A home for new and unusual music from all corners of the classical genre, brought to you by the power of public media. Second Inversion is a service of Classical KING FM 98.1.
Ever wonder what’s happening in our brains when we make or hear music? Composers and researchers from the University of Washington teamed up with the JACK Quartet to find out.
Over the course of a three-year residency at UW, the team studied the integration of brain and body signals in artistic performance. They outfitted the JACK Quartet with portable brain helmets and muscle sensors that detected brain activity while listening to, seeing, and performing music. Then, they harnessed these neuroscientific discoveries to create new art.
The culmination of this extended residency is a concert this Saturday night titled Human Subjects. Featuring original music by Richard Karpen and Juan Pampin (from the UW DXARTS Faculty), the concert combines the JACK Quartet’s sonified brain waves and neural sensors with music played live on their actual string instruments.
In this interview, we talk with violinist Christopher Otto and violist John Pickford Richards about new music, neuroscience, and what it’s like to be a human subject.
The JACK Quartet performs Human Subjects this Saturday, May 18 at 7:30pm at Meany Hall. For tickets and more information, click here.
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 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, please submit your event to the Live Music Project at least six weeks prior to the event and tag it with “new music.”
Wayward Music Series Concerts of contemporary composition, free improvisation, electroacoustic music, and sonic experiments. This month: poetry, ritual, meditation, and medieval chant. Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15
Music of Today: Bonnie Whiting & Cristina Valdés New music luminaries from the University of Washington team up for this concert featuring faculty composers and performers. Bonnie Whiting (percussion) and Cristina Valdés (piano) premiere new works from fellow UW faculty Joël-François Durand and Huck Hodge, plus music of Sofia Gubaidulina and Heiner Goebbels. Wed, 5/1, 7:30pm, Meany Hall | $10-$15
The Sound Ensemble: Songwriter Showcase Seattle songwriters take center stage in this collaborative concert featuring their original songs accompanied by chamber orchestra. Hear Tim Wilson, Lizzie Weber, Joseph De Natale, and Michael Hamm perform their music with the Sound Ensemble. Sat, 5/4, 7pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $15-$20
Marimbist Erin Jorgensen. Photo by Kelly O.
Live Music Project: The Neuroscience of a One-Track Mind Celebrate the Live Music Project’s fifth birthday with a scintillating lecture from UW neuroscientist Chantel Prat and a centuries-spanning solo marimba performance by Erin Jorgensen. Plus: ticket giveaways and an adorable cupcake toast. Mon, 5/6, 6:30pm, The Royal Room | $20-$30
Sea Change Within Us An original sound score by Seattle composers Jessi Harvey and Kaley Lane Eaton form the backdrop for this multimedia dance performance and art installation. Created by Karin Stevens Dance with 3D installation by Roger Feldman, Sea Change Within Us explores water, climate change, and the intersections of art and environmentalism. Fri-Sun, 5/10-5/12, Various times, Base | $15-$50
Philip Glass: ‘Annunciation’ Premiere A longtime collaborator of Philip Glass, pianist Paul Barnes teams up with Seattle’s Skyros Quartet to present the Pacific Northwest premiere of Glass’s new piano quintet Annunciation. Sat, 5/11, 7:30pm, Resonance at SOMA Towers | $15-$30
UW Percussion Ensemble: ‘The Innocents’ Visiting percussionists John Lane and Allen Otte present music from their performance art piece The Innocents, which uses found sounds, street percussion, thumb pianos, and electronics to explore issues of wrongful imprisonment and exoneration. Plus: the UW Percussion Ensemble performs works for speaking percussionist. Tues, 5/14, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15
reSound: ‘Annelies’ Based on The Diary of Anne Frank, James Whitbourn’s full-length choral work Annelies explores the singular voice and unwavering hope of this inspiring young woman and her journey through the Holocaust. Seattle-based soprano Stacey Mastrian stars in this performance with the reSound chamber choir. Fri-Sun, 5/17-5/19, Various times and locations | $20-$30
The Esoterics: Inclusivity Indonesian, Mandarin, Quechua, and Spanish are just a few of the languages featured in this choral concert exploring the power of inclusivity and togetherness. Hear wide-ranging works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Ted Hearne, Chen Yi, David Lang, and more. Fri-Sun, 5/17-5/19, Various times and locations | $15-$22
JACK Quartet. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.
JACK Quartet: Human Subjects New music meets neuroscience in this concert collaboration exploring the integration of brain and body signals in artistic performance. The performance is a culmination of the JACK Quartet’s extended residency at UW, where they have been working with a team of composers, researchers, and neuroscientists. Sat, 5/18, 7:30pm, Meany Hall | $10-$20
Vox16: Textures Contemporary works by Philip Glass and Nico Muhly form the basis of this concert highlighting minimalism in choral music. Plus, hear a new piece from Vox16 founder and director Markdavin Obenza. Sat, 5/18, 7:30pm, Trinity Parish Church | $15-$25
Seattle Pro Musica: ‘Passion & Resurrection’ Soprano Estelí Gomez (of the Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth) joins Seattle Pro Musica for a performance of Ēriks Ešenvalds’ luminous Passion and Resurrection. Plus: a world premiere from conductor Karen P. Thomas. Sat-Sun, 5/18-5/19, 8pm, St. James Cathedral | $12-$38
Music of Remembrance: ‘The Parting’ A daring new opera by Tom Cipullo explores the life and work of Miklós Radnóti, one of the most important poetic witnesses to the Holocaust. The program also features chamber works by three other Hungarian composers who—like Radnóti—perished at the hands of the Nazis. Sun, 5/19, 7:30pm, Nordstrom Recital Hall | $55
The Westerlies. Photo by Shervin Lainez.
