Saturday, April 6
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St Cleveland
Doors 7:30, Music 8PM

$15 recommended donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Binary Canary
Ted Moore electronics and Kyle Hutchins saxophone

saccades, a new work for saxophone, tape, & video is performed by Binary Canary, an electroacoustic/improvisation/multimedia duo consisting of electronicist Ted Moore (Yale School of Music) and saxophonist Kyle Hutchins (Virginia Tech University). Their work together since 2013 includes a wide range of free and structured music with interactive multimedia. The duo will also perform some free improvisation using audio feedback inside resonant metallic objects.

Ted Moore (he / him) is a composer, improviser, and intermedia artist whose work fuses sonic, visual, physical, and acoustic elements, often incorporating technology to create immersive, multidimensional experiences. After completing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Chicago, Ted served as a postdoctoral Research Fellow in Creative Coding at the University of Huddersfield as part of the ERC-funded FluCoMa project, where he investigated the creative potential of machine learning algorithms and taught workshops on how artists can use machine learning in their creative music practice.

Kyle Hutchins is an internationally acclaimed performing artist and improviser. As a specialist in experimental performance practice and electroacoustic new music, Kyle has performed well over 200 world premieres of new works for the saxophone. He has worked with some of the leading composers and performers of our time including Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Georges Aperghis, Richard Barrett, Steven Takasugi, Claire Chase, Douglas Ewart, Duo Gelland, and Zeitgeist.

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Skunk Wook Percussion Ensemble

Skunk Wook Percussion Ensemble is the collaborative free improvisation duo between drummers Jayson Gerycz and J Guy Laughlin. After crossing paths for years in the Cleveland experimental/improv scene the two paired up to play a house show in 2014. Over the past decade Skunk Wook has performed on numerous events in the Cleveland area as a duo, and expanded as a trio or quartet with musicians such as Bbob Drake, Noah Depew, and Ben Billington. For this performance the percussion ensemble will feature Chicago-based musician Ben Billington.

$15 recommended donation
No one will be turned away for a lack of funds

Jessica Ackerley is a Canadian guitarist, improviser and composer based in Honolulu. Since 2017, Ackerley has released 19 albums to much critical acclaim with features in Wire Magazine, Pitchfork, BBC Radio, and Bandcamp. They have been commissioned by Adult Swim, Mutual Mentorship, and New Music USA as well as received funding from Canada Council for the Arts and Foundation for Contemporary Arts. As an active performer, Ackerley has toured extensively throughout North America, performing at noteworthy venues like The Met Breuer, Roulette, The Stone, Something Else! Festival, Coastal Jazz Festival, and countless underground venues ranging from the basements of houses to record shops.
www.jessicaackerley.com

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Jeremy Bible is a multi-award winning interdisciplinary artist based in Kent, Ohio known for his work with sound, visual and installation art.  Bible’s varying works & performances have been presented at numerous museums, galleries, festivals and events over the course of his 25 year creative career.  His 2019 film, “Human Savagery”, which premiered at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, received multiple awards and selections by international film festivals in 2020.

Bible will present new works focused on nuance, patience and restraint, performed on two polyphonic analog synthesizers paired with the innovative Seaboard Rise keyboard, combined with custom control scripts, allowing for new dimensions of control and expression from it's unique alien keybed.
jeremybible.com

$15 recommended donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

LIGAMENT (Anika Kildegaard + Will Yager) will present a program of new works for voice and double bass which explore the vast sonic worlds made possible by this duo’s unique instrumentation. Highlights include Nick Bentz’s please continue which examines the relationship between psychedelics and American politics from the 80s to today; Ruby Fulton’s and if not, why not which reveals the isolating effects of interstate migration on new mothers in early 20th century America; and James Dillon’s A Roaring Flame: a glossolalic summoning, a primordial and macabre incantation. The program will also include works by Amy Beth Kirsten and Katherine Balch. The surprising combination of double bass and voice brings a new and exciting world of sound to the pressing and political pieces on this program.

Recently described as “perverse and nihilistic” by someone on Twitter, Anika Kildegaard (voice) and Will Yager (double bass) are LIGAMENT, an ensemble dedicated to commissioning new music and creating work for their unique instrumentation. LIGAMENT’s performances are a fusion of standard and non-standard elements; sometimes there are high heels and sometimes there are electric toothbrushes (and sometimes both). The duo is equally at home with extended techniques as with extra-musical elements.

LIGAMENT is currently based in Baltimore/Philadelphia.

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Ensemble Mercury is a flexible group of Cleveland-based string musicians. This program will feature siblings, Ellie Glorioso (cello) and McKenna Glorioso (violin).

Ellie Glorioso (they/them) is a cellist and composer based in Cleveland, Ohio. They have served on the faculty of The Cleveland Institute of Music, Notre Dame College, and The Music Settlement. In 2022 they launched The Cello Collective, a cello studio in Larchmere and through it teach over 40 students weekly. In 2017 Ellie cofounded Cleveland Music Exchange and led classical music education trips to Zimbabwe and Chihuahua, Mexico working with over 100 students and performing for over 2,000 audience members. As a New Music advocate Ellie has been honored to premier many new works including the Ohio premier performance of Anna Clyne’s concerto for cello and orchestra, DANCE. This CUSP performance marks their composition debut.

McKenna Glorioso is a musician and educator based in Cleveland with degrees in Violin Performance from McGill University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. McKenna founded and manages Ensemble Mercury and is a violinist in the Akron Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, McKenna joined the national tour for “Our Planet: Live in Concert,” performing over 50 shows and traveling to over 30 states in just three months. McKenna was a resident Teaching Artist at Rainey Institute from 2018 – 2022, which fostered a belief in accessible music education for all and a deep connection to the Cleveland community. They now teach violin and viola at The Music Settlement. Finally, McKenna made their debut as a curator, composer, and producer in 2023 with an installation for Maelstrom Collaborative Arts’ Cadre showcase.

$15 recommended donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

“Jarring, compelling”— (Washington Post)

“fearless and flawless… some of the most exciting playing I have ever heard.”—(Sequenza 21)

HYPERCUBE has built a reputation on high-energy performances with impressive execution. The NYC-based quartet embraces the boundaries of chamber music, featuring cutting-edge works for saxophone, guitar, piano and percussion, while spanning electric and acoustic worlds.

HYPERCUBE has appeared as guest artist at Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, the Charlotte New Music Festival, The Garrick Theatre (Newfoundland), Roulette Intermedium, the Nief-Norf Summer Festival (Knoxville), LPR presents (NYC), and the 40th International Festival of New Music “Manuel Enríquez” (Mexico City). With a national and international touring schedule, 2019 appearances include the Now Hear This Festival and Ritornello Chamber Music Festival (Western Canada). In addition to their performance season, HYPERCUBE participates in residencies at universities and conservatories across the US and Canada working with students at Cincinnati Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Memorial University (Newfoundland), Duke University, Oberlin Conservatory, Acadia University (Nova Scotia), Wesleyan, and CalArts.

