The Truth About the Key is the sixth installation in violinist Biliana Voutchkova’s DUOS2022 series of duets with musicians of various backgrounds. Voutchkova, who resides half the year in Berlin and the other half on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, recorded these duets with American experimental musician Jeff Surak in Berlin, where Surak spent much of this past summer. It was a two-day session, the first day of which was spent recording musical and other activities at different places—location-based “guerilla” interventions, something of a specialty for Surak–followed by a studio session the next day. Surak, who’s credited with playing tape recorder and amplified objects, subsequently took the recordings and composed them into the three sound collages appearing on the album.
Safely Uncivilized captures an outdoor ambience pervaded by the sound of a police siren, the thrum of traffic, and snatches of conversation, which provide background for jangling metal in a four-beat rhythm and tremolo bowing on the violin. Unraveled Over Time combines the hiss and scuff of an imaginary untuned radio with Voutchkova’s pizzicato violin, followed by a charming personal travelogue/reminiscence narrated by Voutchkova. At twenty-six minutes long the title track is an abstract sound mass of variable densities bringing together sounds recalling a gamelan, crisply recorded pizzicato and lo-fi arco violin, colliding objects awash in echo, and a phone conversation—culminating in an abrupt halt.
Voutchkova’s repertoire of extended techniques complements the unpredictable and sometimes messy ambient sounds surrounding her as well as Surak’s noise-based sensibilities. They are an unconventional, and yet dissonantly harmonious, match.
“Pocket Music” is collection of suites of electroacoustic miniatures from composer James Caldwell. Caldwell is Professor Emeritus at Western Illinois University (WIU). In addition to his teaching, Caldwell co-directed the annual New Music Festival at WIU where he programmed hundreds of new pieces by living composers. “Pocket Music” is his first portrait release and represents just one facet of his wide-ranging interests as a composer.
For this CD Caldwell’s compositions explore his sonic imagination with everyday items that are often found in his pockets. As he writes, “For more than twenty years I have pursued a sporadic project of making small musique concrète pieces. The original set used sounds I made with things I found in my pockets while working in the studio—coins, keys, plastic pill bottle, comb, paperback book, rubber band, and a screwdriver struck against a wrench. … As I returned to the project, I continued working with small found sounds, but not necessarily things from my pockets: ping-pong balls, a stapler, M&M’s, binder clips, finger cymbals, a pencil run over the rungs on the back of a chair, dresser handles, the bag from a bunch of apples from the grocery store, a wine glass, and then — moving outside into my yard — cicadas, lawn furniture, garden stones in a wheelbarrow, birds, the distant rumble of the Macomb Speedway, and some odds and ends sitting around on my hard drive. Even as the objects became larger or farther from me, the pieces remained pocket size.”
Armed with his imagination and his computer Caldwell explores the various relationships between representation and abstraction with the object(s) he has chosen; sometimes imposing his compositional ideas on the object and other times led by his discovery of hidden sonic properties in the object itself. There is a great deal of variety amongst each of these miniatures. Some are very rhythmic, a few are very harmonic, others are more acousmatic. There is always a sense of both an idea and of playfulness in each of these pieces and that is what makes “Pocket Music” a really interesting listen. Recommended.
One of the more positive things that happened in 2020 was the relaunch of Neuma Records. In 1988 Shirish Korde and Jerry Tabor launched the label. They built a catalog that included recordings of well known twentieth century composers such as Xenakis, Cage, Boulez, Messiaen, Nono, Scelsi and Varese. But the catalog caught my attention in the early 90’s because it was releasing recordings of works by contemporary electroacoustic composers and recordings by performers who focused on the work of lesser known contemporary composers . The catalog includes works by Dashow, DeLio, Dodge, Gaburo, Johnston, Karpen, Lansky, Laske, Lippe, Martirano, Oliveros, Reynolds, Risset, Saariaho, Subotnick, Yuasa and many many more.
By the end of the 90’s Neuma’s release schedule had really become sparse. In 2020 the label relaunched with Philip Blackburn taking over. Blackburn is a composer who spent almost 30 years working at Innova Recordings. Innova focuses on assisting composers and performers through the recording, publication, marketing and distribution process. As a result, Innova has curated a diverse body of contemporary music spanning more than 650 albums. Blackburn has brought this assistive and curatorial approach to Neuma.
In December of 2020 Neuma released three new recordings. The first was from composer Wesley Fuller (1930-2020). It is a nice collection of seven electroacoustic pieces for instruments and computer.
Fuller ‘s works skillfully blends acoustic instruments and computer generated sounds with a focus on gesture, shape and color.
The second release is from composer Robert Moran. It is a nice collection of eight diverse works for orchestra. On this album Moran’s work is primarily neoromantic with occasional minimalist tendencies.
The third release is a concert recording from 1967 of composer Kenneth Gaburo conducting the New Music Choral Ensemble in a diverse program of twentieth century choral music. This is a really interesting release. If you don’t have any contemporary choral music in your collection then this would be the disc to have. It is not hard to imagine that in 1967 very few people in the US had heard live performances of choral music by Luigi Nono, Anton Webern and Olivier Messiaen. But practically no one had heard any music, never the less choral music from Pauline Oliveros, Ben Johnston, Leslie Bassett, Charles Hamm and Robert Shallenberg. Under the direction of Kenneth Gaburo the New Music Choral Ensemble took on the extreme technical challenges of performing such a diverse and difficult program. The program’s compositions included everything from 12 tone serial music to 31 tone just intonation to graphic and descriptive notation to works with live and or prerecorded electronics! The spirited performances on this disc are extremely well done. Also included are two interesting electronic pieces by Gaburo that were used to allow the singers a short break in between some of the pieces on the program. I highly recommend that you give this album a listen!
