An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers:

Jeremiah Lawson
Sean Osborn
Nicole Truesdell
Neil Welch and Marcin Pączkowski

Hosted by James Holt

The Seattle Composers’ Salon fosters the development, performance and appreciation of new music by regional composers and performers. At bi-monthly, informal presentations, the Salon features finished works, previews, and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion. Everyone is welcome!

The brilliant Canadian clarinetist Lori Freedman performs THE VIRTUOSITY OF EXCESS, a solo concert of music for bass clarinet and contrabass clarinet. The title is a quote from the French composer Raphaël Cendo, referring to the exploration (and sometimes exploitation) of the beauty of extremes. The program is about 50 minutes in duration and features music which travels all over the limits and thresholds of the low clarinets, obscuring what is possible and what is not; it includes three works commissioned especially for this tour, and has been constructed like a full course meal with careful attention paid to the accumulation of rich but varied “food groups” – the aural palate and the psycho-sensorial tastes:

Brian Ferneyhough Time and Motion Study I (1977) for bass clarinet
Paul Steenhuisen Library on Fire (2015) for bass clarinet
Richard Barrett Interference (2000) for contrabass clarinet, voice and kick drum
Lori Freedman Solor (2016) for bass clarinet
Paolo Perezzani Thymos (2014) for contrabass clarinet and voice

Lori Freedman is part of a movement of “renaissance musicians,” whose artistic practices span a gamut of activity in making music. Heralded internationally for her provocative and creative performances in both solo and ensemble settings, Freedman’s work encompasses composing, improvising and interpreting scores written by others. As an interpreter of written music for clarinet, hundreds of works have been premiered by and/or dedicated to her. Full bio here. (photo: Martin Morissette)

This brim-full evening of musical contrasts concludes with guitarist Seth Josel performing the US premiere of point/wave (for steel string acoustic guitar and environmental chord cycle) (2015), a gorgeous new 45-minute piece for steel-stringed acoustic guitar and live ambient sound processing by composer Cat Lamb. “point/wave is an aggregate composition with an indefinite return. Resonating points of the guitar smear and coalesce with the filtered environment, creating a continuously fluctuating, cyclical tonality.” (listen here)

Originally from New York and now residing in Berlin, Seth Josel has been highly committed to working with several of the leading young composers of our time. Catherine Lamb (b. 1982, U.S.) is a composer dedicating herself to the elemental interaction of tone—by the investigation into partial theory (extended just intonation) and variations in presence of materiality/field within unfolding forms/structures. She has written for numerous musicians/ensembles in North America and in Europe. Her most influential mentors have been Mani Kaul, James Tenney, and Michael Pisaro. She currently resides in Berlin.

Presented by Nonsequitur. Lori Freedman’s Virtuosity of Excess tour has been generously supported by the following:

In her latest manifestation, called Nineteen Crimes, Jen Gilleran has asked two of her favorite songwriters to the Chapel. Having worked with Janet Feder in Denver, the two share a unique connection that will beautifully conclude Gilleran’s trilogy. Accompanied by Chris Icasiano on drums and Gilleran on percussion and effects, Feder’s set includes work from her acclaimed latest release T H I S C L O S E. Jen Gilleran includes three short films paired with selected recordings of Feder to reveal an uncanny relationship between artists living and living on. The legendary Robin Holcomb follows with a solo set for an unforgettable evening of music from two of the finest songwriters of our time in the best room in Seattle.

a musical with bibliography by The Turtling Dithers

Lyrics by Jay Hamilton. Music by Maurice Colasurdo (electric and acoustic guitar), Gordon Frazier (mouth-resonated instruments, percussion, effects, cheap theatrics, vocals), and Jay Hamilton (acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar, vocals)

Theme? Appearances, books, feelings, philosophy, politics. So nothing serious, obviously.

Each of the songs in the musical have elements that really happened. Or, if they didn’t happen, were inspired by an experience in the library. Or, sometimes the song came first and in looking for a book that might expand the song, a different book would be discovered about something else that would inspire a song. Or, none of this is how these songs came about because “Nothing is what it seems.”

Many of the most unique and creative international composers of the past 40 years have used the violin as a canvas or laboratory. Violinist Eric Rynes, familiar to many Seattle-area audiences, has recorded an album of extraordinarily diverse contemporary works for solo violin and violin with computer-realized sounds, from Elliott Carter’s playful depiction of a three-way argument in Riconoscenza, to Helmut Lachenmann’s turning the violin inside-out in Toccatina (only three notes of which are played “normally”), to the otherworldly contrasting soundscapes of Scelsi’s L’âme ouverte and Xenakis’s Mikka. Come hear these and other album tracks that are rarely performed live, including one with a specially-strung violin, and help Eric celebrate the release of an album that took years to complete. Examples of the composers’ musical notations will be projected prior to some of the performances. Mikka and Other Assorted Love Songs will be released by Albany Records in early February. The CD will be available for purchase at the concert, or free with a $15 admission.