From championing original works such as Louis Andriessen’s Hout, Philippe Hurel’s Localized Corrosion, and Chaya Czernowin’s Sahaf, to commissioning new works by composers Nicholas Deyoe, Farzia Fallah, Eric Wubbels, Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh, Daniel Tacke, Erin Rogers, Amin Sharifi, Nomi Epstein, Christopher Adler, and Juan Trigos, HYPERCUBE has collaborated with composers such as Sam Pluta and Chris Cerrone, to freshly adapt works for the quartet. Hypercube's album, 'Brain-on-Fire' (New Focus Recordings) was released in 2020.

HYPERCUBE is Erin Rogers (saxophones), Jay Sorce (classical & electric guitar), Andrea Lodge (piano & accordion), and Chris Graham (percussion).

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Joe Tomino is an artist living in Cleveland, Ohio and a proud endorser of Pearl Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Evans Drum Heads,Vic Firth Sticks, Morfbeats, Earthquaker Devices, and Reflexx.

Joe grew up in Cleveland playing all the music he could...from jazz, punk rock, hip-hop, reggae, classical and electronic. After graduating high school, Joe attended Cleveland State University, studying classical percussion and performing with the Cleveland Youth Orchestra under the tutelage of the Cleveland Orchestra. It was around this time that Joe started playing and touring with the internationally acclaimed avant-acoustic-electric trio, birth. Upon first leaving home, Joe moved up east to study jazz performance and composition at the New England Conservatory.

In 2000, Joe relocated to NYC to be with the love of his life, his now-awesome-wife, and to make music. Joe had some amazing opportunities to play, tour and record with such artists such as The Fugees, Lady Gaga, Mike Patton, Wyclef Jean, Matisyahu, Blondie, Rahzel, Del Amitri, Lauren Hill, Joe Maneri, Simply Red, The Green, Ying Yang Twins, Z-Trip, Wayne Krantz, Easy Star All-stars, Meshell Ndegeocollo, Battle of Mice and other amazing artists.

After a few years in NYC, Joe co-founded Dub Trio.  Dub Trio has released several albums, toured internationally and was the backing band for Matisyahu and Mike Patton's Peeping Tom. While with Matisyahu, Joe performed at the 2010 Winter Olympics, made many national and international TV appearances, and toured and recorded behind the four albums: ‘Live at Stubbs Vol. II’ ‘Light’  ‘Akeda’ & 'Sparker Seekers'. In 2016, Joe co-founded Yellowstone Apocalypse, an instrumental doom duo. Joe started playing percussion in the GRiZ Live Band in 2017, whose first show was at a sold-out Red Rocks. 2018 brought about the formation of Togishi, a Cleveland based improv trio creating music that is both visceral and cerebral. And in early 2019, Joe joined Clevleand’s psych-Cumbia group, HELLO 3D.

$15 recommended donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

The flute and harp duo has been an enduring musical pairing in European classical music since the 1700s. Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major”, written in 1788, is the standard bearer for its genre. For the most part, the “Concerto” and the repertoire it defined may be characterized as long on charm and not much else. Robert Dick and Stephan Haluska reexplore the long established flute and harp duo in Crop Circles, through improvisation and creative approaches to their respective instruments. Robert and Stephan’s musical landscape is wildly colorful, created with Robert’s array of flutes, voice, jaw harps and game calls and Stephan’s harp, prepared with an assortment of materials and objects. Their conception of the emotional meaning of their music gives free reign to imagination, unburdened by the past. Crop Circles is out now on Infrequent Seams.

Robert Dick has dispensed with preconceptions about what a flutist should sound like and what a flutist should play. A revolutionary composer/performer/improviser, he has literally redefined the flute for our age. He began composing and improvising in the 1970s, driven by the core idea that acoustic instruments can be played as human-powered synthesizers, and by his love of continuous transformation of sound. Listening to Robert Dick play solo has been likened to the experience of hearing a large ensemble, an ensemble in which the instruments seem both acoustic and electronic and freely morph into each other.

Robert has performed and recorded with an extraordinary array of musical personalities, including Steve Lacy, John Zorn, Thomas Buckner, Ursel Schlicht, Adam Caine, Tiffany Weitien Chang, Nicola Hein, Dan Blake, Miya Masaoka, Joëlle Leandre, Mark Dresser, Gerry Hemingway, Ulrike Lentz, Dave Soldier, Ned Rothenberg, Christy Doran, Steve Argüelles and many others. Robert’s invention, the Glissando Headjoint®, has revolutionized the essential sound of the flute, doing for the flute what the whammy bar does for the electric guitar and bringing a vocal quality that is entirely new to the instrument.

Through his idiosyncratic approaches to the harp, Cleveland-based harpist, improviser, and composer, Stephan Haluska draws from the instrument’s unique textural, percussive, physical, and kinetic qualities. Viewing the harp as a frequently misunderstood and unrepresented instrument in contemporary music, he often rejects conventional modes of playing in favor of finding new ways to expand his sound palette. Stephan plays with an advanced vocabulary of extended techniques and preparations, which include the use of various tools, materials, and gadgetry. He incorporates interdisciplinary elements of found object, collage, sound art, movement, and performance art into his artistic practices.

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Max Hyde-Perry presents a new composition for small ensemble that explores cellular notation. To further share the experience of interpreting the music with the audience, the notation will be displayed through overhead projectors, revealing spontaneous score generation, manipulation, and cued interactions.

Max Hyde-Perry (he/him) is an improviser, composer, contrabassist, and puppeteer based in Cleveland.

Ensemble:
Michael Billings, flutes
Ellie Glorioso, cello
Leia Von Hohenfeld, flutes
Max Hyde-Perry, composition & contrabass

$15 suggested donation
No one will be turned away for lack of funds

Electronic Musician Joo Won Park will present an evening concert consisting of original pieces for computer, melodica, drum machine, no-input mixer, and laptop ensemble. 

Joo Won Park is the recipient of the Knight Arts Challenge Detroit (2019) and the Kresge Arts Fellowship (2020). His music and writings are available on ICMC DVD, Spectrum Press, MIT Press, PARMA, Visceral Media, MCSD, SEAMUS, and No Remixes labels. He currently teaches Music Technology at Wayne State University in Detroit.

joowonpark.net
Joo Won Park Live at Strange Beautiful Music 16

Saturday, November 18
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Composer/cellist Cory Harper-Latkovich's (Clarinet Panic, Imaginary Flesh) newest project Jelly Ear sees him take up the medieval stringed instrument the rebec. This ensemble featuring an ever-evolving cast of members plays creatively open renditions of medieval repertoire. The maudlin wistful interpretations bristle with quiet nuance and tears of hope. Jelly Ear's pensive cautious dance evokes the dreams of a world long past. Contained cacophony buzzes with the energy of a bucolic babbling brook." (Burn Down the Capitol)

Cory will be joined by a collaborative ensemble of local musicians:

Naomi Columna, voice
Melanie Emig, voice
Grace Harper, piano
Danur Kvilhaug, lute/theorbo
Katy La Favre, percussion
Adrian Murillo, lute/theorbo

Cory Harper-Latkovich (he/him) is a Tkaronto/Toronto-based musician who balances his practice between musics of many forms: as a composer, experimental rock musician, or cellist.  Cory's music plays with delicate densities, oblong grooves, and fragile tones that carefully dismantle semiotic structures and encourage careful listening and performer vulnerability.

