As part of Table & Chairs‘ new Weekend Residency program, Los Angeles-based musician and performer Mingjia Chen will collaborate with Seattle’s Abbey Blackwell and Kayce Guthmiller for an evening of music interweaving song and improvisation into a fluid performance. 

Born in Beijing, raised in Toronto, and based in Los Angeles, Mingjia Chen is a vocalist, composer, improviser, & multi-instrumentalist. Mingjia writes music that is equal parts ethereal and relatable, and performs it with courage and honesty. She makes music across a wide range of genres as a solo artist & as the vocalist and bandleader of the tortoise orchestra. An avid collaborator, she is a member of synth-pop duo uoou, GRAMMY award-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, and post-punk band Pleasure Craft. Mingjia has performed at venues and festivals across Canada, China, Europe, and the US, premiering works by Juliet Palmer, David Occhipinti, & Michael Davidson, sharing the stage with the Regina Symphony Orchestra as a soloist, and seeing her compositions premiered at Mass MoCA, The Art Gallery of Ontario, & Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Composition at the USC Thornton School of Music. Mingjia has produced four releases as a band leader, and her debut solo full-length is forthcoming from New Amsterdam Records.

Abbey Blackwell is a multi-faceted double and electric bassist in Seattle, WA. She is a member of many musical scenes in Seattle’s music community, including the improvised, rock, classical, and jazz spheres. In addition to playing in a variety of groups, she also has a band of her own, Rae, which features her compositions and group improvisation with Ronan Delisle (guitar) and Evan Woodle (drums). Abbey has performed and recorded with a variety of artists including Jonathan Wilson, La Luz, Macklemore, Myrkur, Thousands, Red Ribbon, Alvvays, and Cassandra Jenkins. In addition to recording, she plays in a wide array of groups around Seattle including with Wayne Horvitz, The Seattle Modern Orchestra, Tomo Nakayama, and Great Spiders. Abbey holds a master’s degree in Jazz and Improvised Music and a bachelor’s of music in Double Bass Performance from the University of Washington.

Kayce Guthmiller is a violist, vocalist, songwriter, and improviser born and raised in Boise, Idaho. Currently based in Seattle, they graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 2021. Through Cornish they explored unlearning the restraint of their classical training and embraced experimentation and songwriting, looking up to their influences Andrew Bird, Fleet Foxes, and Joni Mitchell among them. Kayce was featured on Chris Thile’s Live From Here in 2020 and wrote, produced, recorded, and released their debut album in the solitude of 2021, the slow, with mentorship from Seattle’s Dr. Kaley Lane Eaton and Heather Bentley. The record, featuring predominantly just viola, voice, and drums, is a sparse, nostalgic homage to memory, the wounds of childhood, isolation, and the sweetness of connection.

(photo of Mingjia Chen by Erika Poh)

“Seattleʼs St Celfer writes immersive electronic songs that encompass both haunting beauty & wild experimentalism.” – BANDCAMP

St Celfer, of Korean and American origin, currently lives between São Paulo and Seattle, the latter living off/on since 1990. A fan of Seattle grunge, was, once upon a time, in the 00’s New York scene performing, among other places, at CBGB’s, The Kitchen, Tonic, The Tank, Remote Lounge, Galapagos Art Space, Sputnik, and Stinger Club.  

During the isolation of the pandemic, St Celfer developed an innovative and sophisticated electronic instrument – a “gambiarra,” in Brasilian Portuguese – named Step4D™. This unpredictable instrument is designed to be played and heard live, in real time, and works in a way that bypasses step by step, rational thinking. Every unique performance embraces chaos and forms songs from turmoil.

St Celfer has twice been named New & Notable on BANDCAMP (2021 & 2022), and is the featured wave track for Infrasonica issue #7, ‘Voicing Abstraction’. Much of his work can also be found on his YouTube channel.

