“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!
30th 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 30th 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
“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
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”
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.