Cory is the band leader of Jelly Ear, a creatively open early-music music group. Playing the rebec, a medieval fiddle, he is joined by a rotating cast of Toronto’s creative musicians. He has recorded and toured with his bands Clarinet Panic and Imaginary Flesh and has his music performed across Canada, the U.S, and the U.K.

https://harperlatkovich.com

Cory Harper-Latkovich · Jelly Ear live from Louisville: O Virtus Sapientiae – Hidegard von Bingen

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Ishmael Ali is a dynamic cellist, guitarist, improviser, and composer based out of Chicago. His work centers on exploring sound through improvisation, experimentation, composition, and collaboration, focusing on a wide array of idiomatic approaches in an ever-changing, always-growing list of projects informed by diverse influences.

Though varying drastically from group to group, a common thread in his work is the juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements to create something new: both foreign and familiar.

Ishmael is leader or co-leader of a plethora of working projects including the KAH trio, Hearsay, Je’raf, Akjai, Archipelago, and Oido. He has also performed or recorded with Avreeayl Ra, Josh Berman, Jim Baker, Fred Jackson, Ed Wilkerson, Angel Bat Dawid, Jason Stein, and many more.

In addition to performing, Mr. Ali is a part of the Chicago record label Amalgam Music, and is a co-founder and audio engineer at Marmalade, a recording and rehearsal space in the West Loop. He continues to work as an organizer and promoter with varying degrees of regularity.

https://ishmaelalimusic.com

Friday, November 3
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

“The music registers as a vibrating, moving force rather than a mere drum solo.” – The Wire

“…music that suggests gaping, unfathomable voids and distant threats.” – The New York Times

“…absolutely transcendent.” – Foxy Digitalis

Jon Mueller makes long-form, repetitive, and energetic percussion-based structures that grow and change based on the space they are presented in, often resulting in sheets of tone and the illusion of voices. His current performance combines the ghostly drift of his recent, critically acclaimed Family Secret, the physicality of earlier recordings Metals and Physical Changes, and the meditative hum of both Canto and House Blessing, bringing various frequencies, overtones, and pounded drums to maximum heights throughout the 40-minute exercise.

Mueller has performed solo throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom at venues and festivals such as Guggenheim Museum, New Museum, Issue Project Room, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Non Event, Café Oto, Columbia Experimental Music Festival, SXSW, Feed Me Weird Things, Big Ears Festival, Arnolfini Arts, Hopscotch Fest and Witching Hour Festival. His solo recordings have been released by labels such as Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records, and American Dreams.

Mueller has also performed and recorded with the groups Who is the Witness?, Push for Night, Mind Over Mirrors, Mamiffer, Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Pele, and has collaborated with Olivia Block, Aaron Turner, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, and Jonathan Kane.

rhythmplex.com

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Leia Von Hohenfeld has a 20+ year career in music and performance art. Musically, her work has spanned a broad spectrum of genres from mid century inspired pop music to ambient and experimental noise. As a solo artist, she draws inspiration from nature and creates ethereal soundscapes using bass flute, flute, piccolo, and electronics.

Friday October 20
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Netherlands) is a self-taught composer, vocalist, poet and visual artist. His unfinished studies in mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems. In the early 1980s he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice, and set out on a long-term research of phonetics and the possibilities of the human
voice.

At present, he has developed into a specialist in the creation and performance of sound poetry and a unique vocal improviser, supported by a powerful and uninhibited stage presence. He performs and gives workshops worldwide on a regular basis.

With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.

To this date Blonk’s music has appeared on 30 CDs with his own Kontrans label; many other recordings as well as about a dozen books with his visual work have been published in several countries.

Thursday, October 12
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

The trombone trio of Jeb Bishop, Matthias M. and Matthias M. plays music that moves between sculptural noise drones, walls-of-Jericho-collapsing fanfares, and delicate textures of air and sound. The acoustic properties of the trombone and the physical resources of the players are pushed to their limits and beyond; the ancient sliding tube is put through the bone mill ... pulverized, sublimated, and receiving the breath of new life.

The group has two CDs out, on the labels Not Two (Poland) and Jazzwerkstatt (Germany), and has done two tours of Europe, in 2019 and 2022, including a number of festival performances.

Jeb Bishop is considered one of the preeminent trombonists in improvisational music. He has played in Peter Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, Ken Vandermark’s Territory Band, and the Globe Unity Orchestra. The
Chicago Sun-Times has called him “one of the best-kept secrets in American jazz.” Originally from North Carolina, he lived and worked in Chicago for over twenty years, resided in Boston from 2016 to 2022, and has recently returned to Chicago, where he is involved in several projects and groups.

Matthias M. has lived in Berlin since 2004 and has since performed with a variety of outstanding international improvisers. He is a member of the “Splitter Orchester,” a 24-piece ensemble of the Berlin echtzeit music scene and played for many years in the German-French Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Albert Mangelsdorff. Concert tours and festivals have taken him to Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, and various European countries. With his own projects, he has released more than 50 CDs, among others on his own label MaMüMusic.

Matthias M. lives in Cologne. He received the WDR Jazz Award 2021 in the category Improvisation. His large ensemble Bonecrusher – 10 Trombones & Percussion, which also includes M, was nominated for the short list of the German Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik [German Record Critics’ Award] for 2022. In his solo projects and Trio T.ON, he uses a wide variety of playing setups: feeds of speech and soundscapes into and on the trombone, spatial expansion using external bells, interactive computer graphics as synaesthetic perception, or simply the pure, naked trombone.
https://jebbishop.bandcamp.com/album/konzert-f-r-hannes

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Sandy Ewen is a sound artist, visual artist and architect who has recently relocated to NYC from Houston, TX. Ewen’s audio practice focuses on extended guitar techniques, improvisation, graphic scores and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her unique approach to guitar incorporates a wide array of implements – railroad spikes, sidewalk chalk, threaded bolts, steel wool and other items become an arsenal of abstraction. Ewen has worked extensively with film makers, dancers, poets and musicians to create films, audio recording, sound interventions and performance art. Ewen’s musical collaborations include trio Etched in the Eye, duo with Tom Carter called Spiderwebs, the trio Garden medium, and ongoing collaborations with percussionist Weasel Walter and bassist Damon Smith. For nearly ten years, Ewen has been the leader of an all-female large ensemble. The ensemble conceptualizes and performs sound and performance art, utilizing graphic and text based scores and improvisational constraints. The ensemble performed with an amplified bathtub at Diverse Works in 2016, and performed a suite of installation-specific compositions for Francis Alÿs’ Fabiola Project at the Menil. Sandy has spent much of 2017 touring, performing solo sets and in collaboration with Steve Jansen (tapes and electronics) and Maria Chavez (turntables) around Europe. In years past, Ewen has performed alongside Roscoe Mitchell, Keith Rowe, Lydia Lunch and many others, and has performed and recorded with Jaap Blonk, Henry Kaiser and more. In 2014 she performed at San Francisco’s 13th Annual Outsound New Music Summit, and she has made several appearances at Austin’s annual No Idea Festival.
https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/.../a-railroad-spike-forms...

