Austin Larkin is a composer primarily working with violin, bells, and sirens. His performance and practice is informed by research into dimensions of vibrating bodies. Larkin’s solo violin performance situates the violin as an instrument to accentuate space, rather than to fill space. Within this space, the violin renders a continuously unfolding structure of interlocking harmonic shapes and temporal patterns. With his custom bell instruments, the experience of ringing is expanded to energize the resonance of architecture and the cochlea. Through these instruments, we hear sound is not separate from space, sound is space.
Susie Kozawa is a Seattle-based sound artist, composer, and performer who works with sound collages and site-specific installations in which the gathering of sounds is a primary activity. She explores different acoustic spaces using musical instruments that she makes out of found objects (kelp, modified toys, cardboard rolls, jars, etc.). Creating live sound design and soundscapes for dance, theater, and film productions, Kozawa has participated in a “live spectacle performance” of Guy Madden’s silent film Brand Upon The Brain! that performed in Seattle, Portland, Sao Paulo, and Winnipeg. She has also contributed to sound and sound effects in the films Torrey Pines (Petersen 2016), By the Salish Sea (Gregory 2012), and When Herons Dream (2009). She was a founding member of Aono Jikken Ensemble, an experimental group that specializes in bringing live performance to silent films, and is a member of the Seattle Phonographers Union. She has received awards from the Seattle Arts Commission, Artist Trust, Washington State Arts Commission, and the Ford Foundation.
Unfortunately, flutist Leanna Keith is unable to play as originally planned. Instead, Susie’s duo partner will be harpist Carol J Levin. Levin has established a niche as Seattle’s improvising electric/acoustic harpist. Returning to the harp after classical training in her youth, she has been embraced by jazz and free improvisation communities for her creative voice and for extending the capabilities of the harp beyond its expected style. Carol plays in duos, trios and large ensembles including Trio/Impro, CHA, Levitation, The Likes Of, Christian Pincock’s Scrambler, Beth Fleenor’s Blindfold Ensemble, Rain City Jazz Orchestra, and Game Symphony Workshop. In addition to harp, she plays multiple percussive instruments and, recently, theremin!