$67

Opera on Tap
Local singers let their hair down and sing their hearts out, performing famous operatic masterpieces and hidden musical gems alike in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
Tues, 2/13, 7:30pm, Solo Bar | $10

Meany Center: Danish String Quartet
The internationally acclaimed Danish String Quartet performs traditional classical music alongside their own contemporary arrangements of Scandinavian folk music. Catch their intimate performance at Cafe Solstice or see them on the Meany Theater mainstage.
Tues, 2/13, 7pm, Cafe Solstice | FREE
Wed, 2/14, 7:30pm, Meany Theater | $40-$48

Emerald City Music: Spiritual Journey
Emerald City Music explores the power of the voice in chamber music through a program of 20th century songs and spirituals by Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and more.
Fri, 2/16, 8pm, 415 Westlake Ave, Seattle | $10-$45
Sat, 2/17, 7:30pm, Minnaert Center, Olympia | $10-$43

NOCCO: Vibrant Hearts – A Romanian Celebration
The North Corner Chamber Orchestra performs 20th century works inspired by Romanian folk music traditions, including compositions by George Enescu and Béla Bartók.
Sat, 2/17, 2pm, University Christian Church | $15-$25
Sun, 2/18, 7:30pm, The Royal Room | $15-$25

Philharmonia Northwest: Viva Americas!
The exhilarating colors and rhythms of Latin American music come alive in this concert featuring music by Astor Piazzolla, Silvestre Revueltas, Arturo Márquez, and a new commission by young Mexican composer Osvaldo Mendoza.
Sun, 2/25, 2:30pm, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church (Seattle) | $15-$20

LIVE BROADCAST: Third Coast Percussion Paddles to the Sea

Posted on January 23, 2018 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

Second Inversion presents a LIVE broadcast of Third Coast Percussion performing their original score for Paddle to the Sea, streaming worldwide this Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8pm PST. Click here to tune in.

A small wooden figure in a canoe is the protagonist of Holling C. Holling’s 1941 children’s book, Paddle to the Sea. Later adapted into an Oscar-nominated film, the story follows the epic journey of a small wooden boat that was carved and launched by a young Native Canadian boy.

“I am Paddle to the Sea” he inscribes on the bottom of the boat. “Please put me back in the water.”

Over the course of the film, the boat travels for many years from Northern Ontario through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway out to the Atlantic Ocean and far beyond—and each time it washes ashore, a kind stranger places it back in the water.

This Thursday Third Coast Percussion performs their own original live score for Paddle to the Sea alongside a screening of the film at Meany Center for the Performing Arts. The music will be released as an album on Feb. 9—but you can get an exclusive first listen during Second Inversion’s LIVE broadcast of the performance this Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8pm PST. (Streaming worldwide! Click here to tune in.)

Third Coast’s film score is inspired by and interspersed with music by Philip Glass and Jacob Druckman, along with traditional music of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. All of the music in the score is inspired by water, with Third Coast performing an entire ocean of sounds ranging from pitched desk bells to skittering wood blocks, ceramic tiles, bowls of water, and one particularly special instrument: the mbira.

The mbira is a thumb piano that plays a leading role in the Shona music from Zimbabwe. In fact, one of the pieces on the album, Chigwaya, is a traditional song used to call water spirits in the Shona religion—a song which was taught to Third Coast by their mentor Musekiwa Chingodza. By incorporating elements of their Western classical training with their study of the traditional music of the Shona people, Third Coast weaves together their own epic musical journey.

And in the spirit of Holling’s original story, the music itself becomes the small wooden boat: rather than keep it for themselves, the musicians add what they can and send the story out into the world again for others to discover.

Third Coast Percussion performs Paddle to the Sea on Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8pm at Meany Center for the Performing Arts. Click here for tickets and additional information.

LIVE VIDEO STREAM: A Far Cry on Friday, January 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET

Posted on January 19, 2018 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

England across the ages is the theme of tonight’s A Far Cry concert, poetically titled Albion after the oldest known name for the island of Great Britain. Join us Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET for a LIVE video stream of the Boston-based chamber orchestra as they perform music by a handful of England’s most iconic classical composers.

