LIVE BROADCAST: Friday, March 18 at 7:30pm: Pianist Jeremy Denk presented by the UW World Series

by Maggie Stapleton

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Join us for a special LIVE broadcast this Friday, March 18 at 7:30pm (PT) of pianist Jeremy Denk presented by the UW World Series at Meany Hall on the University of Washington campus. Denk is the winner of a 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize and Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year award. This Friday’s program features a huge variety of music, some newer, some older, all worth tuning in for or better yet, coming to see live if you’re in Seattle! The New York Times called Denk a musician “you want to hear no matter what he performs.”

Program:
Bach: English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808
Byrd: Ninth Pavan and Galliard in D Minor from Lady Nevell’s Book 
Bolcom: Graceful Ghost Rag 
Hayden/Joplin: Sunflower Slow Drag
Tatum: Tea for Two 

Hindemith: Ragtime from 1922 
StravinskyPiano-Rag-Music 
Ives: Ragtime Dances No. 3 & 4 from Four Ragtime Dances 
Nancarrow: Canon
Lambert: Pilgrim’s Chorus from Tannhauser 
Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

SI host Geoffrey Larson will keep you company on the stream for the broadcast on Friday night and if you come to the show, say hello to Maggie Molloy in the lobby, enter to win a fabulous prize, and grab some SI swag!

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New Music Concerts: March 2016 Seattle * Eastside * Tacoma

SI_button2Second Inversion and the Live Music Project create a monthly calendar featuring contemporary classical, cross-genre, and experimental performances in Seattle, the Eastside, Tacoma, and places in between! 

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Keep an eye out for our this flyer in concert programs and coffee shops around town. Feel free to download, print, and distribute it yourself! If you’d like to be included on this list drop us a line at least 6 weeks prior to the event.

Program Insert - March 2016 - onesided

Racer Sessions
A weekly showcase of original music with a jam session based on the concepts in the opening presentation.
Every Sunday, 8-10pm, Cafe Racer | FREE

Wayward Music Series
Concerts of contemporary composition, free improvisation, electronic/electroacoustic music, & more.
Various days, 7:30/8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-15

Seattle Composers’ Salon
Informal presentation/discussion of works by Jeremiah Lawson, Sean Osborn, Nicole Truesdell, Neil Welch & Marcin Paczkowski.
Friday, 3/4, 8pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-15

STG Presents: José González (Seattle Premiere) with yMusic
González’s melodies & lyrics will be reframed by new chamber orchestra arrangements in a collaboration with yMusic.
Sunday, 3/6, 7:30pm, Moore Theatre | $37.50 (+ fees)

Inverted Space: Mystery Concert (Long Piece Fest)
For those looking for a bit of an aural adventure, this concert’s works will be announced from the stage.
Tuesday, 3/8, 7:30pm, Good Shepherd Chapel | $5-15

Universal Language Project: SCRAPE
The innovative ensemble Scrape (15 bowed strings, harp & electric guitar) perform new works by Jim Knapp and Brian Chin.
Friday, 3/11, 8pm, Resonance at SOMA Towers, Bellevue (3/11) | $10-25
Saturday, 3/12, 8pm, Velocity Dance Center (3/12) | $15-25

Northwest Sinfonietta: Mass in the Time of War
Artistic Partner David Lockington conducts Aaron Jay Kernis’ Musica Celestis alongside music by Haydn and Mendelssohn.
Friday, 3/11, 7:30pm, Nordstrom Recital Hall (3/11) | $20-40
Saturday, 3/12, 7:30pm Rialto Theatre, Tacoma (3/12)| $20-60
Sunday, 3/13, 2pm, Pioneer Park Pavillion, Puyallup (3/13) | $40

STG Presents: Well Strung
An evening of string quartet music fusing pop and classical music from Madonna to Beethoven.
Wednesday, 3/16, 8pm, Neptune Theatre | $28 (+ fees)

UW World Series: Jeremy Denk, piano
This MacArthur “Genius” Fellow performs music by Bach, Bolcom, Tatum, Ives, and much more in between.
Friday, 3/18, 7:30pm, Meany Hall | $45-50

The American String Project Chamber Players
Barry Lieberman, Maria Larionoff, and friends reunite to perform Ligeti’s String Quartet No.1 and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op.127.
Friday, 3/18, 7:30pm, Brechemin Auditorium | FREE

Seattle Rock Orchestra: Electric Light Orchestra Tribute
SRO pays tribute to their upbeat and imaginative compositions, drawing from their extensive discography.
Saturday, 3/19, 8pm, Kirkland Performance Center | $40

Pacific Northwest Ballet: Director’s Choice
A performance of new ballet works featuring music by American singer/songwriters including Andrew Bird & Sufjan Stevens.
Various days, 3/18-27, McCaw Hall | $37-142

NW Symphony Orchestra: Poteat, Benn, Beyer, Medina & more
This program features female composers Angelique Poteat, Hanna Benn, & Kari Medina and soprano soloist Alexandra Picard.
Saturday, 3/19, 8pm, Holy Rosary Catholic Church | $12-15

Washington Wind Symphony: Of Commoners and Kings
This program will showcase David Holsinger’s dynamic composition In the Spring, at the Time When Kings Go Off to War.
Sunday, 3/20, 2pm, Kirkland Performance Center | $6-16

Tacoma Symphony Orchestra: Water Passion After St. Matthew
TSO presents the Water Passion by Tan Dun, a refreshing blend of Western classical music & traditional Chinese ritual.
Sunday, 3/20, 2:30pm, Pantages Theatre, Tacoma | $12-80

2015-16 SEASON PREVIEW: Fresh music, from Britten to Bowie

by Jill Kimball

With Seattle’s ever-growing and ever-diversifying population, it’s easy to see why our city has become a top destination for up-and-coming composers, young musical talent, and adventurous concert formats. The 2015-16 season is so packed with new music concerts that, on most weekends, you’d need both hands (and maybe a few toes) to count them. From revitalized Britten to badass multimedia concerts to the classiest Bowie you’ve ever heard, there’s a little something for everyone. Read on for our top picks of the season.