Jonah Parzen-Johnson makes music for baritone saxophone & flute that challenges listeners with experimental textures & forms while embracing them with warm approachable melodies. A Chicago native and longtime Brooklyn resident, Jonah has performed solo in more than a dozen countries across four continents. He has brought his music to festivals in Berlin & Helsinki, concert halls in Istanbul & Brugge, rock clubs in Rotterdam & Montreal, and Jazz clubs in New York & Chicago. His solo performances are a deeply intimate experience in which he endeavors to share who he is, how he sees our world, and the temporary moments of community that we can all embrace together. His latest work for solo baritone saxophone and flute, “You’re Never Really Alone”, is an emotionally evocative celebration of the precious relationship between improvisor and audience.
https://jonahpj.bandcamp.com/track/the-smile-when-you-fall

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Kristen Ban Drake is an award-winning poet, vocalist, and analog synth player. bbob drake builds and plays electronic/electroacoustic instruments, teaches electronics and sound art, and works as a pipe organ technician. They have been collaborating as artists for 36 years. They are both certified Deep Listening facilitators, and lead monthly meetings of the Cleveland Deep Listening Circle focused on the work and legacy of Pauline Oliveros.
https://fluxmonkey.bandcamp.com/album/failure-cake
https://annbklorox.bandcamp.com/album/left-to-my-own-devices

dragonchild x Sunken Cages

Ethio-American saxophonist D.A. Mekonnen & Indian-born drummer/electronic music producer Ravish Momin (aka Sunken Cages)
create an exciting new global music that draws from their respective cultural backgrounds as well as contemporary electronic music.

Conceived by Ethio-American saxophonist D.A. Mekonnen–– co-founder/leader of the widely celebrated Debo Band– the solo project dragonchild is a culmination of decades of musical experimentation, embodied spiritual practice, and critical thinking.
Danny Mekonnen is a Boston-based musician and the founder of the widely celebrated Debo Band, whose self-titled debut was included on NPR’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2012. Growing up in Texas as a first generation Ethiopian-American, Mekonnen often heard traditional Ethiopian instruments and vocals, later seeking out master Ethiopian musicians to learn to play the traditional instruments of his heritage. The groundbreaking Debo Band combined those influences with American Jazz, Soul and Funk and the instrumentation of Eastern European brass bands.

Sunken Cages is the moniker of Indian-born drummer/electronic music producer Ravish Momin, originally an acoustic drummer/percussionist, who studied with master-drummer Andrew Cyrille. Momin has worked with a wide array of musicians, from pop-star Shakira to legendary Jazz musician Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (of the AACM) in addition to leading his own innovative global/experimental groups Tarana and Turning Jewels Into Water (with Haitian electronic music pioneer Val Jeanty) on international stages for the past 15 years. He has received grants from New Music USA, The Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, NYSCA and Meet The Composer. He is signed to OnTheCorner Records (UK). He has done remixes for renowned global electronic music producers Batida (Portugal) and Guedra Guedra (Morocco) and has recently performed solo at the prestigious Lincoln Center Outdoors Festival and Festival Congedi (Italy.)

Together, dragonchild and Sunken Cages create an exciting new global music that draws from their respective cultural backgrounds as well as contemporary electronic music.

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Lemon Quartet
(Album Release)

In Akron, Ohio, four friends get together every Tuesday with gas station snacks and various instruments to see where the night takes them. They call themselves Lemon Quartet and although the project is relatively new, the group’s members have been making music together in various huddles and formations for the better part of two decades. While previous iterations can be loosely linked to Ohio’s vibrant late ’90s and early ’00s DIY rock scene that birthed The National, Guided by Voices, and The Black Keys, the music they create now is something entirely new – seemingly unbothered by scenes or time.

Lemon Quartet return with their second album on Last Resort - playfully titled ArtsFest, which releases September 15th. "Think it's getting even better every time" is what the Lemon friends say about listening to their new LP. Selected from their Tuesday night sessions, ArtsFest is a winding, drifting bit of casual fun, not a big deal at all.

Steve Clements: Piano
Corey Farrow: Electric Piano
Keith Freud: Saxophone
Gabe Schray: Bass, misc

$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Performing Sarah Hennies’ work, "Spectral Malsconcities" and a world premier by Yaz Lancaster, Bearthoven [ \'bâr-toh-vən\ ] is a piano trio creating a new repertoire for a familiar instrumentation by commissioning works from leading young composers. Karl Larson (piano), Pat Swoboda (bass), and Matt Evans (percussion) have combined their individual voices and diverse musical backgrounds, coming together to create a versatile trio focused on frequent and innovative commissioning of up-and-coming composers. Bearthoven is rapidly building a diverse repertoire by challenging composers to apply their own voice to an instrumentation that, while common amongst jazz and pop idioms, is currently foreign in the contemporary classical world.

http://www.bearthoven.com

Karl Larson is a Brooklyn-based pianist and specialist in the music of our time. A devoted supporter of contemporary composers and their craft, Larson has built a career grounded in commissioning and long-term collaborations. He frequently performs in a variety of chamber music settings, most notably with his trio, Bearthoven, a piano / bass / percussion ensemble focussed on cultivating a diverse new repertoire for their instrumentation. As a soloist, Larson is known for championing the works of his peers and the recent canon alike, often gravitating towards long-form, reflective works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through his work with Bearthoven, collaborations with a wide variety of chamber musicians, and his solo projects, Larson has helped to generate a large body of new work, resulting in world premiere performances of pieces by notable composers including David Lang, Sarah Hennies, Chris Cerrone, and Michael Gordon.

Patrick Swoboda is a Brooklyn-based bass player active across musical worlds. Dedicated to performing the works of living composers, Pat has worked closely with Michael Gordon, Du Yun, David Lang, Sarah Hennies, and Scott Wollschleger. Recent highlights include performing and recording David Lang’s powerful and introspective opera The Loser with Bang on a Can and LA Opera, premiering and touring Michael Gordon’s Mixed Tulips with Bearthoven, and appearing on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk concert series with LADAMA. Pat is a member of chamber orchestras Contemporaneous and Hotel Elefant, and has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Signal, and many other vital groups. Also an accomplished orchestral musician, Pat has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, and New York Pops Orchestra. On Broadway, Pat has performed in the pits for Les Miserable, Paramour, The Nance, and A Christmas Story. Pat is a two time Bang on a Can Summer Institute fellow as well as a two time OneBeat fellow.

