Music for Dreamers, Schemers, and Curious Listeners: Your April Concert Guide

Posted on April 2, 2019 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 flyer in concert programs and coffee shops around town. 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: dynamic collaborations, deep ecology, and sounds from the end of the world.
Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Seattle Symphony: Trimpin, Stiefel, & More
Equal parts composer and sound sculptor, Trimpin creates sonic installations at the intersection of music and visual art. Hear his work Solo Flute, Eight Pottery Wheels and Assorted Vinyls alongside music of Andrew Stiefel, Leonardo Gorosito, Rafael Alberto, and Igor Stravinsky.
Tues, 4/2, 7:30pm, Octave 9 | $20

Emerald City Music: Dreamers’ Circus
Classical music meets Nordic folk song in this globe-trotting Scandinavian trio. Comprised of violin, piano/accordion, and cittern (a lute with a flat back), the trio brings together the warmth and nostalgia of acoustic folk music with the subtle complexities of the classical tradition.
Fri, 4/5, 8pm, 415 Westlake | $45
Sat, 4/6, 7:30pm, The Minnaert Center (Olympia) | $20-$25

Dreamers’ Circus. Photo by Kristoffer Juel Poulsen.

James Falzone: The Already & The Not Yet
Reflecting on his past three years living in Seattle, composer and clarinetist James Falzone offers a meditation on his long-running solo work, Sighs Too Deep for Words. Plus: new music composed for Tao Trio featuring Falzone alongside pianist Wayne Horvitz and bassist Abbey Blackwell.
Sat, 4/6, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Third Coast Percussion: ‘Perpetulum’
Philip Glass’s first and only piece for percussion ensemble receives its Pacific Northwest premiere in the capable hands of Third Coast Percussion, who commissioned the piece last year. A handful of the ensemble’s own original Glass-inspired works complete the program.
Sun, 4/7, 6pm, Nordstrom Recital Hall | $22

Harry Partch Ensemble: ‘Daphne of the Dunes’
The ancient Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo is reimagined through the primal rhythms and eerie microtones of Harry 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

Harry Partch Ensemble: ‘The Bewitched’
Music, theatre, and ritual merge in Harry 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 tale unfolds across 12 scenes played out on Partch’s collection of handmade microtonal instruments.
Sat, 4/13, 7:30pm, Meany Studio Theater | $10

Harry Partch’s Chromelodeon. Photo by Maggie Molloy.

Music of Today: Performing with the Brain
Performers can create music without movement thanks to a new brain computer music interface developed at the University of Washington. Patients with motor disability improvise with professional musicians in this performance led by composers Juan Pampin and Richard Karpen and neuroscientist Thomas Deuel.
Fri, 4/19, 7:30pm, Meany Studio Theater | FREE

Seattle Symphony: ‘Surrogate Cities’
Man, machine, and the modern metropolis are the major themes behind Heiner Goebbels’ new multimedia work Surrogate Cities. Like the city itself, the music is a sprawling blur of human and machine-made sounds enhanced with striking visual effects. Get a sneak preview of Goebbels’ immersive chamber works performed in Octave 9, and hear Surrogate Cities in the main hall over the weekend.
Mon, 4/22, 7:30pm, Octave 9 | $25
Thurs, 4/25, 7:30pm, Benaroya Hall | $22-$122
Fri, 4/26, 8pm, Benaroya Hall | $22-$122

Philip Glass: ‘Hydrogen Jukebox’
The pulsing minimalism of Philip Glass and the countercultural activism of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg combine in Hydrogen Jukebox, a 1990 chamber opera reflecting on issues of war, peace, social equity, and sustainability. The UW Vocal Theatre Workshop performs the Northwest Premiere under the direction of Cyndia Siden, Dean Williamson, and Deanne Meek.
4/26-4/27, 7:30pm, Meany Studio Theater | $10

Ladies Musical Club: Northwest Composers
Pacific Northwest composers are celebrated in this wide-ranging concert of chamber music featuring works by Karen P. Thomas, Alex Shapiro, Sarah Mattox, and many more.
Sat, 4/27, 7pm, Music Center of the NW | FREE

Seattle Symphony: American Horizons
Composer-in-Residence Derek Bermel curates an evening of music ranging from Steve Reich to Mary Kouyoumdjian, with world premieres by Kaley Lane Eaton and Bermel himself composed specifically for the immersive new Octave 9 space.
Sun, 4/28, 6pm, Octave 9 | $35

Seattle Symphony Composer-in-Residence Derek Bermel.

