brian chin

by Maggie Molloy

Why not make it your New Year’s resolution to listen to more new music? This week is packed with innovative contemporary music performances to start your year off right!

Universal Language 21^st Century Music Project’s “Inception”

It’s a new year and a new music organization is taking root in Seattle. This year marks the inaugural season of the Universal Language 21^st Century Music Project, which is pushing the boundaries of contemporary music in Seattle and beyond. For the first concert of their 2015 season, they are premiering new works by composers Wayne Horvitz and Sean Osborn.

Horvitz is a composer who has performed throughout the world as an improviser on both piano and electronics, while Osborn is a critically acclaimed clarinetist whose music uses extended clarinet techniques to create a unique new genre-bending sound.

The performance is this Friday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Velocity Dance Center on Capitol Hill.

Seattle Composers’ Salon’s New Music Holiday Office Party

Celebrate the city’s bustling contemporary music scene in style this weekend at the Seattle Composers’ Salon’s New Music Holiday Office Party.

Seattle Composers’ Salon is dedicated to supporting new music by regional composers and performers. At informal gatherings twice a month, the Salon features new works and works in progress by local composers and performers. This weekend’s gathering will feature music by Neil Welch, Cole Bratcher, Ivan Arteaga, and Matthew James Briggs.

The performance is this Friday, Jan. 9 at 8 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. The concert will be preceded by a New Music Holiday Office Party from 6:30 to 8 p.m., where composers, performers, and audience members are invited to visit, share CDs, enjoy snacks, and listen to live music performed by cellist Carson Farley.

Town Music Presents Third Coast Percussion

Third Coast Percussion is a Chicago-based group that marches to the beat of its own drum. The ensemble is dedicated to exploring all of the far-reaching possibilities of percussion through unique instrumentation and the integration of new media in performances. This weekend, the quartet is coming to Seattle to perform a colorful program of percussion works by David T. Little, Tan Dun, and John Cage. (Yes, John Cage.)

Third Coast Percussion will perform Little’s “Haunt of Last Nightfall,” a piece which laces together pre-recorded heavy metal sounds with live percussion. Also on the program is Cage’s “Credo in Us,” a wartime piece written after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. The quartet will also be joined by guest cellist Joshua Roman to perform Dun’s “Elegy: Snow in June,” a piece which was written to commemorate the 1989 massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The performance is this Monday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle. If you can’t make it to the concert, don’t fret: we’ll be live broadcasting this performance on Second Inversion!

by Maggie Stapleton

Spectrum Dance Theatre & Simple Measures

Image by Nate Waters.

Spectrum Dance Theatre and Simple Measures are two envelope-pushing arts organizations in Seattle – Spectrum strives to “bring dance of the highest merit to a diverse audience composed of people from different social, cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds,” with a principal objective “to make the art form of dance accessible through contemporary dance performances and high-quality training in a variety of dance styles,” while Simple Measures aims to bring chamber music into unusual venues, 98% hoity-toity free, and encouraging people to “Come, and Have Fun. That’s what we’re about. You can even clap between movements if you feel like it. Tap your foot. Bob your head. Heck, even dance in the aisles! We. Don’t. Care.”

May 15-17 and May 22-42, you can catch these two organizations in tandem for Rambunctious: A Festival of American Composers and Dance. Some of the performers previewed the show on KING-TV’s New Day Northwest.

The word choice of “Rambunctious” is a particular effort to reach a broader audience, with implications of energy, youthfulness, and exuberance. With live music by all 20^th century American composers and world premiere choreography by Donald Byrd, you can be sure the shows will live up to that!

Thanks to a designated fund for live music, Spectrum turns the stereo off and brings live musicians in for a couple of shows per year. When asked why this is valuable, Donald Byrd says they’re attempting to bring new audiences to dance by reaching the classical music crowd. Additionally, the intimacy of chamber music (vs. full orchestral forces) adds an appropriate element to the world of dance, keying in on solo instrumentalists and small groups. Donald finds it rewarding to be in Seattle where there are so many top notch quality chamber musicians and utilizing them ensures the “best of the best” in presentation. It’s also a challenging stretch for the dancers, causing them to think and react much differently and on a deeper level – and most so with music that is NOT straightforward (Wuorinen’s String Quartet No.2, for example!)

The two weekends actually have different programs, offering TWO exciting shows at two great venues. The composers are presented chronologically, but each show opens with the Ives Scherzo serves as a fanfare opening for both concert cycles.

May 15-17 at Fremont Abbey

Charles Ives: Scherzo
Aaron Copland: Two Pieces for String Quartet
George Gershwin: Lullaby for String Quartet
Vincent Persichetti: String Quartet #2

May 22-24 at Washington Hall

Charles Ives: Scherzo
Don Krishnaswami: Trumpet Quintet (world premiere by Rajan’s brother!)
J. Zorn: Kol Nidrei for string quartet
C. Wuorinen: String Quartet #2

Musicians:

Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin
Liza Zurlinden, violin
Laura Renz, viola
Rajan Krishnaswami, cello
Brian Chin, trumpet

With combined forces, from these two organizations, the potential innovation and fusion between live chamber music and dance has boundless limitations. Don’t miss these shows!