Internationally acclaimed tenor Nicholas Phan joins the orchestra for Benjamin Britten’s timeless Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31. Composed during World War II, the piece sets six poems by British poets on the subject of night, in all its darkness and splendor. Also on the program is Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 1950 Concerto Grosso for string orchestra, plus a Baroque throwback to the music of Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and Nicholas Lanier.

Visit this page tonight, Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET for a LIVE video of A Far Cry’s Albion, streaming right here:

Check out the full program below, and click here for program notes.

Henry Purcell
Overture and Air from King Arthur
Sweeter Than Roses
She Loves and She Confesses Too (arr. René Schiffer)

Matthew Locke
Lilk and Curtain Tune from The Tempest

Nicholas Lanier
No More Shall Meads be Deck’d with Flowers (arr. René Schiffer)

Matthew Locke
Prelude to Act V from The Fairy Queen
Evening Hymn (arr. René Schiffer)

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Concerto Grosso

INTERMISSION

Benjamin Britten
Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31
Nicholas Phan, tenor
Hazel Dean Davis, horn

To learn more about our live-streaming video broadcasts of A Far Cry, click here.

A Far Cry’s Albion performance streams live on this page on Friday, Jan. 19 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. For more information about the orchestra, please click here.

Music for Troubled Times: SMCO Performs Gabriela Lena Frank

Posted on January 18, 2018 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

Music is one of the great unifiers of our humanity, particularly in times of political division and social unrest. This Saturday, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra reflects on today’s troubled times with a message of hope and a program of music that unites traditions old and new, near and far.

The concert, titled “Journeys of Discovery and Hope,” begins with a composer whose life and music embodies her own cross-cultural heritage. Born to a mother of mixed Peruvian/Chinese ancestry and a father of Lithuanian/Jewish descent, Gabriela Lena Frank’s music draws from her extensive travels in South America, her studies of Latin American folklore, and her background in the Western classical music tradition.

“In our day and age it’s important that classical music is not seen as an aged art form that is reserved for people who occupy a certain stereotype: white, affluent, elderly,” said SMCO Music Director Geoffrey Larson. “Gabriela Lena Frank’s music makes a compelling statement that this genre belongs to all people and cultures, and is alive with great variety and diversity.”

Under Larson’s baton this Saturday, SMCO performs Frank’s Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout for string chamber orchestra. Mixing elements of Western classical with Andean folk music traditions, the piece draws on the concept of mestizaje as envisioned by the Peruvian writer José María Arguedas, where cultures can coexist without the subjugation of one by the other. Across its six short movements, Leyendas uses Western classical instruments to emulate the rich timbres and harmonic textures of Andean instruments such as the panpipe and the tarka—and also to depict the vibrant characters of Andean history and folklore.

“With the influence of her own heritage, Frank creates music with fierce Peruvian-derived rhythms and fascinating allusions to traditional instruments,” Larson said. “She brings a vibrant palette of colors to her music that broadens audience conceptions of what an ensemble can sound like, and what classical music can be.”

For Saturday’s program, Frank’s vividly illustrated Andean walkabout is paired with something a bit more traditional but every bit as timely: Haydn’s Mass for Troubled Times, for which the orchestra will be joined by Choral Arts Northwest and soloists Tess Altiveros, Julia Benzinger, Brendan Tuohy, and Charles Robert Stephens.

“Journeys of Discovery and Hope” is the second concert in SMCO’s 2017-2018 season, which is dedicated to celebrating diversity and honoring voices that have been too often marginalized—or worse, silenced—throughout the classical music tradition.

“Journeys of Discovery and Hope” is Saturday, Jan. 20 at 8pm at Plymouth Congregational Church. For tickets and additional information, please click here.

The Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival in Seattle and Beyond

Posted on January 15, 2018 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

The Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival is lighting up stages around Seattle this month with performances by the likes of Ashley Bathgate, Sandbox Percussion, The City of Tomorrow, and more.

Founded this year by composer Scott Anthony Shell, the festival begins in Seattle with a string of performances spanning from January 19 through February 1, with festival artists also touring through Portland and Eugene, Oregon, and cellist Ashley Bathgate continuing on down the California coast.

“I want this festival to be a performer-centric model rather than composer-centric, in that the performers can program their own repertoire and showcase music they are most comfortable performing,” Shell said. “I also wanted a wide range of genres to be represented within the field of contemporary classical music.”