As I was getting ready to post this, Neuma released several additional titles – Robert Moran’s opera “Buddha goes to Bayreuth”, Gina Biver’s “Nimbus” which is seven miniatures for electroacoustic chamber ensemble, spoken word and soprano voice, James Caldwell’s “Pocket music” a set of concreté miniatures made with “small” sounds usually of things found in his pockets, and Spanish composer Juan J.G. Escuerdo’s “Shapes of Inner Timespaces” a collection of eight acousmatic compositions. Perusing their online catalog today it looks like several more titles are being released in February including a recording of Harry Partch’s “The Bewitched” ! I am glad to see that Neuma is back and that Blackburn has established an aggressive release schedule of diverse contemporary music. You can hear more samples of current and upcoming releases as well as selected back catalog on the Nuema Soundcloud Page. So check it out!
Fred Frith is a pioneer of the extended electric guitar. Take a glance at his discography of over four hundred titles and it becomes clear that Frith has successfully inserted himself into an incredibly diverse number of contemporary sound worlds. From bands like Henry Cow, Skeleton Crew and Massacre to improvising with the likes of John Zorn, Anthony Braxton, and Evan Parker to his compositions for electric guitar quartet, the Ensemble Modern, the Arditti Quartet and so much more!
One of Frith’s many collaborations has been with Sudhu Tewari in the duo Normal. Tewari is a sound artist focused on audio electronics, interactive installations, invented musical instruments and sound sculptures that utilize whatever materials are on hand. They recently presented and discussed a number of their invented instruments at the Center for New Music in San Francisco.
“Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down” is a new release from Fred Frith, Sudhu Tewari and Cenk Ergün. The material for this album was recorded about ten years ago as an improvisation with Frith on guitar, Tewari playing recuperated junk and electronics and Ergün on electronics. However, this is not an album of a group improvisation. “Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down” is a long form work that uses the original improvised studio material as building blocks for an entirely new piece.
Cenk Ergün is a Turkish American composer/improviser currently based in Berlin. Ergün has written a wide range of acoustic and electronic works. A wonderful album of two of Ergün’s compositions for string quartet performed by the JACK Quartet was released earlier this year. During the lock down Ergün revisited the ten year old session and then went to work. He created a sound library of various samples from the original trio session. The samples range from a second to several minutes. Samples from the library may be heard in their raw form or heavily processed. Ergün used this library to very carefully assemble “Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down”, which combines elements of rock, noise, improvisation, electronic processing and digital studio composition.
While “Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down” has been divided into seven tracks it really is a continuous forty-four-minute piece. I think it is best to listen to it as a single listening experience. The piece has a mesmerizing almost dream like quality to it. It’s sounds move from the chaotic and noisy to the lyrical and harmonic, often drifting between multiple textures. There are sections that focus on developing very specific elements from the original session. For example, the title track is all Frith reassembled by Ergün layering different moments from the original studio session. “Stay Tuned“ features Tewari’s mallet work on his “street piano” accompanied by birds and the occasional passing car interrupted by bursts from the studio session. The piece ends with “Dem” which focus’s on the final sounds Frith made in the original session. The gentle de-tuned arpeggios from Frith’s guitar unfold at a glacial pace into long sustained chords that slowly transform back into their original form.
“Lock Me Up, Lock Me Down” is a wonderful listen! It successfully combines so many different sonic elements that it is likely to appeal to a very broad range of creative music listeners. Treat your ears and give it a listen.
The San Francisco Tape Music Collective is dedicated to presenting performances of audio art. For over 20 years they have presented The San Francisco Tape Music Festival, diffusing works from composers throughout the world in addition to their own works through a pristine immersive 24-speaker surround-sound environment, in complete darkness. SFTMC and SFTMF are projects of sfSound.
