Composer, producer, and performer Hahn Rowe has developed a uniquely personal sonic language, traversing a vast array of musical terrains and weaving them into ever-shifting, polymorphic soundscapes. At home in the studio as well as in the performance arena, he has worked to break down the barriers between traditional musical performance, sound art, and physical theater.

As an engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist (violin, guitar, electronics) he has worked with Hugo Largo (two albums on Brian Eno’s “LAND/OPAL” imprint), David Byrne, Anohni (Anohni and the Johnsons), Glenn Branca, Swans, R.E.M., and Yoko Ono, among many others. 

A recipient of three New York Dance and Performance Awards (aka the Bessie), Hahn Rowe has a long history of scoring music and performing for dance and theater. He has been involved in over 30 evening-length dance/theater productions, working globally with the likes of Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, Benoît Lachambre, Louise Lecavalier, Bebe Miller, John Jasperse, Simone Aughterlony, and Antonija Livingstone. 

Hahn Rowe is active as a composer for film and television, having created scores for films such as Clean, Shaven by Lodge Kerrigan, Spring Forward and The Cold Land, by Tom Gilroy, Married in America by Michael Apted, and Sing Your Song by Susanne Rostock.

Recently, Rowe’s music was featured as a major component in Adam Pendleton’s Who Is Queen? at MoMA (2021) and he has created the soundscore for Pendleton’s latest video work, Toy Soldier (Notes of Robert E. Lee, Richmond, Virginia/Strobe), as part of his exhibition, Toy Soldier (Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich 2022).

Curated by Ha-Yang Kim for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series.

(photo: Rob Davidson)

Kin of the Moon plays music of Tom Baker and Neil Welch

Tom Baker has composed a substantial yet delicate musical exploration of our shifting climate. “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier” is based on poetry by Craig Santos Perez. Scored for mezzo-soprano, alto flute, viola, saxophone, and guitar, the chamber ensemble movements  are interspersed with solo guitar meditations. These chamber movements and solo commentaries reflect on the tragedy of our world’s melting ice. Featuring saxophonist Neil Welch and guitarist Michael Nicolella.

KOTM reprises its performance of Neil Welch‘s “No house on fire, no”. Its unique sonic landscape emulates the infinitely variable sound of wind passing through vast fields of grass, an experience that Neil had on a trip to Alaska. No house on fire, no. for improvising quintet, explores phonetic text painting, reflections on physical landscapes and the collaborative spirit of a regularly performing ensemble engaged in creative improvisation. The work is segmented into four sections (Introduction, I, II, III) and is intended to progress between sections without pause. All instrumentalists use extended techniques to create undulating sounds of air and wind through various means, such as: fingers sliding on the keyboard with plastic finger picks, flute and saxophone blowing directly into their instruments without engaging pitch, bows sliding on the body of the instrument or swiping against the air itself, feet and hands brushing against the floor, clothing, or instrument. Some passages are dichotomous in their pitch content, blending tempered and non-tempered tuning. No house on fire, no. includes themes using non-pitched breathing through phonetic text painting, with rhythms and phrasing taken from the poem Drawn Together, by Joan Naviyuk Kane. Featuring saxophonist Neil Welch and bassist Abbey Blackwell.

Percussionist Michael Jones (he/they)  presents new works for percussion by Matt Sargent and Scott Wollschleger that explore time, touch, and exteriority. Based in San Diego, California, his recordings can be heard on the Naxos, New Focus, Edition Wandelweiser, Cold Blue, Sawyer Editions, and New World labels.  Michael’s debut solo album, Between Time and After, is  available from Chen Li Music. They are joined by the University of Washington Graduate Percussion Group, performing John Cage’s iconic Credo in US, and Rick Burkhardt’s experimental work for voice and percussion Simulcast. 

EUDIMORPHODON, is an early pterosaur AND a new duo with Dan Plonsey (saxophones) and Matthew Welch (bagpipes). Featuring compositions and improvisations by both for this unique combination of reeds, Plonsey and Welch dig deep into their love for odd creatures and characters to summon forth wild sonic beasts of imagination. They will be on tour from California.