Christin Call is an assemblage artist living in Seattle and making work primarily at the cross-section of dance, film, installation, and poetry. She received her BA in Painting and Art History from Wichita State University, co-founded Coriolis Dance and was co-Artistic Director for 14 years. She is also the founder of The Shed, a performance installation space that facilitates residencies for artists with complex practices. 

Sid Samberg, a composer-pianist originally from Chicago, is honored to join the local music scene as a new Seattle resident. He will perform his original works for piano solo, which explore concepts ranging from the personal (how we construct reality as individuals) to the global (addressing the worsening climate crisis).

Sid Samberg (b. 1989) is a composer-pianist, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and educator. His music flows from an inner voice which connects the emotional content of sound with deeply felt aspects of human experience. He has been described as “uncommonly talented” (John Von Rhein – Chicago Tribune).

Samberg has been called an “eco-pianist” as a result of his musical engagement with climate change. Several of his works, such as Larsen B (2004) and Harvest (2011) are inspired by or dedicated to our relationship with nature.

His recent collaborations include Zero Tolerance, a collaborative project with C. Eule Dance Company about a mother and daughter separated by ICE at the US-Mexico border; the release of LUDO, an EP recording of a modular graphic score written for him by composer Drew Corey, and a performance on piano and keyboards with the NYC experimental black metal band Liturgy in their opera Origin of the Alimonies, at REDCAT in LA. Samberg has a degree in composition from California Institute of the Arts.

Seattle cellist Lori Goldston plays two solo sets, one acoustic and one amplified, to launch her new solo LP High and Low, some of which was recorded in the beautiful Chapel space. 

Lori Goldston is a cellist and composer from Seattle. Her voice as a cellist draws connections between far-flung idioms, and explores timbral thresholds of her instrument. Her work glides easily and across borders, building on a restless curiosity and a long history of collaborations with bands, orchestras, composers, film makers and choreographers, including Earth, Nirvana, the BBC Scottish Symphony, Mirah, Jherek Bischoff, Jessika Kenney, Eyvind Kang, Ilan Volkov, Vanessa Renwick, David Byrne, Terry Riley, Lonnie Holley, Stuart Dempster, Torben Ulrich, Shelley Hirsch, Ghedalia Tezartes, Senga Nengudi, Ellen Fullman, Lynn Shelton, Natacha Atlas, Jim Fletcher, Matana Roberts, Marisa Anderson, Maya Dunietz, and many, many others.

She performs her work at venues and festivals throughout the US, Mexico, Canada, Australia and Europe, including the Kennedy Center, Joe’s Pub, Cineteca Nacional de Mexico, Henry Art Gallery, Frye Art Museum, PS21, Tectonics, Le Guess Who?, On the Boards, Bumbershoot, TBA, What the Heck Fest, Chicago Humanities Festival, River to River, Sydney Festival, and for Paris Fashion Week. She has released recordings on Sub Rosa, Woodland Fauna, Marginal Frequency, Yo Yo, K Records, Second Editions, Sub Pop, Mississippi Records, Eiderdown, Substrata, SofaBurn, Ed Banger, PIAPTK, SofaBurn, Broken Clover, and No Sun.

For the safety of all present, wearing masks is encouraged.

Celebrating the release of the first new Climax Golden Twins record in many years, the Twins will play a set of rare and unusual 78rpm records and Edison cylinders on period equipment, followed by an improv set featuring percussionist Dave Abramson and contra bassist John Seman with the Twins on guitars, electronics and found sounds.

Founded in 1993 by Robert Millis and Jeffery Taylor, Climax Golden Twins is best known for the soundtrack to Session Nine (with the OST on Milan International). They have released compilations of 78rpm shellac records (the Victrola Favorites book on Dust-to-Digital), as well as collage, field recording, musique concrète, instrumental rock, and improv LPs, CDs and cassettes. Their new double LP continues many of these threads and features contributions by friends from Seattle’s vibrant music scene and beyond including Dave Abramson (Diminished Men), John Seman and Mark Ostrowski (Monktail Creative Music Concern), Alan and Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls), Ko Ishikawa (master Japanese sho player), Greg Kelley (trumpet), artist Jesse Paul Miller, music therapist David Knott, painter Marefumi Komura, members of Kinski, the A Frames, Dreamsalon, Yves Son Ace and more.