Join us for a special fundraiser concert to support Seattle Modern Orchestra’s 2015-16 Season. Wine and hors d’oeuvre will be served before and following the one-hour concert of music by Reich, Ferneyhough, Trebacz and Tulve. This event also includes a silent auction with several enticing prizes and a few exciting games!

General Admission – students – $20 (includes concert ticket, food & a glass of wine)

General Admission – Adults & Seniors – $40 (includes concert ticket, food & a glass of wine, $20 donation to SMO)

Supporter’s ticket – $85 (includes concert ticket, food & 2 glasses of wine + an SMO DVD, $45 donation to SMO)

Patron + friend ticket – $250 (includes two concert tickets, food & unlimited champagne, an autographed CD of flutist Paul Taub, $100 donation to SMO)

PROGRAM:

Steve Reich – Cello Counterpoint
Rose Bellini, cello

Brian Ferneyhough – Time and Motion Study I
Angelique Poteat, clarinet

Ewa Trebacz – Minotaur for Horn and Surround Sound
Josiah Boothby, horn

Helena Tulve – Abysses for flute solo and ensemble
Paul Taub, flute

Julia Tai, conductor and SMO co-artistic director

Inverted Space/the UW Modern Ensemble performs the music of Brian Ferneyhough, Mark Applebaum and Joel-Francois Durand. Brian Ferneyhough’s residency concert will feature his works Fanfare for Klaus Huber, Mort Subite, Adagissimo, Intermedio alla Ciaccona and Flurries. Also on the program is Mark Applebaum’s Ferneyhough ReMix and Fanfare for Brian Ferneyhough. The premier of Joel-Francois Durand’s solo piano piece Enfance will be performed by Laure Struber, as well as the revised edition of Hermetic Definition.

Three experienced Seattle musicians come together to fine tune the art of improvisation. Alto saxist Wally Shoup, trumpeter Greg Kelley, and percussionist Greg Campbell integrate adventurous chops with keen ears and a deep sense of the laminal to create spontaneous coherences that move at the speed of response. This combination of far-ranging brass and woodwind textures, coupled with subtly shifting rhythms will perfectly suit the rich acoustical environment of the Chapel. (photo of Greg Campbell by Daniel Sheehan)

The Westerlies (“prevailing winds from the West to the East”) are a New York based brass quartet comprised of four childhood friends from Seattle, Washington: Riley Mulherkar and Zubin Hensler on trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch on trombone. “Skilled interpreters who are also adept improvisers” (NPR’s Fresh Air), The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous.” (NPR Music) Since their inception in 2011, their music has garnered praise from such diverse perspectives as Bill Frisell, The American Brass Quintet, Radiolab, and Vieux Farka Toure. Equally at home in concert halls and living rooms, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock band, and the charm of a family sing-along.

Robin Holcomb and Peggy Lee have collaborated since 2006 on a variety of projects composed by Robin Holcomb. Both distinctive composers and fierce improvisers, they have been featured performers at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the PuSH Festival, the Royal Room and the Chapel Performance Space in Seattle. The duo is currently recording their multifaceted repertoire: compositions extended by improvisation, songs and settings of the poetry of Nazim Hikmet. Their music explores a wide territory – from contemporary classical to folk to free jazz and beyond.

(Photo by Sasha Arutyunova​)

Daryl Seaver & Jeff Witscher work & live in Portland, Oregon, where they moved recently from Western Mass. Seaver received a Bachelor’s of Music from the Hartt School of Music & studied mathematics at the Smith Center for Women in Mathematics. She currently works as a software developer & has been recently utilizing computer software to unite her interest in music & mathematics. Witscher is busy running his cleaning company called Vincent’s Expert Cleaners & spends the remainder of his time playing chess. Together they are using computer software along with recorded instruments to reframe their ideas of cleaning & math in a musical context.

Mark Lewis is an electronic musician based out of Portland, Oregon. Since 2004 Mark has been a member of Eye Myths, a duo focused/unfocused on live improvised performance. On the 12th Lewis will present a new piece called Jokers Wild.

RM Francis is a computer musician from Seattle. His work incorporates granular synthesis, spectral processing, algorithmic composition, and image sonification.