Matt Evans is a Brooklyn based drummer and producer creating electro-acoustic music that considers the interconnectedness of landscapes, both real and imagined. His compositions draw inspiration from millennial esoterica, natural phenomena, and science fiction, resulting in hypnotic soundscapes and surreal sonic worlds. Combining a meticulous drum-driven approach with imaginatively processed keyboards and samples, Matt crafts a rhythmic, post-ambient music that’s been described as "hyperreal and phantasmal" (Wire Magazine), and "a form of chill complexity" (New York Times). Matt has presented solo projects at the Guggenheim, The Kitchen, Roulette, and 2220 Art+Archives and has released records with Moon Glyph, Whatever’s Clever, Dinzu Artefacts, NNA Tapes, Deathbomb Arc, New Amsterdam, Cantaloupe, Perfect Wave, and Thrill Jockey.

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Elephant Ornament is a performance project led by Graham Rosen, a music producer and recording engineer based in Cleveland, OH. His electro-acoustic pieces are built with sampled audio and rotating phases. Primarily composed in Ableton Live, Elephant Ornament experiments with sound collage, beats, and meters.

$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Friday, August 11
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00

$15-20 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Tim Daisy: drums, marimba, composer
James Falzone: clarinet
gabby fluke-mogul: violin
Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello and electronics

Chicago percussionist and composer Tim Daisy reconvenes his avant chamber ensemble Vox 4 for two Midwest concerts and a recording session. For this round, the core trio consisting of cellist Fred Lonberg - Holm, clarinetist James Falzone and Daisy on percussion will be joined by NY-based violinist and composer gabby fluke-mogul.

www.timdaisyrelayrecords.bandcamp.com

Tim Daisy is a Chicago-based percussionist and composer working in the fields of improvised and composed music. Since his arrival on the scene in 1997, he has performed and recorded original music for modern dance, sound installations, film, and improvised music ensembles of various configurations. Tim also owns and operates Relay Records, launched in 2011 it documents much of the collaborative work that he has been involved with both at home and abroad.

Clarinetist, penny whistle player, composer, and improviser James Falzone is an acclaimed member of the international jazz and creative music scenes, a veteran contemporary music lecturer and clinician, and an award-winning composer who has been commissioned by chamber ensembles, dance companies, choirs, and symphony orchestras around the globe. He leads his own ensembles Allos Musica, Elaía Ensemble, Renga Ensemble, and the duo Wayfaring with Chicago bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst, and is a member of the Tapestry Voice Ensemble and Pneuma, a quartet with clarinetists François Houle, Michael Winograd, and Israeli vocalist Ayelet Gottlieb.

abby fluke-mogul is a New York based violinist, improviser, composer, & educator. fluke-mogul exists within the threads of improvisation, the jazz continuum, noise, & experimental music. Their playing has been described as “embodied, visceral, & virtuosic” & “the most striking sound in improvised music in years…”

Fred Lonberg-Holm is a top cellist in creative music, and active in a variety of projects in avant-garde music, experimental rock, and modern composition. He studied cello with Ardyth Alton and Orlando Cole, and composition with Morton Feldman, Anthony Braxton, and Bunita Marcus. The Delaware-born cellist spent part of his childhood in Sweden, and eventually was based out of N.Y.C. for several years, where he performed in and led various ensembles including N.Y.C. projects include his quartet PEEP, Anthony Braxton's Creative Orchestra, John Zorn, God Is My Co-Pilot, and Anthony Coleman's Selfhaters. In the late '90s, Lonberg-Holm relocated to Chicago where he has since become heavily involved in the free music scene.

Saturday, August 5
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00

$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Eli Wallace’s first studio solo piano album - pieces & interludes - is a collection of four pieces (compositions) and three interludes in juxtaposition with each other. The pieces materialized from intentional experimentation with specific piano preparations that came to define the content and generate the morphology. However, the entire album is improvised; there’s no score. These compositions are a framework for spontaneity.

The interludes are spliced contiguously from a much longer work and provide contrast to the intense intimacy of the pieces, taking the listener out for a few minutes before dropping them back into the intensity of the next piece. The music directs the listener into the piano, inviting them to share not only the cochlear experience but also the kinesthetic experience of the performer. Therefore, this work is an intimate expression of Wallace’s relationship to the piano, an uncompromisingly personal manifesto that encapsulates his lifelong love of the instrument.

Eli Wallace is a pianist, improviser, and composer who resides in Brooklyn, NY, leading his own projects, collaborating with other like-minded artists, and co-curating the interdisciplinary performance series Invocation. His work as a pianist displays his vast milieu of experiences from classical, jazz, and free improvisation, incorporating elaborate piano preparations that John Lewis (The Guardian) says is "...pushing the boundaries of the prepared piano." His compositions employ notational strategies to broaden how musicians produce sound and the ways in which they interact. Over the past decade, he has appeared on dozens of albums and performed at esteemed venues such as The Stone, New York, NY, Roulette, Brooklyn, NY, and Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, IL.

https://eliwallace.bandcamp.com/album/pieces-interludes

CUSP Presents: Seth Andrew Davis + Alexander Adams // Stephan Haluska

Thursday, July 6
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Seth Andrew Davis is an improviser, performer, composer, technologist, and educator based in Kansas City, MO. Davis is involved in the improvised music/free improvisation, experimental, new music/contemporary classical and electronic music scenes in Kansas City. Davis has performed and has had his music performed in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico and Indonesia. As an artist, Davis works closely with performers and collaborators to create pieces, installations, and works that are unique to that partnership. Davis is an avid collaborator having worked with choreographers, video artists, animators, playwrights etc. His most recent work is focused around applied, interactive and performance based technology within improvisation and composition. Davis is a co-founder of Mother Brain Records with saxophonist & composer Michael Eaton. Mother Brain Records is a Midwest based label focused on releasing the works of artists in the experimental & improvised music scenes. Davis is also a co-founder of EMAS (Extemporaneous Music & Arts Society). EMAS is an improvised music & arts collective based in Kansas City that is dedicated to advancing creative work in Kansas City. Davis holds a BM in Music Composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Masters in Music from the University of Central-Missouri. Davis’s music has been featured and released on labels such as EMAS Records, Lurker Bias, Neuma Records, Mother Brain Records, Personal Archives, Ramble Records, and Relay Recordings.
https://motherbrainrecordskc.bandcamp.com/.../music-for...

Alexander Adams is a percussionist and sound artist based in Chicago, IL. He is a founding member of the Galaxxu Ensemble, and frequently collaborates with a multitude of midwestern improvisers. He tours with Plague of Carcosa, Memory Dregs, and the Bucko / Adams Duo.
https://galaxxu.bandcamp.com/.../did-you-bring-enough-for...

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Cleveland-based, Stephan Haluska will perform a new work for expanded harp that focuses on generative techniques using electronic gadgets and prepared materials and objects. This performance will launch his midwest micro tour, centered around various performances and recording sessions in Chicago.