Seattle Modern Orchestra: ‘Coming Together’
Frederic Rzewski’s hypnotic classic Coming Together uses text adapted from a prison letter written by Sam Melville, an anarchist bomber who was killed during the Attica Prison uprising in 1971. The harrowing piece is performed here alongside politically-charged works by Christian Wolff.
Sun, 4/28, 7:30pm, The Royal Room | $10-$20

Paul Taub: Landscape with Birds
Flute music from across three continents is presented in this program exploring the instrument’s wide range of techniques and influences. Paul Taub, who recently retired from nearly four decades of teaching at Cornish, performs music of Pēteris Vasks, Toru Takemitsu, Bun-Ching Lam, Robert Aitken, Janice Giteck, and more.
Tues, 4/30, 7pm, Folio | $20

Both Wonderful and Strange: Playing ‘Twin Peaks’ on Partch Instruments

Posted on March 27, 2019 by maestrobeats

by Dacia Clay

“I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.” – FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper

The Inverted Space Ensemble got its start at the University of Washington and has, effectively, graduated. While at UW, they made a connection with Chuck Corey, Director of the Harry Partch Instrumentarium. Currently in residence at UW, the Instrumentarium is a collection of handmade microtonal instruments created by 20th century composer and iconoclast Harry Partch.

Many of Inverted Space’s members play in the Harry Partch Ensemble. They’re also big fans of Twin Peaks, the iconic TV show filmed in Snoqualmie and North Bend that came out in the 90s and that had a resurgence in 2017 when director David Lynch released a third season of the show called Twin Peaks: The Return.

This Friday, March 29, Inverted Space is bringing the Partchian spirit
—and some Partch instruments—together with their love of Twin Peaks for a concert reinterpreting composer Angelo Badalamenti’s original score. Learn more in our audio interview with Inverted Space violinist and Artistic Director Luke Fitzpatrick.

Audio production by Dacia Clay. Audio engineering by Nikhil Sarma.

Music in this interview:

“Twin Peaks Theme” and “Love Theme” composed by Angelo Badalamenti, arranged by Luke Fitzpatrick and Jeff Bowen, and performed by Inverted Space
“Freshly Squeezed” by Angelo Badalamenti
Additional audio clips from the Twin Peaks TV series

The Inverted Space Ensemble presents Twin Peaks a la Partch this Friday, March 29 at 8pm at the Good Shepherd Chapel. Click here for more information.

Six Living Legends Playing This Year’s Big Ears Festival

Posted on March 19, 2019 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

For the past 10 years the Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee has been bringing together composers, performers, and curious listeners from around the globe for an annual weekend of exhilarating and ear-expanding music. From ambient to electric, eclectic, experimental, and avant-garde, the festival showcases over 100 genre-bending artists each year in a celebration of the sheer delight and diversity of new music.

Second Inversion is thrilled to be attending this year’s festival. Keep an eye out for our very own Maggie Molloy at the event, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates! In the meantime, check out our list of six can’t-miss living legends performing at this year’s festival.

Meredith Monk:

For nearly six decades, Meredith Monk has redefined and revolutionized contemporary vocal music and performance, weaving in elements of theatre and dance to create visceral musical experiences. At this year’s festival, catch her with her vocal ensemble performing Cellular Songs, a multimedia work exploring biological processes, genetic mutation, and the ways in which millions of tiny little cells can come together to form something extraordinary.

Friday, March 22, 9:15pm, Bijou Theatre
Saturday, March 23, 12pm, Bijou Theatre

Art Ensemble of Chicago:

Over the past half-century the Art Ensemble of Chicago has grown beyond a mere band and into a way of life—a collective musical ethos that transcends the individual members of the group. Founded with the motto “Great Black Music: Ancient to Future,” the group draws from musical traditions across history and around the globe. Their live performances are a revelation: their wildly experimental brand of avant-jazz further amplified by loudly colored costumes and face paint. Catch them live this Sunday.

Sunday, March 24, 8:15pm, Tennessee Theatre

Kayhan Kalhor:

Kayhan Kalhor is a modern master of an ancient instrument: the kamancheh, an upright Iranian fiddle with a melancholic tone and a rich musical history. As a soloist and a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, he has spent his career traversing international borders and transcending musical boundaries. This Saturday, hear him in an intimate solo performance that takes traditional Persian music in new directions—and Sunday, catch him in a cross-genre collaboration with Brooklyn Rider.

Saturday, March 23, 6pm, Church Street United Methodist Church (solo)
Sunday, March 24, 5pm, Bijou Theatre (with Brooklyn Rider)

Joan La Barbara:

Joan La Barbara has spent the past 50 years exploring the furthest reaches of the human voice. A pioneer of extended vocal techniques, her acrobatic vocal stylings range from multiphonics to shrieks, squeaks, whispers, wails, moans, drones, and a whole slew of sounds you didn’t even know humans could make. Hear her singular voice live when she performs her own original works on Thursday, and come back Friday to hear her sing music of Alvin Lucier with the Ever Present Orchestra.

