TOM BAKER ON THE SEATTLE MUSIC SCENE

Posted on April 23, 2014 by maestrobeats

Seattle composer Tom Baker (not to be confused with any other reputable Tom Bakers out there) is a crucial contributor to the new music scene in Seattle. He is the artistic director of the Seattle Composers’ Salon, the co-founder of the Seattle EXperimental Opera (SEXO), an instructor of Composition and Electronic Music at Cornish College of the Arts, and a performer alongside with many bands and ensembles, including the Tom Baker Quartet, Triptet, and Jesse Canterbury’s Vertigo.

He is also the founder of Present Sounds, a record label which celebrates new music by primarily Seattle-based composers and performers. You’ll certainly hear some of these tracks on our stream!

Tom stopped by the KING FM/Second Inversion studios recently to talk about some of his favorite tracks from a couple of these discs.

Stay tuned for more music and insights on our SoundCloud page from Tom! You can catch him live on May 2 at the Seattle Composers’ Salon, along with Seattle Composers William O. Smith, John Teske, and Keith Eisenbrey at 8pm at the Good Shepherd Center Chapel!

CURTIS ON TOUR: HIGDON, BARBER, KRAMARCHUK & POULENC

Posted on April 9, 2014 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Stapleton

Each year some of the finest student musicians (at one of the finest institutions in the country!) have the unique and exciting opportunity to travel around the country on a concert tour. This year, a woodwind quintet of current Curtis students, plus ’05 alum pianist Di Wu, held this honor.

On Tuesday, March 25 they made a stop just north of Seattle at the Florence Henry Memorial Chapel as part of the Highlands Chapel Music Series and Second Inversion recorded their concert of (mostly) seasonally themed works for quintet and sextet by (mostly) Curtis composer alums:

Please enjoy this exciting concert audio along with some commentary from some of the performers and David Ludwig, director of the Curtis 20/21 Contemporary Music Ensemble. Stay tuned for more live concert recordings from Second Inversion!

SEATTLE SYMPHONY PREVIEWS ITS NYC TRIP

Posted on April 7, 2014 by maestrobeats

by Seth Tompkins

Seattle composer Angelique Poteat and Seattle Symphony Artistic Director Ludovic Morlot.

As you may know, Seattle Symphony is traveling to New York City later this year. They will perform at Carnegie Hall as well as Le Poisson Rouge, a Lower East Side venue hailed by Seattle Symphony as “hip.” In preparation for these performances, the Seattle Symphony is offering two FREE concerts on the same evening: Friday, May 2. At 7pm, they will perform the program for their Carnegie Hall appearance, and later, at 10pm, they will perform the Poisson Rouge set. (Tickets to both concerts are now unavailable due to high demand.)

One of the most exciting parts of this trip to NYC is the world premiere of up-and-coming Seattle composer Angelique Poteat’s piece Much Difference. This piece will be receiving its world premiere at the 10:00pm performance on May 2nd; that alone is a great reason to score some free tickets for the event. If you don’t know Angelique’s work, check it out. In addition to composing, she performs on clarinet regularly with Seattle Chamber Players and Seattle Modern Orchestra, among others.

Here’s a video of her work being performed by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra:

EVENT SPOTLIGHT: JOVINO SANTOS-NETO QUINTETO AT CORNISH

Posted on April 2, 2014 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Stapleton

Thursday, April 3 at 8pm at Cornish College of the Arts (PONCHO Hall), you can hear three-time Latin Grammy nominee Jovino Santos Neto leads his Quinteto—with Chuck Deardorf (bass), Mark Ivester (drums), Ben Thomas (vibraphone), and Jeff Busch (percussion) with special guest vocalist Johnaye Kendrick—through his original compositions in a range of Brazilian styles.

We had the pleasure of hosting Jovino on piano along with flutist Paul Taub in 2013 on KING FM’s NW Focus LIVE – they performed music of the Brazilian composer Hermeto Pascoal.

JUMPING JACKS AT UW

Posted on March 14, 2014 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Stapleton

The members of the JACK Quartet are no strangers to Second Inversion’s playlists – their recordings of Xenakis, Amy Williams, Ken Thomson are in regular rotation on our stream. On Saturday, March 15, they conclude a week-long residence at the UW School of Music and UW World Series with TWO performances at Meany Studio Theatre.

The “Early Show” at 7:30pm features world premieres by UW composition faculty: Juan Pampin’s “Respiración Artificial” (2014) for bandoneon, string quartet and electronics and Richard Karpen’s “Elliptic” (2014) for traditional Vietnamese instruments, electric guitar, and string quartet.

The “Late Show” at 10pm features improvised music with UW faculty musicians Cuong Vu (trumpet), Ted Poor (drums), Richard Karpen (piano), and Juan Pampin (live electronics), Stomu Takeishi, bass, and the members of the JACK Quartet.

This collaboration between the University of Washington and JACK Quartet really aligns with their mission to broaden and diversify the potential audience for new music through educational presentations designed for a variety of ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience. We highly recommend this event, and hope to present a broadcast of this concert in the coming months. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear them in Seattle!

And if you’re going to the early show, be sure to say “hello” to Seth Tompkins at the KING FM table – he will be representing KING and Second Inversion as part of our community outreach!