Our latest videos are hot off the press! Deviant Septet was in Seattle recently for a spectacular performance on the TownMusic series at Town Hall and they stopped by our studios for some video fun:
In case you missed our live broadcast, here’s the audio from their March 25 performance!
The last time we checked in with Christopher Bono he had just released his full-length album Bardo. Now he’s back with an EP from his latest project Ghost Against Ghost, a beautiful and brutal triumph that tackles the theme of love. Checkpoint Charlie only glimpses the full theme, which will be presented completely in the double-length album Oia later this year.
Oia will be a 2-hour dark/romantic saga about love and separation from love, outlining “a vast, emotional arc that examines the nature and definition of love, moving from the heart-wrenching experience of separation – a result of love fixated on one human or object – to the realization of a superior form of love discovered through empirical insight and liberation from fixation.” What we get in this EP is only a slice of that love story. “Part 1” draws upon influence from late romantic composers and uses the dreamy, lush layering Bono is so deft at to gently coax the listener into a psychedelic, melancholic experience. It’s the kind of sad that makes me want to call Bono on the phone just to check in and make sure he’s okay. Then “Part 2: The Descent” fades in and delivers one gut punch of a drone “designed to voice the sense of persistent darkness that abounds in the experience of despair once the terror of heartbreak sets in.” Now the urge to make that phone call becomes the need to lay on the couch and have an ugly cry – but in a good way! Bono taps into the universal anguish of heartbreak and strips it of adjectives, of metaphors, and gives us a piece of music that sounds like one long, cathartic scream. But still in a good way!
At the end of the 14ish minute EP I felt like a woman without skin; a bundle of raw, exposed nerves. The upcoming release of “Oia” will conclude this story arc, no doubt with the healing instrumentals we always love from Bono, and offer some grace and clarity to our imagined protagonist and balance out the penetrating despair Checkpoint Charlie evokes. Until then, what good story is complete without compelling & emotional starting point? Listen to this EP now and ready the ships for our hero’s journey to harmony.
We are excited to announce our first Second Inversion Showcase at the 2015 Northwest Folklife Festival!
On Friday, May 22 from 8:45-10pm, come to the Center Theatre at Seattle Center for this FREE show, featuring the Passenger String Quartet and the Seattle Cello eXperiment. Both groups specialize in fun, genre-crossing arrangements of music today as well as original compositions by emerging composers.
The Passenger String Quartet is an avant-garde, experimental neo-classical group, formed by Northwest composer/violinist Andrew Joslyn. The group is in high demand as studio session musicians, tours & performs original compositions, as well as backs a wide variety of regional, and national touring groups from David Bazan, DJ Spooky, Suzanne Vega, to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Ivan and Alyosha, Kris Orlowski, Doug Martsche, and many more.
Peter Williams founded the Seattle Cello eXpermient, or “Cello X” in 2010. It is an ensemble composed of his highest level cello students. Their mission is to push the boundaries of cello playing and to explore the sonic possibilities when eight or more cellos are brought together. Much of their music comes from original and unique arrangements of some of today’s most popular music. They span a wide range of genres, including rock, classical, movie, fiddling, video game, and pop.
We hope to see you there!
This week’s sensational concert spotlight has sound sculptures, steelpans, suspended chimes, and oh yeah, a supernatural piano.
Inverted Space Performs Jeff Bowen
If you like Second Inversion, you’ll love University of Washington’s Inverted Space Ensemble. The local contemporary music group is committed to turning classical music on its head by showcasing diverse new works in adventurous performance spaces and casual concert settings.
This week, you can hear them perform an eclectic collection of new works for chamber ensemble by composer Jeff Bowen. The program includes a variety of pieces featuring imaginative instrumentation, including “what will sound (has already sounded)” for violin and electronics, “Pan, Sinking” for steelpan and 10 instruments, “Stalasso II” for flute, violin, cello, and piano, “Turbulent Field” for bassoon and harp, and a String Quartet.
The performance is this Thursday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.
Seattle Symphony’s [untitled 3]
If you think playing piano is impressive, wait until you see international sound sculptor Trimpin’s latest work: a piano that can be played and conducted without even being touched. The Seattle Symphony Music Alive Composer in Residence is being featured in the final indescribable, undefinable [untitled] event of the Seattle Symphony season this weekend.
Like the other events in this casual, late-night series, [untitled 3] will feature musical works by contemporary composers who think outside of the box, off the stage, and beyond the concert hall. This weekend’s event includes the latest premiere from Trimpin, featuring the aforementioned magical piano, suspended chimes, a wandering soprano, and much more!
The event will also celebrate the 100th birthday of the late American composer George Perle by featuring performances of a selection of musical sound worlds from throughout his compositional career.
The performance is this Friday, May 1 at 10 p.m. in Benaroya Hall’s Samuel and Althea Stroum Grand Lobby.
Washington Composers Forum: Transport Series
As 21st century music enthusiasts, we listen to electric guitarists nearly every day. Pop music, rock, jazz—electric guitar is everywhere. But you’ve probably never heard it like this before.