Friday, May 12
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

A portion of the event’s proceeds will go to the local charity, Collaborative to End Human Trafficking. You can find out more at:

https://collabtoendht.org

A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically used to lament a lost or unrequited love. In today's society, we see the torch song gaining new meaning. Expanding upon this tradition to include contemporary themes of loss and love, we celebrate the music of local female vocal artists, showcasing the artistic range and talent of Cleveland-area musicians. Each specializing in various music genres, we invite eight singers to reinterpret the torch song through their own artistic voices, bringing new relevance to the style. Performers are assembled throughout the space and perform multiple short songs, following one another in a rotating fashion. Illuminated solely by a "torch" of their choosing, each singer lights their torch as they perform and extinguishes the light as they conclude, signifying the beauty of ephemerality and fragility of life. Torch Song is the collaborative concert production between Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) and Cleveland-based vocal music curator, Melanie Emig.

About the artists:

Zeerak Ahmed / SLOWSPIN is a US-based Pakistani artist. Through sound, she explores notions of identity, memory and longing. Along with voice-based sculptures and meditative installations, she produces music that composes uniquely fragile sound collages. SLOWSPIN has a distinct sound practice grounded in Hindustaani Classical vocal traditions, folktronica and ambient experimental music.

Liz Bullock is a vocalist, songwriter, and music therapist in the Cleveland area. Her songwriting combines a love for folk, indie and pop. Her vocals draw on training in blues, jazz and classical. Her debut solo EP titled ‘Where to Begin’ is out now on all streaming platforms.

Naomi Columna is a musician and artist based in Cleveland, Ohio. Though trained in the western classical tradition of music, (MM, SFCM '19 and BM, CIM '16) Columna's desire to reframe, and take ownership of her practice informs a shape-shifting portfolio of works and projects that balance production and performance. In wrangling chicken wire props, building giant foam hands and paper heads, recording/editing audio and video, Columna enjoys the discovery of a genuine and ever-changing practice.

Melanie Emig is a performance curator, musician, and educator. Her interests include programming multi-disciplinary musical performances, usually with a strong visual, thematic, or storytelling element. She is attracted to twentieth century, avant-garde, and Baroque/early music, but above all values accessibility in her programming.

Elizabeth Hanje is a Tanzanian-American soprano from Birmingham, Alabama currently studying at Oberlin Conservatory studying under the direction of Salvatore Champagne. Hanje was a winner of the inaugural Duncan Williams Competition, George Shirley Competition in and the 2021 recipient of the Richard Miller Award for Fine Singing. Elizabeth recently made her professional debut with Oberlin and Opera Columbus in April of 2023 in the new work: Alice Tierney.

Elena Mullins Bailey specializes in music from Europe, c. 1000-1750. She co-founded two medieval music ensembles, the Cleveland-based Trobár and the Brooklyn-based Alkemie. She has a voice studio at Cleveland State University and conducts the Early Music Singers at Case Western Reserve University.

Amanda Powell, soprano enjoys a diverse career that includes classical, jazz, and global music performance. She has sung concerts around the world including venues in Spain, Italy, Mongolia, and China. Amanda also enjoys a vibrant career in national church circles, leading community singing. She is the Community Arts Liaison at The Cultural Arts Center at Disciples Church and teaches voice and improvisation at Cleveland State University. She currently tours with Italian folk/jazz group, Alla Boara.

Evelyn Wright is a professional vocalist for over thirty plus years. She revels in the styles of jazz, r&b and pop. Has toured throughout the United States and Canada performing in top clubs and concert halls. Has opened for the likes of Mel Torme, Joan Rivers, Harry Belafonte and David "Fathead" Newman. Performed for the First Lady Rosalyn Carter, Oprah Winfrey and General Colin Powell. In 2008 was given the Jazz Legend Award from Tri-C Community College. Also studied under Dr. Howard Tucker from Oberlin.

Beisel/Harris Duo and Ben Zucker
With local collaborators

Sunday, April 30
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00

$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Emily Rach Beisel is a Chicago-based improvisor, composer, educator, curator and woodwind specialist. Beisel is known for visceral performances combining extended instrumental techniques with heavy amplification and timbral effects. Their solo work frequently explores the intersection between avant-garde art music and extreme metal genres such as mathcore, doom, and death metal. As a curator, Beisel seeks to increase the visibility and involvement of women and nonbinary artists in the creative music community. They founded the Pleiades Series at Elastic Arts, presenting monthly performances along with a community-based free improvisation jam for femme and nonbinary performers.

Rach Beisel is a member of the contemporary ensemble Fonema Consort, touring most recently in Brazil, Mexico, Minneapolis and New York and premiering works of living composers including James Dillon, Richard Barrett and Julio Estrada. Rach Beisel also works as a woodwind doubler at Chicago-land theaters including the Marriott Theater, Paramount Theater and multiple productions with Chicago's feminist Firebrand Theater Company. As an educator, Rach Beisel maintains a private studio in addition to teaching positions at Harold Washington College and Oak Park School of Music.

Rach Beisel holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 10-208.
www.emilybeisel.com

Bill is a Chicago-based drummer and improviser working at the fringes of improvisation, noise, rock, folk, and bluegrass. His work has been presented at places ranging from centers for improvised and creative music such as Elastic Arts, Constellation, and ESS; to vital rock and indie clubs such as The Empty Bottle, The Hideout, Evanston Space, Beat Kitchen, and Spot Tavern; to concert halls and centers for the arts such as Lincoln Hall, Old Town School of Folk Music, Navy Pier, and The Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art.

Some of his primary groups are Je'raf; KAH, an improvising trio with Jeff Kimmel and Ishmael Ali; Hearsay, with Allen Moore and Ishmael Ali; Joybird, with Jess McIntosh and Aaron Smith; and Errata, with Ishmael Ali and Eli Namay. Some of his most frequent collaborators include Ishmael Ali, Jake Wark, Carol Genetti, Emily Beisel, Allen Moore, Timothee Quost, Dave Rempis, Jess McIntosh, Jim Baker, PT Bell, Gerrit Hatcher, Eli Namay, Peter Maunu, Matt Piet, Brianna Tong, Wills McKenna, David Fletcher, Aaron Smith, Jeff Kimmel, Molly Jones, and Keefe Jackson.

