Nonsequitur presents composer Frederic Rzewski in a rare US appearance. Living in Belgium for the past 30 years, Frederic Rzewski is one of America’s great maverick composers and a virtuoso pianist whose music freely combines elements of minimalism, atonality, improvisation, folk songs, and political texts. Rzewski was a co-founder, with Alvin Curran and Richard Teitelbaum, of MEV (Musica Elettronica Viva), a group known for its pioneering work in live electronics and improvisation. Program: War Songs (2008 – first performance), Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier (2003), Mayn Yingele (1988), and Four Pieces (1977).Seattle Times article here.

A cadre of expert listeners collectively gathering sounds from the world and improvising with their unprocessed field recordings, the Seattle Phonographers Union‘s intent is to move beyond habitual experience of sound and uncover what is foreign in the familiar and familiar about the foreign; to explore what we hear and relearn what we know. Some sounds will be familiar; others less so. Both novel and familiar sounds are juxtaposed in ways unique to each event. The goal is not to excite, confuse or entertain per se, but to attend to the world, which is much more detailed and diverse than any one person’s perception of it.

An evening of electro-acoustic music from three Seattle artists associated with the Dragon’s Eye Recordings label, presenting electroacoustic music with video. Kamran Sadeghi (aka Son of Rose) is a composer working in digital audio, electroacoustic music, environmental field recordings, and video. This performance will present his interpretation of the transitory nature of sound. The animations included in these performances are part of Sadeghi’s ongoing Kha Series. “Kha” is an ancient mathematical Indian term meant to denote “zero” and in certain contexts “void.” Sadeghi custom designs each animation by assigning a range of visual responses to sound. Also on the bill are Yann Novak and Wyndel Hunt.

The 23rd Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival, co-presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur.

The longest running festival of its kind in North America, SIMF is an annual meeting place for improvisers at the forefront of Improvised Music in North America, and from around the world. This year’s festival features representatives of Improvised Music communities in Tokyo, Paris, Zurich, Madrid, Berlin, NYC, Portland, other North American cities, and of course Seattle. The 2008 festival will feature visiting musicians performing in solos and duos, as well as first-time collaborations with Seattle players.

Gust Burns + Stéphane Rives duo Liz Albee + Jonathan Sielaff + Tyler Wilcox trio Wade Matthews + Stéphane Rives duo

The 23rd Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival, co-presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. Chris DeLaurenti + Liz Albee duo Wade Matthews + Liz Albee + Greg Sinibaldi trio Stéphane Rives solo

Celebrating the release of two new CDs on noise|order recordings, label founder Jason Kopec (field recordings, electronics) improvises with Mark Johnson of Amateur Radio Operator (guitar, electronics, vocals), Amber Kai Morgan and Garrett Kelly (found sound). The instrumental guitar/bass/clarinet quartet Correspondents plays the opening set.

The 23rd Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival, co-presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. Jeffrey Allport + Tetuzi Akiyama duo, Tetuzi Akiyama + Mark Collins + Jean Paul Jenkins trio, Jason Kahn solo.

The 23rd Annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival, co-presented by Seattle Improvised Music and Nonsequitur. Gregory Reynolds solo, Jozef van Wissem + Jean Paul Jenkins + Jeffrey Allport trio, Tetuzi Akiyama + Jozef van Wissem duo.

Presented by Subtext Reading Series. Hank Lazer has published 12 books of poetry, most recently The New Spirit (Singing Horse, 2005), Elegies & Vacations (Salt, 2004), and Days (Lavender Ink, 2002). His poetry was nominated for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and the 2004 Forward Prize. With Charles Bernstein, he edits the Modern and Contemporary Poetics Series for the University of Alabama Press. Leonard Schwartz is the author of several collections of poetry, including Ear And Ethos (Talisman House, 2005), The Tower of Diverse Shores (Talisman House, 2003), Words Before The Articulate: New and Selected Poems (Talisman House), Gnostic Blessing (Goats and Compasses), Meditation (Cloud House), Objects of Thought, Attempts At Speech (Gnosis Press) and Exiles: Ends (Red Dust Press). He teaches at Evergreen State College, where he hosts Cross-Cultural Poetics on KAOS radio.

Two veterans of the Seattle electronic music scene:

Marc Barreca, a Seattle pioneer of electronic music and member of the 80s group Young Scientist, will perform new works for electronic accordian, computer and interactive video in celebration of his forthcoming CD on the revived Palace of Lights label. And in a very rare solo appearance, renowned Seattle producer and electronic whiz Steve Fisk will play a solo piece for digital sampler accompanied with video projections by Killing Frenzy.