Thursday, March 21, 8pm, St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral (solo)
Friday, March 22, 1pm, Bijou Theatre (music of Alvin Lucier)

Alvin Lucier:

Alvin Lucier has spent his 60-year career exploring not only music but the ways in which we experience sound itself. His historic compositions experiment with the resonance of spaces, the physical properties of sound, and the manipulation of auditory perception. This Friday, Joan La Barbara and the Ever Present Orchestra perform music from across his career—and on Sunday Lucier performs some of his own original works (including his landmark 1969 sonic exploration I am Sitting in a Room).

Friday, March 22, 1pm, Bijou Theatre (with Joan La Barbara)
Sunday, March 24, 1pm, Ann & Steve Baily Hall at the KMA (solo)

Wadada Leo Smith:

“Creative music” is the descriptor Wadada Leo Smith has given to his expansive body of works. Over the past five decades, the trumpeter has cultivated his own inimitable musical language (and notation) informed by jazz and world music histories but deeply rooted in the present moment. This Saturday, he performs solo meditations on the music of Thelonious Monk—and on Sunday he teams up with two former bandmates to play Divine Love, an ethereal and immersive trumpet and percussion suite first released in 1978.

Saturday, March 23, 2pm, The Standard (solo)
Sunday, March 24, 6:15pm, Tennessee Theatre (“Divine Love”)

The Big Earts Festival is March 21-24 in Knoxville, Tennessee. For tickets and more information, click here.

From Octave 9 to Nils Frahm: Your March Concert Guide

Posted on March 1, 2019 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

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.”

March-2019-New-Music-Flyer-2

Wayward Music Series
Concerts of contemporary composition, free improvisation, and sonic experiments. This month: analog synths, amorphous sounds, and Indonesian gamelan.
Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Seattle Opera: The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs
Mason Bates takes you inside the life and legacy of one of the greatest minds of the digital age in this opera about the intersections of technology, spirituality, and ambition.
2/23-3/9, Various times, McCaw Hall | $25-$335

Cornish Percussion Ensemble
John Cage’s original percussion ensemble, founded at Cornish in 1938, is relaunched by co-directors Kerry O’Brien and Greg Campbell. Learn more in our Q&A with the directors.
Sat, 3/2, 6pm, Jack Straw Cultural Center | FREE

Video by Daniel Husser.

Seattle Symphony: Octave 9 Grand Opening
Be among the first to see Seattle Symphony’s brand new immersive performance space dedicated to experimental music and education. Plus, check out a wide variety of concerts at the venue throughout the month.
Sun, 3/3, Various times, Octave 9 | FREE

Octave 9 at Benaroya Hall. Photo by James Holt.

UW Modern Music Ensemble: ‘Pierrot Lunaire’
Schoenberg’s masterpiece of melodrama tells the tale of a moonstruck clown and his descent into madness. Bass baritone Nicholas Isherwood performs with the ensemble.
Thurs, 3/7, 7:30pm, Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater | $10

Seattle Modern Orchestra: A Celebration of Robert Aitken
Experimental flutist and composer Robert Aitken performs original works with the Seattle Modern Orchestra, plus music from Toru Takemitsu, Iannis Xenakis, and Brian Cherney.
Sat, 3/9, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $15-$20

Seattle Pro Musica: Pacific Voices
Asian and Asian-American voices are celebrated in this concert of choral works from composers representing China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, the Philippines, Thailand, and the U.S.
Sat, 3/9, 7:30pm, Seattle First Baptist Church | $21-$38
Sun, 3/10, 7:30pm, Trinity Lutheran Church (Lynnwood) | $21-$38

Seattle Symphony: Brooklyn to Ballard
Composer-in-Residence and clarinetist Derek Bermel curates an evening of jazz-inspired performances featuring cellist Seth Parker Woods, pianist Ethan Iverson, and Seattle Symphony musicians.
Sun, 3/10, 6pm, Octave 9 | $35

STG Presents: Nils Frahm
Hovering above his usual collection of keyboards and synths, German composer Nils Frahm draws out an ambient mix of minimalist melodies and dance grooves.
Tues, 3/12, 8pm, The Moore Theatre | $27-$42

Samantha Boshnack: ‘Seismic Belt’
Seattle-based trumpeter and bandleader Samantha Boshnack takes listeners on a sonic adventure into the Ring of Fire in Seismic Belt, her large-scale work for seven-piece band.
Thurs, 3/14, 7pm, The Royal Room | $12-$15

Samantha Boshnack. Photo by Daniel Sheehan.