Local support will be provided by Gust Burns (piano) and Casey Adams (drums) in duo, and works by Aaron Michael Butler.

John Elliott (aka Imaginary Softwoods) is a singular visionary who defies categorization, known for his collaborative work in the seminal kosmisch/ambient synth band Emeralds, with Drew Veres as Outer Space, as well as for his own solo projects. John’s oeuvre as a musician, visual artist, and curator are unmatched and significant. Since 2010, he’s overseen his personally curated imprint for vinyl, CD and digital releases, which is known as Spectrum Spools. He has created more than 40 widely distributed musical releases that have traversed the legacy of 20th Century Classical electronic music, refracted through the lens of his own idiosyncratic musical vision. He has also collaborated with legendary American electronic music pioneers such as Tony Conrad, Alan Howarth, and David Borden. In 2013, he performed and was interviewed in the modular synthesizer documentary, I Dream of Wires. His works have been praised by national and international publications like The Wire, Spin and Pitchfork Media. Winner of the prestigious Cleveland Prize, John is ever-evolving as an artist, performing live at events such as Detroit’s legendary No Way Back, Japan’s Labyrinth Festival, Berlin Atonal and many more.

Cameron MacNair is an audio programmer and composer based in Seattle. His work often explores the juxtaposition between acoustic and digital sound sources using custom digital signal processing. He holds a Master of Science degree in Digital Composition and Performance from the University of Edinburgh. Tonight he will perform a new composition for piano and electronics.

Curated by Chloe Harris for Nonsequitur’s NonSeq series.

Compositions and Improvisations by four Seattle experimentalists:

Salma Zenia, violin
Noel Kennon, viola
Lori Goldston, cello
Kole Galbraith, double bass

Kole Galbraith is a musician and sound artist originally from Wenatchee, Washington. He settled in Seattle after living in Germany, Mexico, and Austria. While traveling, Kole immersed himself in improvised experimental music across multiple genres ranging from free-jazz, harsh noise, new-music, and metal.

Lori Goldston is a cellist and composer from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist draws connections between far-flung idioms, and explores timbral thresholds of her instrument. Her work glides easily and across borders, building on a restless curiosity and a long history of collaborations with bands, orchestras, composers, film makers and choreographers.

Noel Kennon is an artist living in Seattle, WA. This work is currently questioning the role and purpose of sounding in society as well as continued research into the actualities of this perception called sound.

Salma Zenia is a violinist and composer. As a violinist with a long standing practice, she explores contemporary works written by 20th century composers or underrepresented living and emerging composers.

Music for Snare Drumz is an immersive exploration of resonance, texture, and rhythm, blending experimental minimalism, unconventional percussion techniques, and nuanced sonic transmutation.

Featuring performers Aaron Butler, Jon Rodriguez, Storm Benjamin, and James Doyle. Audiences will encounter hypnotic durational works and unconventional percussion techniques that provide tactile percussion textures with a meditative edge. The performance will emphasize space and silence as much as sound, creating an introspective yet physical experience for the audience. Music for Snare Drumz features compositions by:

• Tim Feeney
• Alvin Lucier
• Sarah Hennies
• John Luther Adams
• Amy Beth Kirsten
• Shin-Ichiro Ikebe
• Tonia Ko

Chairs will be provided, but audience members are also welcome to bring yoga mats, cushions, or pillows for a more relaxed, floor-seating experience.

Composer/improviser Carlos Cotallo Solares will start the concert with a solo set for electric guitar and effects pedals.

Presented by Seattle Percussion Works.

