Presented by Nonsequitur.

Foday Musa Suso is an internationally recognized musician and a Mandingo griot from the West African nation of Gambia. He formed the Mandingo Griot Society in Chicago, and after thirty-two years there he now lives in Seattle. Foday has not only brought the traditional griot music of his homeland to American audiences, but he has brought the kora into more contemporary and experimental settings, collaborating with jazz, rock, and classical musicians as diverse as Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Philip Glass, and the Kronos Quartet. This special concert in the intimate setting of the Chapel will focus on his own solo compositions, drawing on his traditional roots while exploring unusual new directions.

Butoh: Danse Perdue (Alex Ruhe, Kaoru Okumura, Vanessa Skantze)
Sound: Noisepoetnobody, Joy Von Spain, loopool

An exquisite night of structured improvisation encompassing surges and shocks, dancing the adaptive mutation of creatures and nature’s unbridled exuberance in the face of humankind’s wanton destruction. We celebrate the scavengers foraging at the borders of the civilized world, crafting their own makeshift environments and thriving in their afflictions. Each dancer will be paired with a musician. There will be three solos — each dancer with their musician partner, then one brief duet as a dancer/musician pair comes in at the final of last solo, and then a trio as the third dancer/musician pairing enters the fray.

For this concert, Eye Music will be performing prose pieces by Christian Wolff, Fluxus performance scores, and the world premiere of Clifford Burke’s 96.

John Teske is a composer, improviser and double bassist who writes music that provokes thought and reflection. These scores are based on the idea of sound coming in and out of focus. Each score will be performed twice: once with an instrumental ensemble and once with a vocal ensemble, to explore different interpretations of the same forms.

Jazz geniuses Jim Knapp and Eyvind Kang unveil the first phase of a new musical project called Scrape, a conductor-less, democratic ensemble of 15 string players and 2 harpists with Eyvind as soloist/ improviser. The all-original music composed by Jim and Eyvind is gorgeous and fascinating stuff. The ensemble’s ranks are filled with conservatory-trained, improvising-friendly string players, with violist Heather Bentley leading as concertmaster.

Screaming silence in a whirling pool of stillness, BLING! formed in 2004 to bring together mentor and student in a performance dynamic that investigates and activates new levels of awareness. The duo, featuring Denney Goodhew on piano and Beth Fleenor on clarinet, explores mostly spontaneously composed chamber music, occasionally throwing in a composed work by Goodhew, with a commitment to ensemble intention and focused energy. BLING! opens itself to the space and the audience to channel, reveal and magnify subtleties in texture, timbre and tone and their inherent rhythm, melody and harmonic form – a meditation on presence and being.

The Seattle Composers’ Salon is an informal presentation of new music by regional composers. The salon meets the first Friday of every other month, and features finished works, previews, and works-in-progress. It brings together composers, performers and audience members in a casual setting that allows for discussion and experimentation. This month’s featured composers include Keith Eisenbrey, David Mesler, Doug Palmer, and Tom Baker.

Presented by Nonsequitur.

On June 19, Seattle artist/experimental musician Wyndel Hunt was seriously injured in a bicycle accident. All money from this concert goes directly to his recovery fund.

Climax Golden Twins is the inscrutable and ever-morphing sonic beast animated by Rob Millis and Jeffrey Taylor. Their extensive catalog of recordings includes permutations of mutant rock, ungodly noise, and minimal ambient drone. Among many other things.

Bill Horist is a free improvising prepared guitarist of impeccable taste and devilish wit, and a finger-picking acoustic guitarist of astonishing musicality in the post-Fahey lineage.

Vance Galloway is one of the people who makes the Decibel Festival a reality. He is also an inventive musician who pulls beautiful sounds out of electric guitars and computers.

Saxophonist Eric Barber presents new solo works for saxophone as well as trio improvisations featuring Paul Kemmish, bass, and Paul Kikuchi, percussion. This concert will showcase Eric’s deep, personal sound world with complex rhythms and meters. Eric has performed and recorded with many luminaries of new and improvised music, as well as forged world music hybrid ensembles with musicians from Bulgaria, India, Indonesia, and Iran. He is the recipient of the 2009 Earshot Golden Ear Award for Outstanding Jazz Instrumentalist of the year. His main ensemble, the Ziggurat Quartet, just released their first CD, Calculated Gestures, on Origin Records.

Presented by Nonsequitur. Brazilian pianist Ruth Serrão performs a solo program of rarely-heard contemporary music by composers from Brazil: Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Prelúdio, Claudia Caldeira’s Pra Piano #1, Maria Helena Rosas Fernandes’ Ciclo #3, Cesar Guerra-Peixe’s The Spotted Cat and Maiden Swallow (a love story) and Five Tropical Preludes.