The Westerlies This Seattle-bred, New York-based brass quartet returns home for an intimate concert at the Fremont Abbey. Hear a mix of original tunes and eclectic arrangements from their expansive repertoire. Tues, 5/21, 7:30pm, Fremont Abbey | $10-$20
TORCH: ‘Passages’ An animated film by artist Scott Kolbo is accompanied by live music from the groove-craving chamber quartet TORCH. With a heavy dose of humor and absurdity, this multimedia performance project explores issues of security, immigration, crisis, and resilience. Wed, 5/22, 7:30pm, The Triple Door | $25
SMCO: Heaven and Earth A world premiere from Gabriel Prokofiev forms the centerpiece of this program celebrating the intergenerational power of music. The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra is joined by the Northwest Boychoir and members of the Seattle Symphony Chorale for Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, plus music of Mozart and Lili Boulanger. Fri, 5/31. 8pm, St. James Cathedral | $15-$25
Music of earth, sky, and celestial stars come together on A Far Cry’s concert program this Friday.
Aptly titled Gravity, the concert brings together mystical and corporeal musical meditations from such wide-ranging composers as Arvo Pärt, Iannis Xenakis, Aaron Jay Kernis, Béla Bartók, and Osvaldo Golijov. From heavenly harmonies to earthly textures and the cold weightlessness of space, the concert explores the vast and ever-changing sounds of our universe today.
And no matter where you are in that vast expanse of space, you can stream the performance live right here.
Visit this page on Friday, April 12 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET for a LIVE video stream of A Far Cry’s Edge of the World concert, streaming here:
Check out the full program below, and click here for program notes.
Arvo Pärt: Silouan’s Song Iannis Xenakis: Aroura Aaron Jay Kernis: Musica Celestis Béla Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae
A Far Cry’s Gravity performance streams live on this page on Friday, April 12 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. For more information about the orchestra, click here.
Over the past five years Harry Partch’s orchestra of handmade instruments has become a staple in the Seattle spring concert calendar—among experimental music lovers, at least.
Partch was one of the first 20th century composers to work extensively with microtonal scales, creating dozens of incredible instruments specifically for the performance of his works. Those instruments have been in residence at the University of Washington since 2014, where, under the direction of Charles Corey, students and community members practice and perform on them each spring.
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This year, Corey and his crew of Partch enthusiasts are playing two of Partch’s most ambitious and rarely-performed works: Daphne of the Dunes and The Bewitched. Catch both in concert this week at Meany Hall:
Daphne of the Dunes The ancient Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo is reimagined through the primal rhythms and eerie microtones of Partch’s handmade instruments. His sprawling Daphne of the Dunes (originally composed as a film score) is performed alongside microtonal art songs of the 20th and 21st centuries. Tues, 4/9, 7:30pm, Meany Studio Theater | $10
The Bewitched Music, theatre, and ritual merge in Partch’s radical dance satire The Bewitched. Written as a reaction against the rigidity of modern civilization, the piece explores how we might ultimately find a sense of rebirth through a discovering our ancient past. The Bewitched showcases Partch’s most ambitious writing for the female voice, the piece unfolding across 12 scenes with the instruments dominating the set. Sat, 4/13, 7:30pm, Meany Studio Theater | $10
Interested in learning more? Click here for our photo tour of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium.
byMaggie MolloyLeft to right: David Skidmore, Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, and Peter Martin.
For the past half-century Philip Glass’s music has permeated not only the classical sphere but also the broader pop music consciousness. From operas to film scores to symphonies and string quartets, he has written music for just about every occasion and instrumentation—except for the percussion ensemble.
Until now, that is. Perpetulum, Glass’s first and only piece for percussion ensemble, receives its Pacific Northwest premiere this Sunday in the hands of Third Coast Percussion. Presented as part of the Town Music series, the concert features the much-anticipated percussion premiere alongside a handful of the ensemble’s own Glass-inspired works.
In this interview, Third Coast ensemble member and Executive Director David Skidmore gives us a sneak peek behind the scenes of the creation and performance of Glass’s Perpetulum.
Audio production by Dacia Clay. Music from Philip Glass’s Perpetulum, performed by Third Coast Percussion and recorded on Orange Mountain Music.
Third Coast Percussion performs Perpetulum this Sunday, April 7 at 6pm at Nordstrom Recital Hall. For tickets and more information, click here.