The Town Music series at Town Hall Seattle, curated by our own Artistic Advisor Joshua Roman, is a bastion for cutting-edge music. The season kicks off with a young Russian violinist’s interpretations of Bach’s beautiful, complicated Sonatas and Partitas. And the rest of the season is anything but staid: it includes the premiere of a work composed over two continents, a dynamic performance of Britten’s second string quartet, and a new piece by Roman himself, featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning poetry by Tracy K. Smith and the up-and-coming soprano Jessica Rivera.


Another go-to destination for edgy music with global influences is the UW World Series, an arts season at Meany Hall featuring big names and even bigger ideas. This season is packed with exciting concerts that feature mainstays on the Second Inversion stream. In October, the ETHEL quartet teams up with Native American flutist Robert Mirabal for a concert focused on water’s essential role in all our lives. If drums and mallets are your thing, you must check out So Percussion’s set of modern classics by Reich, Cage, and more. For those who prefer concerts that combine edgy work with timeless pieces, go see the young, bearded Danish String Quartet (they take on music by Beethoven, Schnittke, and a composer from their homeland, Per Nørgaard), pianist Jeremy Denk (he’ll work in some Hindemith and Nancarrow between the Bach and Byrd), or the Daedalus String Quartet (a Huck Hodge world premiere is sandwiched between Beethoven chamber works). If you can’t make it to some of these much-anticipated concerts, don’t worry: we’ll have your back with a live broadcasts or a video from each one.


The UW World Series isn’t the only destination for new music on the University of Washington campus. The School of Music itself has an impressive lineup of concerts. On Halloween weekend, we’re excited to hear the Chicago-based Ensemble Dal Niente perform the works of Seattlites Huck Hodge, Joël-François Durand, and Marcin Pączkowski, among others. In late April, the Carnegie Hall resident ensemble Decoda caps off its weeklong UW residency with a Meany Hall concert of new and old music. And finally, some UW students pay homage to Harry Partch, who created new instruments along with new music, with performances of some of his work.

The UW isn’t the only higher education arts game in town, of course. Cornish College of the Arts is a wealth of compositional talent and its concert season, Cornish Presents, attracts world-class acts every year. Cornish teacher Wayne Horvitz starts off the new-music feast with his piece “Some Places are Forever Afternoon/11 Places for Richard Hugo,” performed with chamber groups Sweeter Than The Day and the Gravitas Quartet. A few days later, flutist Camilla Hoitenga teams up with composer and sound designer Jean-Baptiste Barrière for an electronic concert with video. In December, Paul D. Miller, better known as DJ Spooky, uses interviews from survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs to create a moving original composition. And for an ultimate exploration of music from both sides of the Pacific, stop by PONCHO Hall in November, when a famous gamelan ensemble joins four Seattle string players for a performance of new, local music.


Full-time locavores may not be satisfied until everything about the concert, from composer to performer to creator, is Northwest-based. If you want all local, all the time, your concert season destination should be the Universal Language Project. Founded by trumpeter and composer Brian Chin, the project draws on local talent to present a commissioned premiere in every concert. This season, we’ll hear music inspired by local landscapes written by Karen P. Thomas, Brian Cobb, and Tim Carey; music for strings performed by Seattle-based Scrape Ensemble; and an interactive concert with stunning visuals by Scott Kolbo.


And if that’s not enough to whet your new music appetite, the Seattle Modern Orchestra‘s upcoming season has even more new music. Each of its three main concerts features a premiere of some sort, from Orlando Jacinto Garcia’s From Darkness to Luminosity to an as-yet-unnamed work by Ewa Trębacz to the U.S. premiere of Anthony Cheung’s 2011 work Discrete Infinity.


In the last few years, Benaroya Hall has become an internationally recognized center for cutting-edge new music, from the avant garde to the crossover. If you’re into the former, you probably already know about the Seattle Symphony’s famed [untitled] series, which takes place in the Benaroya lobby fashionably late at night. This [untitled] season proves it means business with a season kickoff made up entirely of world premieres, then goes on to focus on New York City’s avant garde scene and an Arctic-themed piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams. If the latter is more your taste, check out the undefinable Sonic Evolution series, which this season focuses on the way different artists influence each other across genres and the phenomenon of indie music and film.


Finally, if you’re looking to get some culture but indulge in musical guilty pleasures at the same time, your go-to season should be the Seattle Rock Orchestra‘s. The ensemble that famously covers popular music on orchestral instruments has put together a killer 2015-16 series, which includes a David Bowie showcase, a collection of Mowtown music, and an evening devoted to Neil Diamond. A quintet from SRO also closes out Classical KING FM’s inaugural concert series with a very exciting Eastside concert featuring covers of Beck, Bjork, Radiohead, and more.

These are only a few highlights from an expansive, diverse, and exciting upcoming concert season. For a full listing of shows around the Northwest that’ll make you rethink classical, check our full event calendar.

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