In 2015 he started Amalgam, a 100% artist-run collective and label dedicated to showcasing works of improvised and experimental music in Chicago and elsewhere, with a bi-monthly series at Cafe Mustache in Chicago. Since 2015, they've released 40 releases. Bill is also an audio engineer working in both studio and live situations, and operates an independent studio in Chicago with engineering, mixing, mastering, and production credits on labels such as Amalgam, Astral Spirits, No Index, 577 Records and Ears&Eyes. In 2020 he started and co-operates a recording studio called Marmalade with Ishmael Ali, PT Bell, and Louis Clark.
www.billyharris.net

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Ben Zucker practices acts of conceptual juxtaposition and experiential speculation, as an intentionally wide-ranging composer, audiovisual artist, and multi-instrumentalist. He has contributed to experimental music scenes of the Bay Area, New England, London, Chicago, and beyond, working with musicians including Anthony Braxton, Gareth Davis, Myra Melford, Karen Borca, The Crossing, The Vocal Constructivists, Rinde Eckert, and the San Francisco Choral Artists, in addition to frequent performances as an ensemble contributor, and bandleader of the experimental jazz quartet Fifth Season, and creative music collective Mad Myth Science. Their composed works have received awards and performances by ensembles including the Mivos Quartet, the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Khorikos, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the Chicago Composers Orchestra, as well as being performed at DOCNYC, the Darmstadt Fereinkurse, Art Omi, Trinity College Dublin, Nordic Percussion Festival, Ostrava New Music Days, Ear Taxi Festival, and the Banff Centre. He has been acclaimed as a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine) and “more than a little bit remarkable” (Free Jazz Blog) for his solo albums combining brass, percussion, voice, and electronics, released on labels including Whitelabelrecs, Dinzu Artefacts, ears&eyes records, Shimmering Moods Records, Amalgam, Verz Imprint, and I Low You. They currently live in Chicago, working as doctoral student at Northwestern University, student labor organizer, Vice President of New Music Chicago, and as varied and caffeinated a freelance life as possible.
https://www.benzuckersounds.com/about

Sunday, April 16
Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland
Doors at 7:30, music at 8:00
$15 suggested donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

Tamarisk is Christina Carter (Charalambides), Andrew Weathers (Andrew Weathers Ensemble), and David Menestres (Polyorchard, Eugene Chadbourne).
https://tamarisksuns.bandcamp.com/album/plays-a-word-for-sun

David Menestres is a double bassist, improvisor, composer, radio host, and writer. For the last ten years he's been the leader of Polyorchard. For the last twenty-three he's been collaborating with Eugene Chadbourne. His bass playing has been described as "seductive" (The Wire) and "something akin to staring an abyss in the face – and taking the plunge – full on, head first into annihilation” (FreJazzBlog).

https://davidmenestres.com/
https://polyorchard.bandcamp.com/

Christina Carter co-founded the group Charalambides in 1991. Ever since then, she has deeply mined her own vein of sound-as-music with voice and lyric. She currently resides in Austin, Texas. Christina's latest releases are the Tamarisk Plays A Word For Sun CD (Waveform Alphabet), the Nighte Pin Down The Dust CS (mappa) and the solo voice album Librarie (Many Breaths).

http://christinacarter.bandcamp.com
https://charalambides.bandcamp.com/

Andrew Weathers (b.1988) is a composer and improviser originally from Chapel Hill, NC and currently based in Littlefield, TX. His work engages with notions of place, tradition, repetition, and spirit, splitting the difference between folk music and Land Art. Weathers studied composition at UNC-Greensboro and electronic music at Mills College in Oakland, CA.

A consistent presence in the underground music scene over the past decade, Weathers’ work covers a wide spectrum from solo acoustic guitar to electronic noise. He also performs and records regularly with Tender Crust, Wind Tide, Satin Spar, Tamarisk, Llano Estacado Monad Band, Tethers and Real Life Rock & Roll Band. Weathers also produces recordings for the Full Spectrum, Other Minds, and Rural Situationism record labels, curates the Longitudes music series at CO-OPt Research + Projects in Lubbock, TX and works as a freelance mixing and mastering engineer.

https://andrewweathers.com
https://andrewweathers.bandcamp.com

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The movement and sound collaboration will feature a group of three movement artists, practitioners of contact improvisation and three musicians with backgrounds in free improvisation.

"Contact Improvisation (CI) is a movement form that involves connection between other bodies in an exploratory and improvisational way. CI invites play, deep listening, weight sharing, balance, falling, etc. It can be slow and meditative and/or athletic and with momentum. There are patterns and practices to learn and it’s also very improvisational and open."

Movers:
Emily Liptow
Chrissy Martin
Brian Schultis

Musicians:
Bbob Drake, electronics
Stephan Haluska, harp
Max Hyde-Perry, bass

Monday, March 27
Doors 7:30, music 8pm
Convivium 33 Gallery
1433 E. 33rd St, Cleveland

$15 suggestion donation, no one will be turned away for lack of funds

About the artists:

Jon Mueller’s The Future is Unlimited, Always is an examination of time, meditation and loss. In this piece, released in 2022 on the Virtues label as a CD/book, the Wisconsin-based percussionist’s usual repetitive rhythms and textures are replaced with fluid, calm tones, overlaid with otherworldly wails. In live performances of the piece, Mueller employs a variety of gongs, percussion and electronics to create an atmosphere equally as easy to get lost in as it is to be propelled by.

“Mueller’s music is usually completed by the overtones and feedback that arise from the interaction between his playing and the space where it occurs, but for this recording he has drawn those elements into the foreground. Long vocal and metallic tones stretch over subliminally rumbling drums, directing the listener’s attention up and out.” – Bill Meyer, The Wire

“The Future is Unlimited, Always captures Mueller at his most spacious: layers of frequencies and tones that are as engaging as they are mysterious, and capturing more than just audio, but a deeper sense of existence.” – Creaig Dunton, Brainwashed

Mueller’s aim has long been to move drums, percussion and rhythm from its anticipated backbeat to a central musical focus, something more intuitive and natural than usually imagined. Audiences throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United Kingdom have experienced this idiosyncratic point of view as, paradoxically, both ‘cathartic’ and ‘meditative’. Notable solo performances have taken place at the Guggenheim Museum, New Museum, Issue Project Room, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Alverno Presents, Columbia Festival of Experimental Music, SXSW, Big Ears Festival, Hopscotch Fest and Witching Hour Festival.

Outside of his solo work, Mueller has performed and recorded with Mind Over Mirrors, was a founding member of the bands Volcano Choir, Collections of Colonies of Bees and Pele, and has worked in depth with artists Aaron Turner, Faith Coloccia, Dawn Springer, Chris Hefner, Jason Kahn, Asmus Tietchens, Z’EV, Andrew McKenzie, Rhys Chatham, Jarboe, James Plotkin, Duane Pitre, Jonathan Kane, and Raymond Dijkstra.

His solo work has been released by Table of the Elements, Type Recordings, Important Records, Taiga Records, SIGE Records, American Dreams, and others.

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In both his sound art and his visual design, Cleveland’s Noah Depew reflects on the navigation of an unnatural world, and distills those experiences into a language that is unfamiliar yet still intelligible. These sublimations can be observed in projects ranging from the intense collaged noise of earlier solo work to the more recent Burning Plastic Blues Band, which utilize synthesis, effected guitar, and tape manipulation to achieve an auditory force that provokes an internal examination of the listener. Like sunlight through a magnifying glass, Depew captures an detailed textural experience and can focus it wherever he chooses.

The Evolution of the Arm, having materialized from Buffalo's vibrant experimental music scene five years ago, takes its interdimensional, genre- transcending chamber music on the road in March 2023.

