NonSeq: Fleenor + Icasiano + Oluo

Please note that our building’s elevator is now back in service!

In her first public performance in three years, Crystal Beth (aka: Beth Fleenor) returns to the Chapel to start fresh and reignite the cauldrons. In this solo incarnation, she uses amplified clarinet, wailing vocals, and electronics to weave a sonic universe all her own. Known for crafting aural rituals that encompass industrial chants in her own invented language, alien disco breaks, heart gushings, and robot love songs, Crystal Beth redefines the possibilities of the voice and clarinet in tight experimental pop songs and undulating, cathartic noise cries.

Christopher Icasiano is a Filipinx-American percussionist and composer from Redmond, WA. Based now in Seattle, he has been performing and touring professionally for over 15 years. His specialization in free-improvisation and experimental music combined with his vast experience with pop and rock have made him a highly sought after collaborator in all genres of music. Tonight’s solo piece will be performed entirely on acoustic drum set.

Ahamefule J. Oluo (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, writer, comedian, and creator of live performance and theater. A founding member of the award-winning experimental jazz quartet Industrial Revelation and a Mellon Creative Research Fellow, Oluo was a recipient of a Creative Capital Award, a the ArtistTrust Arts Innovators award, and a semi-finalist in NBC’s Stand Up for Diversity comedy competition. They have premiered two autobiographical music-based performances at The Public Theater’s prestigious Under the Radar Festival: Now I’m Fine (2016), and Susan (2020). Now I’m Fine was adapted into the film Thin Skin, starring Oluo, who also wrote the script and the score. Thin Skin won Best Director (Charles Mudede) at the Harlem Film Festival. Tonight Oluo will perform new pieces for their upcoming solo show The Things Around Us which features music for trumpet, clarinet and drums.

Curated for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series by Michaud Savage.