Minneapolis-based drummer/composer Emma Garau earned a BFA in jazz and contemporary music from UNC Asheville while studying independently with Dave King of The Bad Plus, and touring extensively with Fortezza, which she co-founded in 2016. Emma currently tours and records with art punk duo, ¿WATCHES?, and as a solo artist. She has also performed and/or recorded with Powderhorns, Grace Christian X, Ghosting Merit, Ice Climber, Davina and the Vagabonds, Brandon Wozniak, Erik Fratzke, Brian Nichols, Chris Bates, and Geologist (of Animal Collective). She endorses 651 Drums. Emma’s solo performances stem from her first solo record, Birds Don’t Perch Here, reimagined as a live, improvised performance. Built around an exploration of rhythmic and tonal textures on drum set, they combine elements of soundscape, free jazz, and electronic music into a performance that oscillates between deceptively delicate and unapologetically dissonant.

Aaron Otheim is a keyboardist and composer from Bremerton, WA, now based near Los Angeles. After studying classical and jazz piano at University of Washington, Aaron dove headlong into Seattle’s verdant experimental community, co-founding the Racer Sessions and cultivating his voice as a versatile improviser and imaginative arranger with projects like ((speak)), Heatwarmer, and Burn List. Aaron’s collaborators seek him out for both his spontaneity and openness, particularly his knack for finding throughlines that cut across genre or discipline. More recently, Aaron has worked with Mega Bog, Karl Blau, Molly Lewis, Jodie Landau, and Fleet Foxes. Fans of PNW avant-pop groups Heatwarmer and Mega Bog will recognize pianist Aaron Otheim’s playful, Fabergé-like style in his latest original works, where classical and folk-inspired forms intertwine with electronic textures evoking the music of Mort Garson, Wendy Carlos, and Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Curated for Nonsequitur‘s NonSeq series by Christopher Icasiano.

Named Northwest Emerging Artist of the Year by Earshot Jazz, Jahnvi Madan is an Indian American clarinetist, improviser and composer. As a bandleader, she has performed her music at several well known festivals, including the Washington D.C. Women in Jazz Festival, Westerlies Festival, and Earshot Jazz festival, as their youngest commissioned composer. She is the current Artist-in Residence at Town Hall Seattle. For this show, Jahnvi will be sharing a set of mostly originals, stemming from new instrumental jazz compositions to songwriting, and touching on themes of family, love, and loss, and what it means to have an open heart. Ahead of releasing her debut Album, “Soften”, this show marks the first time her whole band will be back together to perform, something they are all deeply excited about!The set will also include some dedications to Ellington and Kashmiri folk music.

Jonathan Paik is a New York-based pianist, composer, and improviser. Originally from Los Angeles, he aspires to play music that honors his lineages: both of that of his family heritage and that of the great tradition of Black American masters that are his primary influences on the piano. Jonathan is regarded as an exciting new voice in the New York City creative music scene and has been heard with Alfredo Colon, David Binney, Joe Morris, Jahnvi Madan, and many others. His current solo piano process stems from his interest in electronic music and granular processing. The result is his effort at synthesizing the methodologies and aesthetics of his favorite artists into new styles in real time. These particular pieces are inspired simultaneously by the musics of Cecil Taylor, Duke Ellington, Ikue Mori, Frank Ocean, and RP Boo.

Curated by Christopher Icasiano for Nonsequitur‘s NonSeq series.

The J2 Duo proudly presents Seen and Heard, showcasing a vibrant renaissance of diversity within brass repertoire.

While new composition has long been celebrated within the brass community, a refreshing renaissance of diversity is now taking place. The composers represented in this program are among those whose works are quickly becoming firmly established within the standard repertoire. From award winning composers Kevin Day and Carolina Calvache to freelance horn performer and composer, Susan Mutter, the J² Duo joyfully presents Seen and Heard in an endeavor to elevate these composers to a more expansive audience. 

The J² Duo began in May 2023 as a faculty trombone-piano duo recital at Central Washington University performing a program of all female composers, commissioned to write for this specific combination of instruments. The duo is committed to performing and commissioning original and diverse repertoire for this combination. The J² Duo consists of Central Washington University faculty members, Dr. John S. Neurohr, trombone and Dr. Jiyoun Chung, piano.