Viva Vocalists, the first class taught through Fisher Ensemble’s new education division, led by instructors Shawna Avinger and Kristen Ramer Liang, presents two one-act operas: Kurt Weill’s Down In The Valley (1945-1948) combines American folk tunes with strikingly modern harmonies to tell the Depression-era tale of two star-crossed lovers. Douglas Moore‘s Gallantry (1958) pokes fun at the melodramatic world of television soap operas.

Quatrain is a small ensemble with the core instrumentation of Taina Karr (oboe/English horn), Mary Riles (cello), and Moriah Neils (double bass) that performs contemporary repertoire. For this concert we will present four works with wide-ranging style, including music by Mark Jurcisin and Seattle composers Eyvind Kang, Jherek Bischoff, and Sarah Bassingthwaighte. With guest performers Maria Mannisto (soprano), Heather Bentley (violin), and Monica Schley (harp).

Presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. Made possible in part by support from the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Now in its 27th year, the Seattle Improvised Music Festival is the longest running festival of its kind in North America. This year’s festival features visionary musicians visiting from Tokyo, Berlin, Arizona, BC, Philadelphia, Portland and of course Seattle, performing in solo and duos, as well as first-time collaborations with Seattle Improvisers. For a complete list of artists, instrumentation, and bios, go here.

Wednesday, February 8
Jeph Jerman / Jonathan Way / Matthieu Ruhlmann
Paul Hoskin / Lance Olsen / Wilson Shook / John Teske / Mark Collins
The Seattle Phonographers Union
Jamie Drouin / Lance Olsen / Mattieu Ruhlmann

Thursday, February 9
Jamie Drouin / John Teske / Matthieu Ruhlmann / Jonathan Way
Taku Sugimoto composition
Mara Sedlins / Jamie Drouin / Lance Olsen / Mark Collins / Jack Wright
Paul Hoskin / Jeph Jerman / Doug Theriault

Friday, February 10
Matthew Carlson / Jason Anderson
Jack Wright / Gust Burns / Tim DuRoche
Jonathan Way / Tyler Wilcox / Jeph Jerman / Mara Sedlins
Taku Sugimoto solo

Saturday, February 11
Tim DuRoche / Tari Nelson-Zagar / Wilson Shook / Mark Collins / Doug Theriault
Jack Wright solo
Taku Sugimoto / Jeph Jerman / Tyler Wilcox / Gust Burns
Large ensemble

Leviathan Worship Service creates a cocktail of space-age drone with uncontrollable noise through the keyboards and percussion of J. James Taylor and the guitar and theremin of B. Arthur Rouda. Utilizing broken loops and a bi-polar guitar they construct improvised and meditative soundscapes.

Olympia cellist Derek M. Johnson plays the acoustic/electric cello in non-traditional and improvisational settings, often as a soundtrack to a hand-made, direct animation slide show of his own creation.

Ffej is an analog synthesist, songwriter and sound artist on the run from normality. His experimental compositions defy description as does his multifaceted musical life. As well as playing his own material solo, he has participated in a number of group projects including Mutant Data Orchestra, Chaosmosis and has been a key member of the Sonicabal, a Seattle based collective of experimental musicians. He is the man behind Seattle’s online creative music calendar, Cognitive Dissidents.

A broad range of Seattle musicians improvise solos, each lasting one minute, in support of the 2012 Seattle Improvised Music Festival. Performers include Andrew Joslyn, Andrew Olmstead, Begin Scarseth, Brad Hawkins, Bruce Greeley, Cynthia Marie, Eric Rynes, Gust Burns, Ivan Arteaga, Jason Parker, Jim Knodle, John Teske, Justin Parker, Mara Sedlins, Michael Owcharuk, Michael Sentkewitz, Natalie Mai Hall, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, Neil Welch, Schraepfer Harvey, Steve Scribner, Wilson Shook and more.

Marc Barreca (digital accordion, computer/electronics) and Doug Haire (field recordings) together create a layered, multi-channel sonic environment, blending phonography, loop-based textures and live electronic instruments.

The Box Is Empty, Seattle’s newest contemporary music ensemble, performs David Lang’s Pulitzer-prize-winning the little match girl passion (Northwest premiere) and Steve Reich’s Proverb. With Maria Mannisto and Christina Siemens, sopranos; Kathea Yarnell, alto; Mark Leuning and Brian Winnie, Tenors; Tim Blok and Yigit Kolat, electric organs; Becca Baggenstoss and Denali Williams, percussion. Jeremiah Cawley, conductor.

Manna Presence performs acoustic/electro-acoustic improvisations plus songs from the last 5 years by Serge Gubelman (words/vocals, didgeridu, hang, percussion, dulcimer, waterphone) and Mark Fauver (guide of the “digital brain”, keyboards, windsynth, kalimba). With support by Bill Patton (Gold Leaves, Low Hums), Davis Martin (LeRoy Bell, Maktub), Jane Hall (Spirit House, House of Tarab), Mark Renner (Spirit House, Angel Aparicio), and Terrance Stearns (Spirit House, Superkali, Red Rose Thieves).

RONIN 3 features Kenny Mandell (sax,flute/percussion), Don Berman (drums), and Simon Henneman (guitars) performing original, unadulterated, uncompromising avant/new jazz in the tradition of the Art Ensemble, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, and other adventurous souls.

Presented by Seattle Composers’ Salon, Nonsequitur, and Joshua Parmenter. Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is a free outdoor participatory sound sculpture of many individual parts, recorded on cassettes, CDs and MP3s, and played through a roving swarm of boomboxes carried through city streets every December. People bring their own boomboxes and drift peacefully through a cloud of sound which is different from every listener’s perspective. Since 1992, this project has grown into a worldwide annual communal event that has become an essential part of many winter holiday celebrations. Please join us for this unusual sonic celebration of the Winter Solstice and the Seattle experimental music community. Review in the Seattle Star.