Jones Playhouse

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 this 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, submit your event to the Live Music Project at least 6 weeks prior to the event and be sure to tag it with “new music.”

Racer Sessions
A weekly showcase of original music with a jam session based on the concepts in the opening presentation.
Every Sunday, 8-10pm, Cafe Racer | FREE

Wayward Music Series
Concerts of contemporary composition, free improvisation, electronic/electroacoustic music, & more.
Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-$15
Check website for complete listings

2
Luke Fitzpatrick performs Cage and Partch
John Cage’s Freeman Etudes plus the first-ever performance of Harry Partch’s 17 Lyrics by Li Po in its entirety, scored for the composer’s handmade adapted viola and intoning voice.
Fri, 12/2, 7:30pm, Jones Playhouse | $10-$20

2-4
The Esoterics: TEASDALE: Across the endless spaces
A journey with The Esoterics’ resident composer emeritus, Donald Skirvin, on his choral “love affair” with the rhapsodic American poetess, Sara Teasdale.
Fri, 12/2, 8pm, St Stephen’s Episcopal Church | $15-$25
Sat, 12/3, 8pm, Holy Rosary Catholic Church | $15-$25
Sun, 12/4, 7pm, Christ Episcopal Church, Tacoma | $15-$25

3
Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night
Experience a beautiful mix of electronica & non-denominational caroling. Download the free mobile device app or free music tracks at unsilentnight.com.
Sat, 12/3, 6pm, On the Boards | FREE

6
Seattle Collaborative Orchestra: Questions & Answers
SCO features a new work by Roosevelt High School and Rice University graduate Brendan McMullen along with works by Ives, Lili Boulanger, and Tchaikovsky.
Tues, 12/6, 7:30pm, Roosevelt HS Auditorium | $10-$20 (18 & under free)

6
Town Music: Blackbird, Fly!
Daniel Bernard Roumain & Marc Bamuthi-Joseph explore their identities, pay tribute to their role models, and inhabit their place in contemporary American society.
Tues, 12/6, 7:30pm, Town Hall | $5-$20

6
UW Modern Ensemble: Steve Reich 80th Birthday Celebration
The UW Modern Music Ensemble presents a program devoted to the music of renowned living composer Steve Reich, celebrating a milestone birthday year.
Tues, 12/6, 7:30pm, Meany Hall | $10

9
STG Presents: Matmos: Ultimate Care II
Matmos celebrates the release of their new album, constructed entirely out of the sounds generated by a Whirlpool Ultimate Care II model washing machine.
Fri, 12/9, 8:30pm, The Vera Project | $15

10
Inverted Space Ensemble performs La Monte Young
This extended performance of Composition 1960 #7 will feature both the Harry Partch Harmonic Canon and Adapted Viola.
Sat, 12/10, 8pm, Gallery 1412 | $5-$15

10-11
Choral Arts Northwest: Not One Sparrow Is Forgotten
Joined by guitarist Bob McCaffery-Lent, this new-music-focused performance is intended as a respite from this usually harried time of year.
Sat, 12/10, 8pm, St. Joseph Parish | $24-$28
Sun, 12/11, 3pm, Plymouth Congregational Church | $24-28

10 & 17
Seattle Pro Musica: Star of Wonder
Music from around the world that evokes the holiday season from medieval chant to recent works by Judith Weir, John Rutter, & Gabriel Jackson.
Sat, 12/10, 3pm & 7:30pm, Seattle First Baptist | $12-$38
Sat, 12/17, 3pm & 7:30pm, Bastyr Chapel, Kenmore | $12-38

18
Serendipity Quartet: Sunnier, Rainier: A String Quartet for Seattle
A balanced program of Shostakovich, Dvorak, and the world premiere of Adam Stern’s Crossroads which explores the dynamic nature of Seattle.
Sun, 12/18, 7pm, Town Hall | FREE

18-19
NOCCO: Solstice Celebration
Celebrate the return of the light with a sonic respite: music of Stravinsky, Respighi, Bach, and Seattle composer Angelique Poteat.
Sun, 12/18, 7:30pm, Magnolia United Church of Christ | $15-$30 (under 18: FREE)
Mon, 12/19, 7:30pm, University Unitarian Church | $15-$30 (under 18: FREE)

by Maggie Molloy

“Baroque-N-Hearts,” eighth blackbird, and a brassy quartet are just a few of this week’s music events to help you start your February off right!

30^th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival

Seattle’s favorite musical improvisers may be used to flying by the seat of their pants, but this weekend they’ve got some pretty big plans: the 30^th Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival. The three-day festival highlights the growth and expansion of new and experimental music in Seattle by featuring local and guest artists.

This Thursday, catch the electro-clarinet concoctions of Matthew Ostrowski and Paul Hoskin followed by a quartet of trumpets and trombones. Friday’s lineup features electronics, found objects, and plenty of jazzy, snazzy brass. And finally, Saturday will feature saxophonist Neil Welch joined by two harpists, as well as two different trios featuring electric guitar: one alongside cello and drums and the other alongside trumpet and electronics.

The festival is this Thursday, Feb. 5, through Saturday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. each night at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.

eighth blackbird on the UW World Series

eighth-blackbird

“I know noble accents and lucid, inescapable rhythms; but I know, too, that the blackbird is involved in what I know,” wrote the American Modernist poet Wallace Stevens in his 1917 poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”

It is from this verse that the Chicago-based new music ensemble eighth blackbird takes its name. The group combines the virtuosity and finesse of their classical music training with the energy and fearlessness of contemporary music.

This weekend, the sextet is coming through Seattle to perform an all-acoustic recital featuring works by György Ligeti, the National’s Bryce Dessner, Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, and several other contemporary composers.

The performance is this Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse Theater at University of Washington.

Seattle Pro Musica’s New Sounds Northwest

Choir in Rehearsal

The Northwest is known for its beautiful mountain ranges, its gorgeous coastlines, and its lush forestry—with all of these breathtaking landscapes, it’s no wonder our region’s composers are so inspired. This weekend, Seattle Pro Musica is celebrating one of the most magnificent things about the Pacific Northwest: its music.

“New Sounds Northwest” is a series of outreach performances featuring new music by Northwest composers, performed by the celebrated Seattle Pro Musica choir. This weekend’s program features works by Morten Lauridsen, Vijay Singh, Brian Galante, Eric William Barnum, and more!

The performance is this Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church in Tacoma. An additional performance is next Sunday, Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore.

Early Music Underground Presents “Baroque-N-Hearts”

EMU

Whether you’re single or seeing someone, the new Early Music Underground has the perfect performance to put you in the Valentine’s Day mood. They’re teaming up with Naked City Brewery to present “Baroque-N-Hearts,” an evening of beautiful music, delightful company, and delicious food and drinks. Bach, brews, and burgers—sounds like a match made in heaven!

The event features Baroque music for (and against) Valentine’s Day performed by singer Madeline Bersamina, flutist Josh Romatowski, cellist Juliana Soltis, and harpsichordist Henry Lebedinsky.

“This is not museum music,” Lebedinsky said. “This is living, dynamic, passionate people playing music that can really connect and move people today, if given the chance.”

The performance is next Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. at Naked City Brewery in Greenwood.