Italian-born guitarist Giacomo Fiore is a contemporary artist with an imaginative sound that reaches far beyond the idiomatic clichés of electric guitar. Currently touring in support of his recent album “iv: american electric guitars,” he is stopping through Seattle this weekend to perform a unique musical program focusing on electric guitar and effects.
The performance, which is put on by the Washington Composers Forum, will also feature Seattle’s own pianist and new music specialist Cristina Valdes performing with composer and pianist Rocco DiPietro. The two will be presenting original works by DiPietro, whose music is often inspired by community issues.
The performance is this Saturday, May 2 at 8 p.m. at the Chapel Performance Space at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford.
Portland Cello Project with Rachel Grimes
Known for its unique urban culture and diverse arts scene, Portland has no shortage of talented artists—and as it turns out, they have no shortage of talented cellists, either. But you don’t have to travel south to see it; this weekend, you can experience Portland’s rocking cello scene firsthand from the comfort of downtown Seattle.
The Portland Cello Project is a group of cellists with a reputation for mixing musical genres and blurring the lines between classical and popular music. Their wide-ranging musical repertoire has something for everyone, from the cello-loving classical music buffs to the head-nodding indie rockers. They’ll be joined by pianist Rachel Grimes of the minimalist chamber music group Rachel’s.
Performances are this Saturday, May 2 at the Triple Door at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Classical vocal music is always nice—but if you’re looking for a contemporary vocal ensemble with a little more bite, look no further than Roomful of Teeth.
The Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble is dedicated to exploring the vast and limitless musical possibilities of the human voice. In fact, Roomful of Teeth’s eight vocalists have studied singing traditions from around the world, including vocal techniques as diverse as yodeling, belting, Tuvan throat singing, Inuit throat singing, Korean P’ansori, Georgian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, Hindustani music, Persian classical singing, and more.
And now, you can hear the fruit of the group’s musical travels on their sophomore album, “Render.” The record is an eclectic collection of original compositions and commissioned works which push beyond the boundaries of traditional vocal music.
Founded in 2009, Roomful of Teeth is comprised of sopranos Estelí Gomez and Martha Cluver, altos Caroline Shaw and Virginia Warnken, tenor Eric Dudley, baritone Avery Griffin, bass baritone Dashon Burton, and bass Cameron Beauchamp. Together, the eight singers create a mesmerizing vocal panorama spanning over four octaves.
Their new album begins with a performance of Missy Mazzoli’s “Vesper Sparrow,” an enchanting and otherworldly piece which features the text of Farnoosh Fathi’s poem “Home State.” The sopranos soar sweetly above a percussive a cappella backdrop, creating a fascinating range of vocal timbres and musical characters.
“The piece is an eclectic amalgamation of imaginary birdsong and my own interpretation of Sardinian overtone singing,” Mazzoli said. “I tried to capture the exuberance and energy of these individual singers as well as a bit of the magic that is created when this group comes together.”
The piece is followed by Wally Gunn’s “The Ascendant,” a dramatic three-part composition which illuminates the haunting, poignant poetry of Maria Zajkowski. Glorious vocal harmonies glide above a hypnotic hocket backdrop, creating a slow but steady groove and an unbelievably rich chordal texture—Roomful of Teeth’s voices will echo in your head long after the piece is over.
William Brittelle’s “High Done No Why” is next on the album, showcasing the vocal virtuosity of each member of the ensemble by experimenting with a colorful palette of extended vocal techniques that reach far beyond the borders of the Western classical music tradition.
Caleb Burhans’ slow and somber “Beneath” is a similarly virtuosic feat: it is a 12-minute exploration into the ensemble’s unbelievably wide vocal range. Throughout the piece, the spellbinding blend of wordless vocals creates an utterly ethereal, borderline eerie soundscape.
The ensemble switches to the other end of the musical spectrum for “Otherwise,” composed by the group’s artistic director Brad Wells. The piece is vibrant, visceral, and full of color—it features singing, belting, yodeling, and even a few elements of Sardinian polyphonic folk singing. Baritone soloist Dashon Burton cuts through the rest of ensemble’s rhythmic chanting with a beaming bel canto voice, his classical singing contrasting beautifully against a striking harmonic backdrop.
Eric Dudley’s “Suonare / To Sound” explores a different element of vocal music: words. The piece is a meditation on timbre and language, featuring the same poem sung in both English and Italian—at the same time. The eight voices overlap and intersect as they echo across a constantly shifting soundscape, with the lower voices tracing the English text through slowly changing harmonies as the sopranos echo far above them.
The last piece on the album is the title track, also composed by Brad Wells, which was inspired by David Eagleman’s short story “Search.” The ensemble’s voices ebb and flow in soft waves, gracefully gliding in and out of near-silence to create a serene and mystical sound world.
“The story describes a vision of the afterlife as the periodic unraveling of our material, molecular selves into other forms in nature, occasional re-gatherings of our disparate molecules over millennia, and the complete continuity and maintenance—in spite of the unraveling—of our consciousness and feeling,” Wells said.
Of course, Roomful of Teeth says all of this without using any lyrics—proving that the possibilities of the human voice are far beyond words.