An unconventional quartet drawing on collective experience in classical, jazz, noise, theater music, and beyond, The Evolution of the Arm combines the subtle precision of notated concert music performance with the wild spontaneity of free improvisation, superimposing or moving seamlessly between these extremes in their original compositions. The instrumentation of oboe, piano, violin, and cello allows unique timbral amalgamations, while their heterodox approach to counterpoint and form manifest as a kind of doppelgänger of classical music—built from the flotsam and jetsam of Baroque intricacy and Romantic lyricism. 

The band's Cleveland concert will feature music from their debut album Sounds Like, on which the band blurs the boundaries between the tactile and the non-corporeal. From the gestural, quasi-metal opening riff of “Starting Positions” to “Double Memory’s" transcendent final chorale, the album charts trajectories through diaphanous string harmonics, crunchy piano clusters, and vertiginous oboe multiphonics. Album centerpiece Jackrabbit's Palace is split across four movements, each featuring a different quartet member as an improvising soloist (pianist Michael McNeill, oboist Megan Kyle, cellist Katie Weissman, and violinist Evan Courtin respectively). Entr'actes break up this form with dreamily pensive string duo Fluffernutter, and the jerky starts-and-stops of pawns, a setting of the eponymous poem by Marina Blitshteyn. 

The band’s 2023 tour will coincide with the release of Telepathic Music Vol. 2, their second EP of remotely-recorded, telepathically-connected improvisations. Of the first EP, saxophonist/composer Maria Faust writes “The band has a rich and recognizable sound, and as I would say, 'they play like one person with multiple personalities.' […The EP] perfectly describes not only the pandemic period but the general state of mind of a person living in modern times.”

http://theevolutionofthearm.com
https://infrasonicpress.com/artist/evolution-arm/
http://www.instagram.com/theevolutionofthearm
https://theevolutionofthearm.bandcamp.com/

Described by the New York Times as “eloquently plangent, making a powerful impact,” Khari Joyner has a following both nationally and abroad as a versatile concert cellist, chamber musician, and ambassador for the arts. He has made numerous guest appearances with orchestras and ensembles across the world, including two recent performances of both Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto in A Minor and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which received rave reviews. In addition, he has given many cello masterclasses and lectures at notable institutions, including the University of Georgia, Duke University, Bowling Green State University, Oberlin Conservatory, and the International Cello Institute among others. Furthermore, he has recently joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Cello at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory. In 2017 Joyner received a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund, which nominates and endows a select number of gifted artists with generous funding to further their careers. Joyner has also performed for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the latter for which he gave a private performance in the Oval Office. A passionate advocate for the music of the 21st century, Joyner has collaborated and given performances of works by major composers such as Tyshawn Sorey, Lowell Liebermann, Keith Fitch, Carman Moore, Kaija Saariaho, and Jessie Cox among several others. An active chamber musician and one of the founding members of the Altezza Piano Trio, Joyner has given performances as a guest at the Ritz Chamber Players, Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, Fontainbleau Music Festival, and recently as a guest with PinkNoise contemporary ensemble performing Gerard Grisey’s monumental Vortex Temporum. A graduate of Juilliard’s prestigious Doctor of Musical Arts program, he has had other teaching affiliations with Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Mannes Prep. Joyner also pursued a mathematics concentration in an exchange program with Columbia University, while studying in Juilliard’s Accelerated BM/MM program. Joyner actively collaborates across genres with many choreographers, actors, and jazz musicians—his most recent collaboration includes a featured world premiere with the Atlanta Ballet, for his solo cello work Intransigence.

On this program, Khari Joyner brings some Uncommon Sounds in three very different works for cello, by himself, Lucian Berio, and Julius Eastman. The first work, Berio’s monumental Sequenza XIV for solo cello is the final work of a set of solo compositions spanning almost fifty years that the composer started in the mid-late 1950’s. Each sequenza features a variety of extended techniques, and instruments range from saxophone, guitar, voice, violin, cello, to even the accordion. The Sequenza XIV was dedicated to Sri Lankan cellist Rohan de Saram, and features characteristic Sri Lankan Kandyan drumming rhythms imitated on the cello. But throughout becomes a highly textured, ornate web of consonance, dissonance, and otherworldly sounds. The work is followed by Joyner’s own spectral composition Évanescent Éclairs. In this work, Joyner employs the usage of scordatura and the harmonic series to create a vastly non-cellistic sound out of the instrument. Composed between 2017-2018, before the pandemic, Joyner largely took inspiration from the sounds of nature, the harmonic series, mathematics, and synthetic sounds. The goal of the work was to essentially take a “concrete, visible instrument and turn it into something cosmic and unreal or imaginary.” Within the work, there is not necessarily thematic, melodic material but rather motivic nods that slowly unfold over the course of the whole work. But largely, the notes, B natural, E natural, A natural, and G-sharp permeate the entire composition. Usage of artificial harmonics, multiphonics, and natural harmonics can be heard almost all throughout. But, amongst the cosmic element of the piece is something that Joyner finds naturally and aesthetically beautiful as it reflects the sounds of nature.

The final work on this set is the rather arrestingly haunting Buddha, by the late African-American composer Julius Eastman. In this work, one is transfixed by the sounds that emanate from a consort of instruments, for which Eastman specifically scored for “any combination of.” The work is very much inspired from Eastman’s interest and study of Eastern philosophy, religion, and art. With a very improvisatory feel, there is nothing but a richness of color that constantly emanates from the ensemble. While sometimes very clear pitches or lines are heard, other times only visions or ideas are implied. Joyner is honored to be joined by his own students this evening from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music.

-Khari R. Joyner
IG: kars_and_music
FB: Khari Joyner
Website: www.kharijoyner.com

Hailed as a “winning combination in every way!”, Decho was founded by Sarah Marchitelli and Jacob Swanson in 2011 with the intention of sharing the saxophone as a concert instrument of wide ranging capability. Critically acclaimed for their “blend and precision”, the ensemble has performed throughout North America and Europe. Following years of continuous collaboration, in 2019 Dr. Katherine Petersen joined Decho to champion works for voice and saxophone.

Presenting on concert series, television, and radio, the Decho Ensemble has collaborated with chamber orchestras, poets, dance companies, and ensembles/instrumentalists in addition to their all saxophone programming. Decho has presented at the North American Saxophone Alliance Regional and Biennial Conferences, United States Navy International Saxophone Symposium, the Women Composers Festival of Hartford, International Congress of Voice Teachers, and the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project. Since 2016 the Decho Ensemble has participated in residencies at Mercyhurst University, Idaho University at Moscow, and with the Ny Musikks Komponistgruppe in Oslo, Norway as part of their inaugural PULS Festival. 

The Decho Ensemble performs on vintage Buescher saxophones built in the United States.

Decho Ensemble will be joined by friend of CUSP's, Drew Hosler.

Decho Ensemble will perform works by Robert McClure, Lila Meretzky, