John Teske premieres “quartet for sustaining voices,” exploring the harmonic colors that arise between four voices as they blend in different combinations. Written for any four sustaining instruments, this performance realizes it for guitar, vibraphone, cello, and double bass. Performed by Matt Benham, Aaron Michael Butler, Lady Zade, and the composer.
Stephanie Wood fittingly premieres the first of her Sonic Shrine series, “Emergents” at the beloved Chapel. The series sonically replicates the functions of a traditional shrine entirely through sound and the body as a focal point for veneration, ritual, or meditation. “Emergents” offers sonic representations of emergent strategy with gongs, travel field recordings, SOMA FX, and found objects. It invites us to “sit with” how small actions and connections create complex systems, patterns, and societies while envisioning a liberated world we yearn for. Comfy clothes are never a bad idea.
John Teske is a Seattle-based composer, improviser, and double bassist. He has written contemporary concert music for soloists, small ensembles, and chamber orchestras, which have been performed across the Americas and Europe. Teske’s compositional approach balances intentional composition with spontaneous expression. He uses algorithmic techniques to generate scores and musical systems that incorporate chance, variation, and improvisation. He experiments with distilling musical concepts to their essence and aims to write music that can be performed by any ensemble of instruments. Teske’s work has been supported by organizations such as the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Jack Straw Foundation, and the City of Seattle.
Stephanie Wood of Sonic Creations is a sound artist, composer, and wellness practitioner. Her sound ranges ambient to noise, creating acoustic and electroacoustic immersive soundscapes focused on deep listening, creativity and connection. Stephanie leads large events and workshops on improvisation, data sonification, and composition that center or integrate gongs with sound sculptures, FX, and found objects. She often plays gong for DAPIANbutoh, Bhakti Studio and “cinematic goth – yogic metal” group Society of the Silver Cross. She also organizes Seattle Avant-Garde Music Society. Previously, she was in Denver’s avant-garde ensemble Itchy-O, opening for prominent acts including David Byrne, Beats Antique, and DEVO.