The festival lineup features Delgani String Quartet, Orlando Cela, Hub New Music, Iktus Duo, Sandbox Percussion, the City of Tomorrow, and Ashley Bathgate. Many of the featured artists are prominent players from New York and the broader East Coast new music scene, and musically they span the gamut from contemporary classical to experimental and avant-garde.

“There are plenty of East Coast transplants and open-minded people on the West Coast so I think there is a receptive audience for new music, even by those unfamiliar with it,” Shell said.

This year’s event features composers ranging from 20th century greats like Lou Harrison, György Ligeti, and Alan Hovhaness to some of the 21st century’s top composers like Andy Akiho, Laura Kaminsky, Steve Reich, and Andrew Norman. And this year is only just the beginning.

“I want the festival to contribute towards the awareness and appreciation of this amazing art form through live performances of these incredible musicians,” Shell said. “I hope it can be an annual event where I would be able to also incorporate other educational tools with a focus on community outreach and community building.”

Let’s meet this year’s performers:

*Please note, dates listed below are for Seattle performances. Click here to explore dates for other cities on the festival tour.

Delgani String Quartet
Friday, Jan. 19, 8pm | Good Shepherd Chapel
This Northwest quartet performs a new work by Benjamin Krause inspired by the Oregon Cascade Range, from the ghostly lava fields to the glorious trees, craters, and crevices. Works by Alan Hovhaness and György Ligeti round out the program.

Orlando Cela
Sunday, Jan. 21, 3pm | Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
Orlando Cela is a Boston-based, Venezuelan-born flutist specializing in contemporary and experimental flute repertoire. For this performance, he explores every timbre and extended technique of the instrument through a virtuosic program featuring music by Roger Briggs, Bryan Ferneyhough, Jean-Patrick Besingrand, Mac Waters, and Robert Dick—plus, one of his own original improvisations using Indian Classical music form.

Hub New Music
Monday, Jan. 22, 7:30pm | 18th & Union
With a unique instrumentation of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello, this Boston-based ensemble makes its Seattle debut at Spontaneous Combustion. Their program features a world premiere performance of Robert Honstein’s Soul Horse, along with Laura Kaminsky’s The Full Range of Blue, a visceral work written in response to the aftermath of 9/11. The program finishes with David Drexler’s Forgotten At Dawn, a winner of the Spontaneous Combustion International Call for Scores.

Iktus Duo
Thursday, Jan. 25, 8pm | Good Shepherd Chapel
Flutist Hristina Blagoeva and percussionist Chris Graham team up for a dynamic program exploring an eclectic mix of styles within the contemporary classical genre, from the Eastern-inspired works of Lou Harrison to the wide-ranging musical musings of Joseph Pereira, Adam Vidiksis, James Romig, and Washington-based composer Bruce Hamilton.

Sandbox Percussion
Saturday, Jan. 27, 7pm | Music Center of the Northwest
A leading proponent of contemporary percussion music, Sandbox Percussion performs pivotal 20th century works and experimental 21st century works alike. For this performance, they lend their mallets to music by Steve Reich, Andy Akiho, Victor Caccese, Jonny Allen, Elliot Cooper Cole, and Thomas Kotcheff.

The City of Tomorrow
Tuesday, Jan. 30, 7:30pm | The Royal Room
The City of Tomorrow is an avant-garde wind quintet that performs contemporary classical and experimental music rooted in environmentalism and humanism. This particular performance explores spatial relationships through music, featuring custom lighting design by Alex Deahl and a graphic score by Seattle-based composer John Teske that is based on topographical maps, which the quintet will use as a basis for improvisation and movement.

Ashley Bathgate
Thursday, Feb. 1, 8pm | Rainier Arts Center
Perhaps best known as the cellist of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ashley Bathgate is also an extraordinary soloist in her own right, constantly pushing the boundaries of traditional cello repertoire with her performances of contemporary, avant-garde, and experimental works. For this performance she plays works with and without electronics by Steve Reich, Andrew Norman, and many more. For a sneak preview of her playing, check out our in-studio video below of Bathgate performing Michael Gordon’s Light is Calling for cello and audio playback.

The Spontaneous Combustion New Music Festival is in venues across Seattle January 19 through February 1. Click here for tickets and more information on other festival dates and locations down the West Coast.