Donations are welcome. All proceeds go to the San Francisco Tape Music Festival. (post COVID-19). If you donate this Friday, Juneteenth, bandcamp will donate 100% of their shares to NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Friday, March 23, 8:30pm
The supremely gifted cellist Frances-Marie Uitti makes a rare Los Angeles appearance for the debut of Michael Jon Fink’s new cello concerto, written especially for her pioneering technique of playing with two bows simultaneously, and chamber ensemble. Known for a prodigious career of dismantling longstanding musical boundaries, Uitti follows with another world premiere by Greg Moore, and works by Lisa Bielawa, Jonathan Harvey, Giacinto Scelsi, Karen Tanaka, and Ken Ueno, most written for Uitti’s incredible interpretations. REDCAT, Located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, 631 West 2nd St., downtown Los Angeles | $20 / $16 students
Friday, March 23, 9pm
Beyond Baroque presents Beyond Music series with wildUP! – Brooklyn to LA. : New music from one coast to the other coast: Brooklyn/ LA featuring music by Timo Andres, Art Jarvinen, Chris Kallmyer, Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, Andrew Tholl, and Frederic Rzewski. The music of right now, right this very moment, is being created in basements and recorded in living rooms in high definition. wildUP! : their music is raw, unabashed, and they made it themselves. wildUp! presents two concerts about the music being composed now in LA and Brooklyn. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice | $15 advance / $20 door
Saturday, March 24, 3pm
Beyond Baroque presents Beyond Music series with wildUP! – Brooklyn to LA. : New music from one coast to the other coast: Brooklyn/ LA featuring music by Timo Andres, Art Jarvinen, Chris Kallmyer, Missy Mazzoli, Andrew Norman, Andrew Tholl, and Frederic Rzewski. The music of right now, right this very moment, is being created in basements and recorded in living rooms in high definition. wildUP! : their music is raw, unabashed, and they made it themselves. wildUp! presents two concerts about the music being composed now in LA and Brooklyn. Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice | $15 advance / $20 door
Saturday March 24, 7pm
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art presents the closing event of GOTHIC, with music by Trestles (electronics +), Toaster Music, and The League of Vampiric Bards. OCCCA, 117 N. Sycamore St., Santa Ana | Free
Saturday, March 24, 8pm (7:30pm pre-concert talk)
Southwest Chamber Music continues their Cage 2012 Celebration with a concert featuring John Cage works including Lecture on the Weather, Score (40 Drawings by Thoreau), and 23 Parts. Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School, 200 South Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles | $38 / $28 seniors / $10 students
Saturday, March 24, 8pm
Music at Boston Court presents the Thies-Krajacic Project: Spontaneous Inventions. Featured performers of the TKP are Damjan Krajacic (flute), Robert Edward Thies (piano), Michael Valerio (bass), and Steven Schaeffer (drums). Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Ave., Pasadena | $25 / $20 seniors and students
Saturday, March 24, 8pm
Pomona College Faculty Chamber Music presents Annabel Guaita (piano) and Alfred Cramer (violin) in a concert of Music of Norway, selections by 20th-century atonal polyphonic composer Fartein Valen and others. Pomona College, Bridges Hall of Music, 150 E. 4th St., Claremont | Free
Saturday, March 24, 8:30pm
The Los Angeles new music high-fliers meet up with the godfather of techno Morton Subotnick for a live revisit to the electronic music pioneer’s iconic works, rendered with new technology. From the landmark Silver Apples of the Moon (1966) to A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur (1977), Subotnick worked with Buchla synthesizers and tape recorders to create new electronic works meant for the home environment—and later adapted his music for live performance. Now equipped with Ableton Live on his Mac and the new Buchla 200e, he performs with the California E.A.R. Unit—collaborators since 1980—and draws on elements of Silver Apples and Sky in an evening of “spontaneous performance and decision-making.” REDCAT, Located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex, 631 West 2nd St., downtown Los Angeles | $20 / $16 students
Sunday, March 25, 1pm (12:30 load in)
SASSAS and the Center for the Arts Eagle Rock present soundShoppe, a monthly unstructured sound workshop/noise jam for experimental musicians and sound artists. soundShoppe offers a means by which sound artists can hangout on a regular basis and informally explore their medium together. soundShoppe offers experienced sound musicians an opportunity experiment with different instrumentations and approaches and play outside of their comfort zone. soundShoppe also presents the opportunity for novice sound artists to interact with more experienced ones. Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock | Free
Sunday, March 25, 8pm
the wulf presents Casey Anderson: Solo, Many, All – two new pieces (solo live electronics, the other participatory) concluding with an open discussion based on a prompt. The event will shift from an exclusive format (solo) to one in which everyone present is placed on an equal playing field (all). The live electronics piece is rooted around Anderson’s current interest in instrument design for/around chaotic data networks, while the participatory piece is based on a poem about a poem about a painting owned by a poet, and will feature something like writing, breathing, tearing paper (etc.). Concluding the event will be an open discussion on exclusivity. the wulf, 1026 South Santa Fe Ave. #203, downtown Los Angeles | donations accepted
Monday, March 26, 8pm
Monday Evening Concerts presents Jazz Encounters, music as extreme action; music rooted in popular styles. This concert will feature pieces by Stefan Wolpe (Quartet for Trumpet, Tenor Saxophone, Percussion and Piano)(Piece for Oboe, Cello, Percussion, and Piano), Evan Johnson (ground), Peter Ablinger (Parker Notch), Peter Ablinger (weiss/weisslich 4), and Evan Johnson (Supplement), performed by Daniel Rosenboom (trumpet), Eliot Gattegno (saxophone), Nicholas Terry (percussion), Vicki Ray (piano),
Gareth Davis (clarinet), Ariana Ghez (oboe), Jason Lippmann (cello), and Donald Crockett (conductor). Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School, 200 South Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles | $27
Tuesday, March 27, 7pm
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library and San Diego New Music present the Formalist Quartet in concert. This evening’s program will feature pieces by Harold Budd (String Quartet 2001), Toru Takemitsu (Landscape 1), Leos Janacek (String Quartet No. 1), and others. The Formalist Quartet is Andrew Tholl (violin), Mark Menzies (violin, viola), Andrew McIntosh (violin, viola), and Ashley Walters (cello), who will perform this evening with special guest Phoebe Jevtovic Rosquist (soprano). Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla | $25 members / $30 non-member, available here
Tuesday, March 27, 8pm
Keith Jarrett: An Evening of Solo Piano Improvisations. Experience the music of Keith Jarrett in the pristine acoustics of Walt Disney Concert Hall as he celebrates the release of Rio, one of the finest live solo recordings of his career. <a href=”Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 South Grand Ave., downtown Los Angeles | $43 to $150, available here
Thursday, March 29, 7pm
The Last Bookstore presents the End of Quarter Blowout, A multi-level event in which performances flow through three conjoined floors of the Spring Arts Tower (The Crocker Club, The Last Bookstore (natch), and the Mezzanine. Featuring!: Double G and the daKAH Orchestra, NineNet, Killsonic, Poetry Noise Orchestra, and HMS Soundsystem with special guests Robert F. Leng and Tom Steck of Other Criteria, multiple smaller esnsembles, theater installation curated by Poor Dog Group, and a diverse collection of friends and contributors of The Last Bookstore. The Last Bookstore, 453 S. Spring St. (ground floor), downtown Los Angeles | Free
Thursday, March 29, 8pm
Giacomo Fiore will present a night of recent music for classical and just intonation guitar, with and without live electronics and other trickeries. Works by Lou Harrison, Larry Polansky, Ron Nagorcka, and Toshio Hosokawa. Born in Italy in 1983, Giacomo has been playing and studying music in the U.S. since 2003. He lives in San Francisco and looks forward to his debut at the wulf. the wulf, 1026 South Santa Fe Ave. #203, downtown Los Angeles | donations accepted
Thursday, March 22, 8pm OutSound presents the Luggage Store New Music Series, this week featuring a set at 8pm with Sarah Elena Palmer (vocals, processing), and at 9pm with Ann/Marianne, featuring Ann O’Rourke (cymbals, drums, found objects, effects) and Marianne Tomita McDonald (Scottish harp). Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market St. (@ 6th St.), San Francisco | $6-10
Thursday, March 22, 8pm
CNMAT presents pianist and Regent’s Lecturer Gloria Cheng in a performance, demonstration, and discussion of new works for piano and live electronics. The pieces have been composed for this occasion by UC Berkeley graduate composers Sivan Eldar, Dan Van Hassel, and Jen Wang. CNMAT, University of California Berkeley, 1750 Arch St., Berkeley | Free
Friday, March 23, 6:30pm
In 1975, California-based Dutch Conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader disappeared under mysterious circumstances at sea while attempting to cross the Atlantic in a small craft. Filmmaker Rene Daalder uses this story as the basis for a sweeping overview of contemporary art and an epic saga of the transformative powers of the ocean in his 2008 film Here is Always Somewhere Else: The Life of Bas Jan Ader. Before the screening, immerse yourself in a recording of ARP’s meditative electronic musical work Odyssey (For Bas Jan Ader). In conjunction with the exhibition State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley | Free to $7
Friday, March 23, 8pm Artists’ Television Access presents an evening of electroacoustic audio-visual improvisation with Bill Hsu (electronics, interactive animation), Tony Dryer (contrabass), Jacob Felix Heule (percussion), and special guests from Norway. Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia St., San Francisco | $6-10
Friday, March 23, 8pm
Open Sound West at CNMAT presents Jacob Zimmerman’s Lawson and Zachary Watkins’ Positively Right On. The Lawson Ensemble, formed in the fall of 2009, features Jacob Zimmerman (alto sax), Theo Padouvas (trumpet), Rob Ewing (trombone), Michael Coleman and Dan VanHassel (keyboards), and Dan Good (electronics and trumpet). Positively Right On by Zachary James Watkins is a new work written for Ava Mendoza and John Shiurba who are also the performers (electric guitars). CNMAT, University of California Berkeley, 1750 Arch St., Berkeley | $10 / $5 UC Berkeley students
Friday, March 23, 9pm
Free Jazz/Free Punk band, LIBERTAS, will be performing live at The Starry Plough. Also performing will be THE ECONOMEN (MINUTEMAN tribute) and BRIAN KENNY FRESNO. Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave. (@ Prince), Berkeley |
Saturday, March 24, 1pm
Sculpting Air – Vocal Workshop: Theresa Wong will lead a workshop exploring the voice through raising awareness of the body. During the workshop, the following topics will be explored: using the breath, singing long tones, awareness of body tension, the location of vibration frequencies and creating sounds via focusing awareness on the body. Simple games of conducting via free movement gestures will be used to generate vocal sounds including textures, melodies, text and noises to allow the voice to take flight into its infinite expressive qualities. To reserve a spot, email tree_wong (at) yahoo.com. Berkeley Arts Festival, 2133 University Ave., Berkeley | $30-60 sliding
Saturday, March 24, 4pm Heavy Disciplne and Good Bellies Cafe present a double bill Saturday, with Aram Shelton (reeds) and Mark Clifford (vibes), along with Retro Blue, a new band with Jim Ryan (vocals, sax, flute) and Esten LIndgren (double bass). Good Bellies Cafe, 4659 Telegraph Ave. (@46th), Oakland | donations encouraged
Saturday, March 24, 8pm
The Swarm Gallery presents an evening with India Cooke (violin) and Cloud Shepherd – Andrew Joron (theremin), Brian Lucas (electric bass/tapes), Joseph Noble (flutes/reeds), Mark Pino (‘cloud kit’ percussion) share their experiences in sonic space travel. Swarm Gallery, 560 2nd Street (Jack London Sq. area), Oakland | sliding scale
Saturday, March 24, 8pm
Cal Performances, CNMAT and the Department of Music present the Eco Ensemble, UC Berkeley’s professional performance group dedicated to new music by established and emerging composers. Featured on this evening’s program is Martin Matalon (Tunneling), Liza Lim (Songs Found in Dream), Aaron Einbond (What the Blind See), and Nico Muhly (Clear Music). University of California Berkeley, Hertz Hall, Berkeley | tickets start at $30, available here
Saturday, March 24, 10:30pm
Yoshi’s San Francisco presents the Eric McFadden Trio, in concert. Thoughout his illustrious career, singer, songwriter and guitarist Eric McFadden has steadfastly rebuked the Sirens of commerce, instead heeding the fearless, uncompromising Muses inside his head. Yoshi’s San Francisco, 1330 Fillmore St., San Francisco | $18
Sunday, March 25, 4:30pm ODC Dance Commons will host San Francisco Contemporary Music Players: Contemporary Insights: Music and Conversation, as they perform Katharina Rosenberger’s scatter 2.0. Scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion, scatter 2.0 is the ensemble’s first performance of music by this innovative composer. Katharina Rosenberger will visit San Francisco to discuss her work with Steven Schick and the audience at this event, as well as at the pre-concert talk the following evening, Monday, March 26, 8:00 p.m. at Herbst Theatre. ODC Dance Commons, 351 Shotwell Street (between 17th and 18th Streets), San Francisco | $10
Sunday, March 25, 7:30pm OutSound presents the SIMM Series, featuring at 7:30, the duo of Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn, electronics) and Lance Grabmiller. At 8:30pm, the Mirror Trio (sextet) will perform, featuring Jacob Felix Heule, Tony Dryer & Guro Skumsnes Moe (contrabass), and Håvard Skaset. Musicians Union Hall, 116 9th St. (@ Mission), San Francisco | $10 / $8
Monday, March 26, 7pm
Nebraska Mondays at Luna’s Cafe presents the Know Hassell Project with Foothill Jazz Trio. Nebraska Mondays is the weekly underground jazz/electronic/poetic/creative music spot, hosted by Ross Hammond. Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento | $5-20 sliding
Monday, March 26, 8pm The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players present Zone 4: in which momentum and position co-exist within the physicality of a musical performance. The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, conducted by Artistic Director Steven Schick, will perform a concert of music by Katharina Rosenberger, Brian Ferneyhough, Olly Wilson, Geoffrey Gordon, and Heinz Holliger. Wilson and Rosenberger will participate in a pre-concert talk at 7:15 p.m., hosted by Schick. Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, San Francisco | $30 / $25 seniors / $10 students box office info
Wednesday, March 28, 7:30pm Tuesdays at Tom’s Place will host the Barney Childs Festival, evening one of a two-day celebration of his music performed by his students and collaborators. Tuesdays at Tom’s Place, 3111 Deakin St., Berkeley | Free, donations requested
Friday, March 16, 9pm
Beyond Baroque presents a special evening of poetry and music, featuring Dottie Grossman (poetry) and Michael Vlatkovich (trombone), with special guest Rich West (drums, percussion). Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice | $7
Friday, March 16, 9pm
Angel City Arts and the blue whale present night two of the three-evening residency of Kneebody, featuring Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Kaveh Rastegar, Nate Wood, and Shane Endsley. By combining sophisticated compositions and virtuosic improvising, the Grammy nominated group Kneebody has created a diverse, loyal fan base in the United States and Europe. Founded in 2001, Kneebody has built upon an impressive array of individual resumes and conservatory training to create a truly singular voice within the instrumental world. blue whale, Weller Court, 123 Astronaut E.S. Onizuka St. Ste. 301, downtown Los Angeles | General Admission: $15 / $25 (for 2 nights) $35 (for three nights).