Pacific Northwest Ballet: Director’s Choice
Artistic Director Peter Boal’s annual selection promises modern and experimental music paired with bold, beautiful choreography. PNB dancers perform to music by Sufjan Stevens, Oliver Davis, and Kyle Vegter.
3/15-3/24, Various times, McCaw Hall | $37-$189

Mostly Nordic: Iceland – Afterquake
Cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir and pianist Angelo Rondello collaborate on a program highlighting the immense musical flourishing of Icelandic composers working in the decade following the economic crash of 2008.
Sun, 3/17, 4pm, Nordic Museum | $25-$30

Town Music: Talea Ensemble
Based on the dark sideshows of Coney Island, the Talea Ensemble’s theatrical chamber piece Sideshow styles the performers themselves as characters, exploring the line between entertainment and spectacle, virtuosity and freak show.
Wed, 3/20, 7:30pm, Broadway Performance Hall | $15-$20

An Index of Possibility
A hodgepodge of scrap materials, cheap toys, and everyday objects form the instrumentation for Robert Honstein’s An Index of Possibility. See the piece performed live by Storm Benjamin, Rebekah Ko, and Garrett Arney amid a swirling light show.
Thurs, 3/21, 8pm, Fred Wildlife Refuge | $10-$15

Seattle Symphony: [untitled] 2
The chaotic colors of Pierre Boulez’s restlessly virtuosic Sur Incises are balanced against the haunting dreamland of Luciano Berio’s Circles, a dramatic setting of three poems by E. E. Cummings.
Fri, 3/22, 10pm, Benaroya Hall Grand Lobby | $16

Seattle Symphony: Contemporary Music Marathon
Immerse yourself in a nonstop multi-disciplinary showcase with music from over 50 living composers across the span of 24 hours. Choose from one of three 8-hour blocks or stay for the full 24-hour marathon.
3/23-3/24, 5pm, Octave 9 | $75-$200

Inverted Space Ensemble: Twin Peaks a la Partch
Two cult universes collide: Inverted Space presents a reinterpretation of the music from Twin Peaks featuring a handful of Harry Partch’s handmade microtonal instruments.
Fri, 3/29, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15

Percussion as Revolution: Relaunching the Cornish Percussion Ensemble

Posted on February 27, 2019 by maestrobeats

by Maggie Molloy

In 1938, while working at Cornish College of the Arts, John Cage formed the Cage Percussion Players: a group credited with presenting the first full-length concert dedicated entirely to percussion ensemble music in the Western classical tradition.

This year, Cornish faculty members Kerry O’Brien and Greg Campbell are picking up the mantle, assembling a new group of music students to build upon the ensemble’s 80-year legacy.

Video by Daniel Husser.

The new Cornish Percussion Ensemble debuts this Saturday with a performance of music by Jessie Marino, Elliot Cole, Sarah Hennies, Alessandro Rovegno, and Greg Campbell. Also on the program is David Lang’s ruminative little eye, scored for cello and four “non-percussionists” and featuring cellist Ha-Yang Kim.

Paradoxically, the notion of “non-percussionists” is central to the musical ethos of the group. We talked with co-directors O’Brien and Campbell (who are both classically-trained percussionists) about the past, present, and future of percussion at Cornish.

Second Inversion: What makes the ensemble’s history unique?

Kerry O’Brien, co-director of the Cornish Percussion Ensemble.

Kerry O’Brien: It was the first institutional group of its kind! The Cage Percussion Players’ first concert at Cornish (December 1938) was historic in being a full-length concert dedicated entirely to percussion ensemble music. In addition to their three concerts at Cornish, they toured the western United States, performing works for percussion ensemble. The group was also unique in that it originally included non-percussionists, which is true still today.

SI: How does working with non-percussionists inform the music of the group?

KO: It’s actually part of the legacy of the ensemble. When Cage first formed the group, it included his then-wife Xenia Cage, Cornish Eurythmics instructor Doris Dennison, and Cornish pianist Margaret Jansen. Today our group has a mix of percussionists and non-percussionist composers interested in writing for percussion. The ensemble is a great way to have hands-on experience with many instruments, and a few students are actively writing for percussion over the course of the semester.

Greg Campbell, co-director of the Cornish Percussion Ensemble.

SI: How long was the ensemble’s hiatus?

Greg Campbell: From what we can gather, there have been a few breaks in the ensemble’s 80+ year history. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, percussionist Matt Kocmieroski led the ensemble regularly and then more sporadically until 2011. So it’s now been eight years since the ensemble was active.

SI: What made you want to relaunch the ensemble?

GC: Kerry and I share not only years of experience in the world of classical percussion music but also scholarly inquiry into revolutionary musico-political artists and movements. It was during his Cornish years that Cage famously said, “Percussion music is revolution.”

Some 80 years later, percussion ensemble music is widespread, but we hope to invoke the revolutionary spirit of those earlier times not only by performing pieces from that earlier era by Cage, Johanna Beyer, and others, but to honor their work by encouraging members of the ensemble and Cornish community to compose new works for the group.

The Cornish Percussion Ensemble performs this Saturday, March 2 at 6pm at the Jack Straw Cultural Center. For more information, click here.