In addition to working as Climax Golden Twins, Jeffery Taylor plays with Hound Dog Taylor’s Hand and Spider Trio, while Robert Millis has released solo recordings on the Helen Scarsdale Agency and has worked extensively with the Sublime Frequencies record label.

Please join French hornist/composer Tom Varner for a new work for improvising ensemble. Tom has assembled a fantastic assortment of Seattle’s best improvisers:

Tom Varner, French horn
Leanna Keith, flute and bass flute
Aniela Perry, cello
Greg Campbell, percussion and brass
Christian Pincock, trombone and electronics
Max Dawes, guitar, electronics, voice
Weijun Huang, tenor saxophone
Kelsey Mines, bass

(Please note: there is no elevator service on this date, and listeners will need to walk up 4 flights.) 

(Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis)

An observation of improvised ambient and drone music in various executions under a first quarter moon.

Joey Largent‘s work focuses on exploring long-duration compositions and improvisations for acoustic ensembles and solo performance. Beyond generating music alone, his goal is to offer a space for introspection, releasing from attachment, beauty, and connection. Through site-specific work and field recording, he seeks to connect daily experience more profoundly with the impermanent harmony of the natural world. He has collaborated with numerous dancers, musicians, and interdisciplinary artists over the years, and has studied North Indian Classical singing with several disciples of Pandit Pran Nath including Michael Harrison and Rose Okada.

Tarsier Eyes is the solo project of Dustin Williams, combining warping motifs of dense prepared guitar textures and keening drone beds.

August is based out of Anacortes, Washington and features members August Eliason and Jorgen Lovehart (and for this performance drummer Casey Adams) who will be playing drone music focused on and inspired by the ocean and lunar cycles. This will be layered with various assorted bells and percussion.

Drowse is the project of Kyle Bates based out of Portland, Oregon and currently residing in Los Angeles, California. Kyle’s music fuses elements of drone, musique concrète, ambient, and folk with often very introspective documenting lyrics. His music has been described as “the aural equivalent of blood rushing back to a sleeping limb”. He is currently pursuing a doctorate at CalArts.

“Outlaw Space is a high-energy post-jazz quartet that defies genre labels and adjectives.” — Scott Schaffer.

The formula for Outlaw Space is simple: be patient, color the room, play the infinity within boundaries, raise the vibration and astonish everyone.

Incredible skill, orchestral richness, and an eclectic playfield of musical influences define the improvisations and compositions of this piano quartet led by acclaimed pianist Stephen Fandrich, with William Monteleone, “the quietest most attuned saxophone player ever,” violinist Kirill Polyanskiy, and special guest, percussionist Greg Campbell. Expect a calming, mysteriousness evolving to a brilliant, poised intensity via an ancient/contemporary music, with roots in just intonation, modal improvisation, jazz, European classical music, and Javanese karawitan.

 Outlaw Space began as the “House Band” for Spite House, an acclaimed DIY venue and curated musical event in Seattle’s Capitol Hill district. Spite House is considered to be a venue; however, it is in fact a weekly musical event by donation which exists outside of the laws which govern musical creativity within the venues of Seattle. No drinks to sell, no tickets to process, no profits to count, and not much overhead to cover means that the musical performances and creativity within  are each incubated in an openness that exists outside of any pronounced musical laws, hierarchy or  economic demands at traditional venues. Outlaw Space, now a piano quartet, grew for seven years in the incubator of Spite House, beginning in 2015, with pianist-composer Stephen Fandrich and saxophonist William Monteleone. It expanded in 2018 to include percussionist Noah Colbek (now in Austin) and violinist Kirill Polyanskiy. 

2022 ICL Composers
BC Campbell
Krystal Barghelame
Paul Matthew Moore

with The Penta String Quartet:
Heather Bentley, Jordan Voelker, Aleida Gehrels, Maria Scherer Wilson

Invisible Composers Lab brings composers and musicians together, across generations, to create luminous, new creative works. The laboratory’s mission is to collaborate, fuel curiosity, and experiment in a supportive, non-hierarchical environment that welcomes inspiration from new music, improvisation, jazz, film scoring, rock, classical music and the wide sonic world. Fueled by discussions and interactive workshops over many months, each ICL Session includes workshop performances to open the collaborative conversation to listening audiences.

The ICL co-founders (composers BC Campbell, Krystal Bargehlame and Paul Matthew Moore) adventures in music have brought them to KEXP, The Royal Room, The Moore Theater, Cannes, PBS’s American Masters, The Smithsonian, The Paramount, The Seattle Symphony Youth Workshop, and Sasquatch Music Festival to name just a few. They are thrilled to be joining forces to create new possibilities at the Good Shepherd Chapel.

Joey Largent presents his most recent composition in collaboration with movement/costume/installation artist Katrina Wolfe for an acoustic just intonation ensemble composed of practitioners of Burmese vipassana, musicians, and friends. Composed primarily on the Olympic Coast and in the North Cascades near the Lower Curtis Glacier, the work follows an exploration of changing natural landscapes and physical masses as the ensemble organically weaves through a semi-improvised score paired with the gradual tidal changes of an extended field recording from the Washington Coast. Sensitive to the sound and structure, Wolfe offers a complementary reflection of the terrain through continuous, hypnotic movement that is enhanced by her meticulously hand-stitched costumes and intricate choreography. Pulling from ongoing years of study in North Indian Classical gayaki (vocal music), Largent’s composition unifies these elements by suspending a passage through variations of four different ragas of morning, afternoon, and night for a slow moving work of an unfixed duration.

Annapurna Dharma Communion:

Jackie An – violin
Michael Shannon – cello, voice
Joey Largent – cello, voice, field recording, composition
Manasvi Patel – 7-limit shruti box, bamboo chimes, copper chimes, bells 
Sam Vanderlinda – 7-limit shruti box, steel tongue drum, bells, tibetan bowls 
Katrina Wolfe – movement, costumes, choreography
Russell Christenson – 7-limit harmonium, bells
Ian Gwin – Miraj tambura

Joey Largent’s work focuses on exploring long-duration compositions and improvisations for acoustic ensembles and solo performance. Beyond generating music alone, his goal is to offer a space for introspection, releasing from attachment, beauty, and connection. Through site-specific work and field recording, he seeks to connect daily experience more profoundly with the impermanent harmony of the natural world. He has collaborated with numerous dancers, musicians, and interdisciplinary artists over the years, and has studied North Indian Classical singing with several disciples of Pandit Pran Nath including Michael Harrison and Rose Okada.

Katrina Wolfe is an interdisciplinary artist working in the mediums of performance art, costume making, installation, photography, and sculpture. A primary focus of Katrina’s work is the practice, teaching and performance of Masukhuma: a dance, movement therapy and performance art technique that has evolved from her experience in butoh, visual arts, and her daily practice of Vipassana meditation. Katrina studied primarily with butoh artists Joan Laage and Atsushi Takenouchi. She also gained great inspiration through studying the films of butoh founder Tatsumi Hijikata and through an intensive workshop with first-generation butoh artist Daisuke Yoshimoto. By creating costumes and installations from organic and recycled materials, and through merging the body with various environments – both natural and created – Katrina’s work explores issues of attachment, over-consumption, climate change, waste, and ephemerality. 

(Photo: Dmitry Artamonov)