Saturday, March 17, 7:30pm
Russian composer Alexander Scriabin caused a sensation in 1915, staging what was most likely the first multimedia concert in history. Designing a clavier à lumière to project colors onto the stage as it was played, this singular composer pioneered ideas relating colors and musical pitch. Now celebrated Georgian pianist Eteri Andjaparidze and MacArthur “genius” lighting designer Jennifer Tipton explore the legacy of this late Romantic composer through excerpts from his Poeme Languide in B Major and other works, including Feuillet d’Album in F-sharp Major, Opus Posthumous. A pre-concert lecture by Ryan Dudenbostel will be presented at 7:00 pm. The Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica | $75 / $60 / $47
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
the wulf presents music by Laurence Crane, Tim Parkinson and James Saunders, in a concert of five works by three composers, curated by Christine Tavolacci. The performers will include Eric km Clark, Rory Cowal, Corey Fogel, April Guthrie, Cassia Streb, Christine Tavolacci, Brian Walsh, Tara Boyle, Matt Barbier and Orin Hildestad. the wulf, 1026 South Santa Fe Ave. #203, downtown Los Angeles | donations accepted
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
A vaporous shot of dry ice across a raging inferno gives you a sense of the contrasts of this program, Chill Upon The Heat, presented by Jacaranda. Four highly inventive and utterly different American composers are convened here to make strange sense of the world. Featured on this program will be Christopher Rouse (String Qt. No. 2, No. 3), Leon Kirchner (Five Pieces for Piano), Richard Rodney Bennett (Six Tunes for the Instruction of Singing Birds), and William Schuman (In Sweet Music: Serenade on a setting of Shakespeare). Featured performers will be the Calder Quartet (Benjamin Jacobson, Andrew Bulbrook – violins, Jonathan Moerchel – viola, Eric Byers – cello), Maria Casale (harp), Victoria Miskolczy (viola), Steven Vanhauwaert (piano), Pamela Vliek Martchev (flute), and Suzanne Waters (soprano). First Pres of Santa Monica, 1220 Second St., Santa Monica | $35 general / $15 student
Saturday, March 17, 8:30pm
Now into its second decade of celebrating the beauty that lies “between the keys” of the piano, MicroFest 2012 is the world’s leading concert series devoted to the glorious universe of non-standard tunings. Founded by microtonal guitarist and radio personality JOHN SCHNEIDER in 1997, MicroFest has grown to a festival of eight separate events this year at various venues around Southern California. This evening’s concert will feature Wolfgang von Schweinitz‘s Raga, an exquisite gossamer web of harmonics and finely tuned harmonies for violin and bass, performed by Andrew McIntosh (violin) and Scott Worthington (contrabass). Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Ave., Pasadena |$25 advance / $30 door
Saturday, March 17, 9pm
Angel City Arts and the blue whale present night three of the three-evening residency of Kneebody, featuring Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendel, Kaveh Rastegar, Nate Wood, and Shane Endsley. By combining sophisticated compositions and virtuosic improvising, the Grammy nominated group Kneebody has created a diverse, loyal fan base in the United States and Europe. Founded in 2001, Kneebody has built upon an impressive array of individual resumes and conservatory training to create a truly singular voice within the instrumental world. blue whale, Weller Court, 123 Astronaut E.S. Onizuka St. Ste. 301, downtown Los Angeles | General Admission: $15 / $25 (for 2 nights) $35 (for three nights).
Sunday, March 18, 3pm
The Epicenter Music Performance Organization TEMPO presents the CSUN Faculty New Music Ensemble, performing pieces by Daniel Kessner, Roshanne Etezady, Hee Yun Kim, Joanna Bruzdowicz, and Joseph Eidson. The performing artists include David Shostac (flute), Julia Heinen (clarinet), Nancy Roth (violin), Matt Cooker (cello), Aaron Smith (percussion), Francoise Regnat and Dolly Eugenio Kessner (piano), and Daniel Kessner (conductor). Cal State University Northridge, Cypress Hall (Music Building), Recital Hall, 18111 Nordoff St., Northridge | $10 general / $7 faculty, staff, seniors / $5 students
Sunday, March 18, 6pm
A vaporous shot of dry ice across a raging inferno gives you a sense of the contrasts of this program, Chill Upon The Heat, presented by Jacaranda. Four highly inventive and utterly different American composers are convened here to make strange sense of the world. Featured on this program will be Christopher Rouse (String Qt. No. 2, No. 3), Leon Kirchner (Five Pieces for Piano), Richard Rodney Bennett (Six Tunes for the Instruction of Singing Birds), and William Schuman (In Sweet Music: Serenade on a setting of Shakespeare). Featured performers will be the Calder Quartet (Benjamin Jacobson, Andrew Bulbrook – violins, Jonathan Moerchel – viola, Eric Byers – cello), Maria Casale (harp), Victoria Miskolczy (viola), Steven Vanhauwaert (piano), Pamela Vliek Martchev (flute), and Suzanne Waters (soprano). First Pres of Santa Monica, 1220 Second St., Santa Monica | $35 general / $15 student
Sunday, March 18, 7:30pm
Resound! Concert Series presents Cheri Cole (trumpet) and friends, as they perform Terry Riley (In C) and other selections from the 20th and 21st centuries. This performance will have approximately 30 players, consisting of strings, woodwinds, brass, electric instruments, and percussion. Bethel Congregational Church, 536 North Euclid, Ontario | Free
Sunday, March 18, 8pm
Chapman University Faculty Recital series presents Kritina Driskill (soprano), performing a program of modern music, including pieces by Dominick Argento (The Diary of Virginia Woolf), Gary Schocker (Diary of an Urban Maiden), and Alva Henderson (various songs). Chapman University, Salmon Recital Hall, One University Drive, Orange | $10 general / $5 students and seniors
Monday, March 19, 2pm
The Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts presents Visiting Artist, bassist Mark Dresser, as part of the Performer-Composer Forum. California Institute of the Arts, 24700 McBean Pkwy., Rm. A300, Valencia | Free
Thursday, March 22, 7pm
