Beth Fleenor: Workshop Ensemble (WE) celebrate the release of SILT – a 16 minute sonic meditation which has been embraced by Bunny Blasto Records. SILT will be available as a limited edition 5.5 x 7.25 print by artist Ollie Glatzer, a visual meditation serving as the physical vehicle of the sonic work, in tandem with a private download of the music itself. SILT will be available for purchase in person at live events, or online via Bunny Blasto Records.

For this performance WE will perform SILT as well as new work for blindfolded musicians. WE are: Michele Khazak (voice), Kate Olson (soprano sax), Brian Bermudez (tenor sax), Chris Credit (bass clarinet), Sam Boshnack (trumpet), Naomi Seigel (trombone), Michael Owcharuk (piano), Geoff Larson (bass), Evan Flory Barnes (bass), Greg Campbell (percussion/horn), Adam Kozie (drums), Beth Fleenor (clarinet/voice/comp).

The Ballad of Ishtar is an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera that responds to our world-wide rape culture crisis. Its contemporary language is shaped by its particular musician creators, whose backgrounds all include improvisation and composition. Featuring singer/clarinetist Beth Fleenor in the title role and okanomodé (aka SoulChilde BlueSun) as the androgynous character Asu Shu-Namir, the ensemble represents the intersection of many facets of current art music and responds to the 400-year-old genre of opera with contemporary methodologies (conduction led by Wayne Horvitz), sounds (electronics, amplification and live processing by William Hayes) and virtuoso improvisational skill. Other characters are played by vocalist extraordinaire Jimmie Herrod (the Queen of the Underworld), and a dance representation of Ishtar by Paris Hurley. The instrumental ensemble comprises saxophonist Ivan Arteaga, violist Heather Bentley, trumpeter Ahamefule J. Oluo, King Crimson guitarist Trey Gunn, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, and guitarist/actor Michaud Savage.

This video from a four-day summer residency offers a small window into their working process.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

The Ballad of Ishtar is an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera that responds to our world-wide rape culture crisis. Its contemporary language is shaped by its particular musician creators, whose backgrounds all include improvisation and composition. Featuring singer/clarinetist Beth Fleenor in the title role and okanomodé (aka SoulChilde BlueSun) as the androgynous character Asu Shu-Namir, the ensemble represents the intersection of many facets of current art music and responds to the 400-year-old genre of opera with contemporary methodologies (conduction led by Wayne Horvitz), sounds (electronics, amplification and live processing by William Hayes) and virtuoso improvisational skill. Other characters are played by vocalist extraordinaire Jimmie Herrod (the Queen of the Underworld), and a dance representation of Ishtar by Paris Hurley. The instrumental ensemble comprises saxophonist Ivan Arteaga, violist Heather Bentley, trumpeter Ahamefule J. Oluo, King Crimson guitarist Trey Gunn, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, and guitarist/actor Michaud Savage.

This video from a four-day summer residency offers a small window into their working process.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

The Ballad of Ishtar is an electro-acoustic, semi-improvised opera that responds to our world-wide rape culture crisis. Its contemporary language is shaped by its particular musician creators, whose backgrounds all include improvisation and composition. Featuring singer/clarinetist Beth Fleenor in the title role and okanomodé (aka SoulChilde BlueSun) as the androgynous character Asu Shu-Namir, the ensemble represents the intersection of many facets of current art music and responds to the 400-year-old genre of opera with contemporary methodologies (conduction led by Wayne Horvitz), sounds (electronics, amplification and live processing by William Hayes) and virtuoso improvisational skill. Other characters are played by vocalist extraordinaire Jimmie Herrod (the Queen of the Underworld), and a dance representation of Ishtar by Paris Hurley. The instrumental ensemble comprises saxophonist Ivan Arteaga, violist Heather Bentley, trumpeter Ahamefule J. Oluo, King Crimson guitarist Trey Gunn, bassist Evan Flory-Barnes, and guitarist/actor Michaud Savage.

This video from a four-day summer residency offers a small window into their working process.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

Mythunderstandings explores the common threads of our individual experiences and the myths we tell ourselves and each other to make sense of them. How do people deal with Fate, Superstition, Love, Death and other facets of the Human Experience?

The heart of this audio/visual feast is centered around personal stories recorded from a diverse range of people, including a hoarder, a refugee, an adoptee, a bank teller, several grandmothers, and a northwest Salish tribe member, whose tales are woven together into a provocative tapestry presented with humor and pathos.

This collaborative performance features an award-winning creative team: film maker Adam Sekuler, director Lisa Halpern, and the Tiptons Sax Quartet collaborating with drummer Tarik Abouzied and Coastal Salish story-teller/musician Paul ‘Che oke ten’ Wagner.

This project was developed with support in part by 4Culture.

Angelique Poteat has recently been featured by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra on their Spring for Music tour to Carnegie Hall, and will have an orchestra piece commissioned by the SSO premiered on their Sonic Evolution program on January 30, 2015. Her music has been described as “engaging, restless” (The New York Times) and “serious and nicely crafted” (American Record Guide). Originally from the Pacific Northwest and currently based out of Seattle, her music has been recorded and performed in Australia, Germany, Lithuania, and all over the United States by ensembles including the Enso Quartet, New York New Music Ensemble, Philharmonia Northwest, Saratoga Orchestra, and by members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Poteat’s music is heavily influenced by her surroundings, most often drawing from personal interactions as well as nature and the Puget Sound area. As an avid cyclist, she does much of her “field work” en route, taking in the sounds, sights, adrenaline, and atmospheres for inspiration.

This program of Poteat’s recent chamber works features many of Seattle’s most talented musicians, from members of the Seattle Symphony to faculty at the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts. Works vary in inspiration from psychological examination to dance and landscape.

Amy Reed is a visual artist and composer living in Sacramento, California. She is the founder of Ma, a series that supports creative work by women at Gold Lion Arts, the performance/education space she co-creates with Ross Hammond in Sacramento. She studied extensively with Sarah Flohr, and with Vladimir Tarasov and Robert Reed. She allows her painting practice and her composing practice to inform her extensive research into performance, video, sound, improvisation, and listening. Recent work includes: Solo – electric guitar, Ione’s 20th Annual Dream Festival; virtual Artists-in-Residence dream duo with Dr. Leo Polansky, large ensemble work with Phillip Greenlief, Vinny Golia, and Tony Passarell, and an active duo with Ross Hammond performing original and traditional material. Tonight she performs solo with electric guitar and voice. (photo: George Thomson)

Seattle saxophonist Kate Olson‘s solo project KO SOLO is a blend of her love for minimalism, ambient music, noise, and found sounds. Using soprano saxophone, laptop and other noisemakers (thumb piano, buddha box, cracklebox), she creates loops that overlap and shift gently over the course of her improvisations. All KO SOLO performances are improvised from start to finish.

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 recently finished works and works in progress. Composers, performers, and audience members gather in a casual setting that allows for experimentation and discussion. Tonight: Neil Welch, Cole Bratcher, Ivan Arteaga, Matthew James Briggs.

The January salon will be preceded by a New Music Holiday Office Party from 6:30-8 PM, allowing a chance for the composers, performers, and listeners of the new music community to have their own holiday office party. Live music by cellist Carson Farley, a casual CD exchange, and non-alcoholic cider and snacks. So please come early and feel free to bring any CDs you’d like to share!

“The first time witnessing a Briggan Krauss solo is nothing less than extraordinary. Krauss has one of the most recognizable voices in creative music, and his solos employ a massive arsenal of sounds: the percussive punctuation marks, the exaggerated vibrato and supersonic range, and…that occasional flurry of notes that eerily alludes to a very embedded, yet revolutionary technique.” — Ink19

Sonic alchemist and alto saxophone mastermind, Briggan Krauss is featured in an all improvised performance tonight. Throughout his 20-year career in New York, the former Seattle resident has carefully dedicated himself to the extreme edges of saxophone technique and to the art of improvised music, developing a sound and musical conception that is truly unparalleled. A prolific solo artist and collaborator, Krauss is perhaps best known for his longtime role in Steven Bernstein’s band Sexmob. For this show he will be joined by clarinetist/vocalist Beth Fleenor, bassist Isaac Castillo, and pianist Stephen Fandrich.

Christian Pincock is a trombonist, composer and educator who creates a wide range of uncompromising and meaningful music. Informed by a firm background in jazz, his work focuses on narrative, gesture and detail as a way of inspiring and entertaining audiences with work that integrates many musical styles and elements. The Christian Pincock Group will play pieces which seek to redefine the roles of instruments within a jazz ensemble and explore the intersection of composition and improvisation in unique ways. The group is Christian Pincock, valve trombone & compositions; Levi Gillis, tenor sax; Jon Hansen, tuba and Evan Woodle, drums. Christian will also perform solo pieces on valve trombone and electronics. He uses a homemade controller made from the pedals of an electronic organ, adapted to work with custom software augmenting the original function of playing bass notes.

The Sky is a Suitcase is a jazz quartet dedicated to playing original music. Their songs range from bombastic energy pieces to quiet, pastoral ballads. Just as much in the tradition as out of it,’suitcase’ offers a plethora of moods and moments.