Seattle Composers' Salon

Keith Eisenbrey Kam Morrill Nadya Kadrevis S. Eric Scribner

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers: Keith Eisenbrey Kam Morrill Nadya Kadrevis S. Eric Scribner Friday, July 10, 2015, 8 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Floor $5–15 donation

Krzeminski's Star , for violin, marimba, and electronics Centaurus X-3 (4U 1118-60) is an X-ray pulsar with a period of 4.84 seconds. It was the first X-ray pulsar to be discovered, and the third X-ray source to be discovered in the constellation Centaurus. The system consists of a neutron star orbiting a massive, O-type supergiant star dubbed Krzeminski’s star after its discoverer. Matter is being accreted from the star onto the neutron star, resulting in X-ray emission. (Wikipedia) The idea that a gigantic star can exist out there, otherwise invisible to us except for a regular burst of X-ray radiation every 4.84 seconds, is truly spectacular. This piece attempts to characterize the sense of wonder and mystery of being such a small creature in such a large universe. The piece has three internal movements in the form: slow-fast-slow . There is no silence between movements as the electronics make a sonic transition from one to the next. The first movement sets up the myst...

Reborn in Flame, The Death and Rebirth of a Phoenix , for flute, alto flute and cello I wrote this piece as a tone poem depicting the life cycle of a phoenix. The piece opens with the old, dying phoenix struggling to hold on to life. This struggle is represented by the opening theme first stated by the cello. The piece relaxes between increasingly dramatic statements of this line as the bird drifts in and out of consciousness, the mysterious dreams expressed by the augmented chords in the cello, and a slower, drifting variation of the opening theme in the flutes. After the final struggle, the music dies away as the phoenix burns to ash. The music builds into a lament for the dead bird in the form a Gregorian chant. This chant dies away and the dream theme returns in the flute as the ashes are blown away revealing an egg. The excitement brews with the augmented chords starting in the alto flute and joined by the flute and cello. This breaks into trills in ...

I will be presenting Toad Song , a small irreverent piece for cello and alto voice, written in honor of a large toad. Feasting, sitting, croaking, and singing abound. Musical tribute is paid. Lyrics by Vanessa Emily. Jessi Harvey is a composer and teacher living in Seattle. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a Bachelor of Arts in Music in 2009 and from the University of New Mexico with a Master’s of Music Theory and Composition in 2012. She writes music that often features stutters, sound masses, appropriately placed dominant chords, random lyricism, and sometimes, none of the above. She finds inspiration in the everyday, both the small and silly and the large and difficult.

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers: Michael Owcharuk Matthew James Briggs Jessi Harvey Ian McKnight Friday, May 8, 2015, 8 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Floor $5–15 donation

Clement Reid "Dreams, Improvisations  for Piano, combines sections from an earlier piece, Explorations . These selected movements are examples of reordering of musical material from the earlier piece, that give a kind of floating dream-like impression, in a similar manner as actual dreams seem to reorder and juxtapose experiences and events from reality in a new or unusual way, but with a different image or message. Dreams, Improvisations comprises six movements:  Project, Dream 1, Dream 2, Improvisation, Dream 4, Dream 5." Ann Cummings "How can I  not  own my own composition? When music is fundamentally motion, what keeps everything separate? Is there a continuity to brokenness?" Ann explores these questions with her etude Three of a Kind for String Bass, Banjo, and Piano . Nadya Kadrevis and Jeremy Shaskus Nadya and Jeremy will present a selection from  Trinity,  a work in three parts: creation, destruction, and redemption. Part one will be per...