Rubix invites you to the debut of Culture + Music + Art + Talk, with hors d’oeurves, beer, wine and a special “rubix-tini”. Join LA-based photographer Dana Ross as he interviews prominent artists and musicians as they share their thoughts on the creative process. This evening’s featured artists include John Van Hamersveld (graphic design innovator and icon), Timur & the Dime Museum (avant-garde cabaret act performance), and Shana Nys Dambrot (well-known and respected art critic, curator and author). Rubix Hollywood, 1714 North McCadden Place, Hollywood | RSVP to rsvp (at) shinyobjectco.com
Thursday, March 15, 8pm OutSound presents the Luggage Store New Music Series, this week with Guest Curation by Greedmink in a triple bill featuring Rubber (() Cement, Bran…Pos, and Hora Flora. More information about these three acts is available here. Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market St. (@ 6th St.), San Francisco | $6-10 sliding
Thursday, March 15, 8:30pm
El Valenciano will host a three-band Ides Of March Concert, featuring The Tri-Cornered Tent Show, Forward Energy, and Green Alembic. The Tri-Cornered Tent Show is Philip Everett (electrified autoharp), Anthony Flores (drums), Ray Schaffer (electric bass), and Valentina O (voice). Forward Energy features Jim Ryan (flute, saxes, trumpet), Scott R. Looney (piano), Rent Romus (saxes), Eric Marshall (bass), Tim Orr (percussion), and C.J. Borosque (trumpet). Green Alembic is Amber Lamprecht (oboe, flute), Theo Padouvas (trumpet, violin), Jeff Hobbs (alto clarinet, violin, trumpet), Jim Ryan (amplified kalimba, flute, word & image), Bob Marsh (bass), and Sam Ospovat (percussion). El Valenciano Restaurant & Bar, 1153 Valencia St., San Francisco | donations encouraged
Friday, March 16, 6:30pm
Flash back to the early years of BAM/PFA at this celebration of California performance art, presented in conjunction with the exhibition State of Mind: New California Art circa 1970. Three important performance artists revisit works from the early 1970s: Linda Mary Montano meditates in a chicken bed, Jim Melchert does whatever the television tells him to do, and Adam II (the late Paul Cotton) presents “Mystical Body of The Astral-Naught Bride-Groom (Living Sculpture) in Her Present State of Herm-Aphroditic Metamorphosis,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Berkeley Art Museum, 2626 Bancroft Way, Berkeley | Free to $7
Friday, March 16, 7:30pm
SOUNDINGS AT THE INSTRUMENTARIUM: the first of two evenings of soundings and resoundings on an array of invented instruments, featuring: Bart Hopkin – a true guru and established authority on invented and homemade acoustic instruments; Todd Lerew (Friday the 16th ONLY) – on the Quartz Cantabile, a new instrument which uses a principle of thermoacoustics to convert heat into sound; David Samas – our host for the evening, and inventor of an array of instruments which utilize and appropriate natural and found objects. At these events he will be premiering several new instruments, including the Mbira Tree Harp, also with Grace Renaud and Ash Ritter playing the Glass Garden. Turquoise Yantra Grotto, email TurquoiseYantraGrotto@hotmail.com for reservations and address | $10-15 sliding
Friday, March 16, 8pm
Voces del Desierto is a multidisciplinary musical composition inspired by the journey of all those who dare to cross borders in search of a better life. This original and eclectic work merges video, performance art, and instruments made from migrants’ personal belongings found at the Mexico/US border with musical instruments of a traditional wind quintet. Voces del Desierto, an original concept and composition by Guillermo Galindo specifically created for Quinteto Latino, features Diane Grubbe (flutes), Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn), Leslie Tagorda (clarinets), Armando Castellano (French horn), and Shawn Jones (bassoon). MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, 510 South 1st St., San Jose | $12 advance / $15 door
Friday, March 16, 8pm
Light A Fire Special: Space in the Jazz Age…an evening of music exploring the DNA of jazz in a post-everything era, with Swarm Intelligence, Grex, and more, featuring Karl Evangelista (guitar,vox), Rei Scampavia (keys, vox), Jordan Glenn (drums), Phillip Greenlief (alto sax), Kasey Knudsen (tenor sax), and Dan Seamans (bass), with Sam Ospovat’s PIKI – a collection of solo pieces, sound tableaux and polyrhythmic songs. Viracocha, 998 Valencia St., San Francisco |
Friday, March 16, 8pm
This performance marks the first collaboration between Laetitia Sonami and James Fei. While the materials and techniques used by the two musicians are distinctly different, both employ tactile interface coupled with electronic systems that exhibit complex behavioral response. Sonami will introduce her new spring-based instrument (un-named and still in progress). She constructed this new “instrument” around a web of springs whose vibrations are analyzed by neural networks (Rebecca Fiebrink’s Wekinator). The results so far are particularly erratic…. Fei’s setup consists of a mix of vintage and self-constructed analog modules. The instrument is driven by multiple feedback loops, often on the brink of instability. Signals are recursively routed through microphones, spring reverb, and between audio and control voltages. Circuit elements are also modified by touch, integrating the non-linearities and the immediacy of the body with the electronic processes. UC Berkeley, Center for New Music and Audio Technologies, 1750 Arch St., Berkeley |
Saturday, March 17, 1pm
Sculpting Air – Vocal Workshop: Theresa Wong will lead a workshop exploring the voice through raising awareness of the body. During the workshop, the following topics will be explored: using the breath, singing long tones, awareness of body tension, the location of vibration frequencies and creating sounds via focusing awareness on the body. Simple games of conducting via free movement gestures will be used to generate vocal sounds including textures, melodies, text and noises to allow the voice to take flight into its infinite expressive qualities. Berkeley Arts Festival, 2133 University Ave., Berkeley | $30-60 sliding, reservations required – email tree_wong (at) yahoo.com
