Seattle Composers' Salon

ComManD Thaumaturgy ComManD ensemble presents a composition of music and dance enhanced by technology. Accelerometer information is used to digitally shape and alter acoustic music. Movement, electronics, acoustics and improvisation blend together in both subtle and obvious ways in this work seeking to define it’s own poetics and artistic statement. It’s an attempt to present interdisciplinary work beyond the novelty of what the technology offers— greater than the sum of it’s parts—while simultaneously geeking out on new tech and ideas! S. Eric Scribner Tree and Stone The piece I’ll be playing at the salon is an audience-participation piece called Tree and Stone . Since the piece is aleatory, it would work with another piece at the same time, so I’ll play a preliminary version of The Sherványa Nocturnal Music (share-VAHN-yuh), which relates to my fantasy novel Tond . I’ll hand out the scores and instruments for Tree and Stone and I’ll play the other piece on the piano. Ton...

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers: Ivan Arteaga Sheila Bristow Blake Degraw S. Eric Scribner Friday, March 3, 2017, 8 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Floor $5–15 suggested donation

Tom Baker Three Movements 2017 marks 25 years since the first public performance of a piece of mine called "The Green Guitar" for solo guitar. In that span, I have written many works for solo guitar, including this piece to be performed on the Salon: "Three Movements". This piece is in 3 movements, each of which is a study of a different kind of physical movement: Slalom, Butoh, and R.E.M. It will be premiered by Satchell Henneman, a senior performance major at Cornish College of the Arts. Andrew Olmstead Spooky Action Taking inspiration from comics and musicals, draftsman Elk Paauw and composer Andrew Olmstead combine mediums to tell stories. All sound and art is produced by hand in real time. The combination of music and visual art is intended to communicate more effectively with the audience and in more precise ways. The pace of development is tightly scheduled, but there is some room for improvisation is the thematic material. Spooky Action's short s...

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers: Tom Baker Jay Hamilton Nadya Kadrevis Andrew Olmstead Friday, January 6, 2017, 8 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Floor $5–15 suggested donation

Keith Eisenbrey Corollaries A common trope of music criticism is the idea that the structure that generates, or that is presumed to generate, a piece should be perceivable and understandable by a listener. With new or difficult music this often arises in the form of a protest: “Nobody could hear that!”, followed by a detailed story of exactly how it could not be heard. The response is usually in the form: “I can”, followed by a detailed story of exactly how it could be, and of exactly how, presumably, it was, in fact, heard. Years ago, listening to some early Stockhausen or other, I realized that the least interesting aspect of it, for me, was the fact that it happened to be twelve-tone. I asked myself then why exactly it should matter that the generating structure (the chart) should be what we understand or perceive the piece to be. One of the underlying points made by Benjamin Boretz, in Meta-Variations: Studies in the Foundations of Musical Thought is the notion that carefull...

An evening of music and discussion with Seattle composers: Keith Eisenbrey Jeremy Shaskus Daniel Webbon Neil Welch Friday, November 4, 2016, 8 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 4th Floor $5–15 suggested donation

Sheila Bristow "The Finding" and "Leap into Love", for mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano Two songs from a cycle-in-progress, using poems about ecstatic dance from many cultures. "The Finding" is a contemporary Canadian poet's vision of a Sufi dance experience; "Leap into Love" is from the writings of 13th century mystic, Mechthild of Magdebourg. Performed by composer/pianist Sheila Bristow, mezzo-soprano Melissa Plagemann, cellist Nathan Whittaker. sheilagailbristow.com Carson Farley Contrasts for piano, violin, flute, and cello carsonicsproductions.com Jessi Harvey "Pieces of the Puzzle" is the second movement of my piano work, Eden Untamed , inspired by a speech about the issues faced and burdens borne by the 20th century composer and dedicated to Scott Muller. Continuing on from the first movement, "Themes Amuck", one of the original themes is warped and split into multiple pieces, recombined, and...