Spice up your week with Southern soul, contemporary clarinet, and microtonal music!
Rhiannon Giddens and the Carolina Chocolate Drops
We may live in the Northwest, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate some serious Southern soul music. This weekend blues vocalist, violinist, and banjo player Rhiannon Giddens is coming to Seattle to perform songs from her new solo album, “Tomorrow Is My Turn.”
Giddens is known for reimagining gospel, folk, and bluegrass tunes, bringing her incredible vocal control and classical rigor to a wide range of musical styles. Backed by her Grammy Award-winning old-time string band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Giddens will perform music made famous by female music icons like Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Odetta, and Nina Simone.
Sri Lankan-American singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman will open the show.
The performance is this Wednesday, May 20 at 8 p.m. at UW’s Meany Hall.
Clarinetist Sean Osborn and Pianist Jessica Choe
The clarinet is frequently overshadowed by its flashier, jazzier cousin the saxophone—but trust us, this often-overlooked instrument has a wide range of musical possibilities. This weekend, tune into the sounds of clarinet soloist Sean Osborn and pianist Jessica Choe as they perform an evening of dynamic and diverse clarinet works.
The program features everything from classical to contemporary clarinet repertoire, ranging from composers like Franz Anton Hoffmeister to Joseph Horvitz. The evening will also feature Osborn’s own musical portraits titled “Three Women and Three Girls,” as well as local composer Karen P. Thomas’s “When Night Came,” a piece written in response to events from the Bosnian War of the 1990s.
The performance is this Friday May 22 at 7:30 at Richmond Beach Congregational Church United Church of Christ. All proceeds from the performance will benefit Emergency Financial Assistance at the Shoreline Hopelink.
Music of Today: The Music of Harry Partch
For classical music buffs, being inside a microtonal music instrumentarium would probably be on par with being a kid in a candy store. Lucky for us, the Harry Partch Instrumentarium recently took up residency at the University of Washington School of Music.
Partch was one of the first 20th century composers in the West to work with microtonal scales, building his own custom-made instruments in different tunings in order to perform his compositions. Next week, you can hear these extraordinary instruments in all their microtonal magnificence as UW music students and faculty perform works written by Partch on the composer’s own handmade instruments.
The performance is Tuesday, May 26 at 7:30 p.m. at UW’s Meany Studio Theater.