Saturday, March 17, 5pm Heavy Discipline Creative Music Series presents Tracy Hui & Company, bringing together a challenging and artistically stimulating combination of players in improvisational settings. Good Bellies Cafe, 4659 Telegraph Ave (@ 46th), Oakland | donations accepted
Saturday, March 17, 7:30pm
SOUNDINGS AT THE INSTRUMENTARIUM: the second evening of soundings and resoundings on an array of invented instruments, featuring: Bart Hopkin – a true guru and established authority on invented and homemade acoustic instruments; Todd Lerew (Friday the 16th ONLY) – on the Quartz Cantabile, a new instrument which uses a principle of thermoacoustics to convert heat into sound; David Samas – our host for the evening, and inventor of an array of instruments which utilize and appropriate natural and found objects. At these events he will be premiering several new instruments, including the Mbira Tree Harp, also with Grace Renaud and Ash Ritter playing the Glass Garden. Turquoise Yantra Grotto, email TurquoiseYantraGrotto@hotmail.com for reservations and address | $10-15 sliding
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
Saxophonist and composer Larry Ochs and Kihnoua perform music influenced heavily by “the blues” in general and the blues of Korea – an ancient form of music called p’ansori – in particular. BUT what “influence” means here is that you’ll feel the spirit of that music; the actual forms and some of the sounds Ochs and his ensemble ( Dohee Lee – voice, Trevor Dunn – bass, Scott Amendola – drum) use to realize the music are often contemporary in origin. Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St., Berkeley | $15 / $10
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
The Pacific Exchange brings composers and performers from diverse areas of the Pacific Rim together in order to exchange ideas and create music on a shared concert stage. Thingamajigs created this event to emphasize the commonalities of artists living on the Pacific Rim, as well as to showcase their diversity. Artists and groups involved in this year’s Pacific Exchange events include Paul Kikuchi (Seattle) and Tide Tables, Tatsuya Nakatani (Japan), Paul Stapleton (L.A.), Gretchen Jude (Oakland) and the Thingamajigs Performance Group (Oakland). Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell St., San Francisco | $10-15
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
Voces del Desierto is a multidisciplinary musical composition inspired by the journey of all those who dare to cross borders in search of a better life. This original and eclectic work merges video, performance art, and instruments made from migrants’ personal belongings found at the Mexico/US border with musical instruments of a traditional wind quintet. Voces del Desierto, an original concept and composition by Guillermo Galindo specifically created for Quinteto Latino, features Diane Grubbe (flutes), Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn), Leslie Tagorda (clarinets), Armando Castellano (French horn), and Shawn Jones (bassoon). MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, 510 South 1st St., San Jose | $12 advance / $15 door
Saturday, March 17, 8pm
The fifth installation of ongoing house concerts will feature the Marielle V. Jakobsons & Sarah E. Palmer Duo (synths, strings, vocal processing), along with Suit – Jacob Felix Heule (percussion),
Tony Dryer & Guro S. Moe (contrabass), and Håvard Skaset (guitar). 784 65th St., Oakland (2 blocks from Ashby BART) | $6-10 sliding
Sunday, March 18, 2pm
Voces del Desierto is a multidisciplinary musical composition inspired by the journey of all those who dare to cross borders in search of a better life. This original and eclectic work merges video, performance art, and instruments made from migrants’ personal belongings found at the Mexico/US border with musical instruments of a traditional wind quintet. Voces del Desierto, an original concept and composition by Guillermo Galindo specifically created for Quinteto Latino, features Diane Grubbe (flutes), Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, English horn), Leslie Tagorda (clarinets), Armando Castellano (French horn), and Shawn Jones (bassoon). MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, 510 South 1st St., San Jose | $12 advance / $15 door
Sunday, March 18, 7:30pm OutSound presents the SIMM Series featuring, at 7:30, New Monsters CD release set featuring Dan Plonsey, Scott Looney, Steve Horowitz, and Steve Adams. At 8:30 Lords of the Outland (Rent Romus, C.J. Borosque, Ray Schaeffer, and Philip Everett) performs The Cloudknitters Suite, a live recording inspired by artist Leo Reijnders. Musicians Union Hall, 116 9th St. (@Mission), San Francisco | $8 / $10
Monday, March 19, 7pm
Nebraska Mondays at Luna’s Cafe presents Tatsuya Nakatani with the John Haynes / Steve Adams Duo. Nebraska Mondays is the weekly underground jazz/electronic/poetic/creative music spot, hosted by Ross Hammond. Luna’s Cafe, 1414 16th St., Sacramento | $5-20 sliding
Friday, March 9, 1pm
San Francisco State Univeristy presents Jaap Blonk, performing The Naked Voice, an on-the-spot choice from his huge repertoire: sound peotry and voice pieces from the tradition (from hugo ball to john cage) and his own work (experimental text, phonetic etudes, invented languages, improvisations). San Francisco State Univeristy, 1800 Holloway Ave., San Francisco | Free
Friday, March 9, 7:30pm The San Francisco Cinematheque in association with sfSoundSeries presents an evening with Jaap Blonk: Soundtracks, Scores, Interactive Animations. Blonk tonight presents a very rare performance/projection program including live presentations of original graphic scores (possibly to include Rhotic, Proxim and Homage to Antonin Artaud); live tracks to silent films Forest Views (1999, by Bart Vegter) and Emak-Bakia (Man Ray, 1926); an interpretation of Man Ray’s composition Lautgedicht (1924) and examples of Blonk’s solo videos and “interactive animations,” including Song for the Cubists, flababble 1, Traces of Speech and Viceregal Impressions. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St. (@ Third St.), San Francisco | members: $6 / non-members: $10
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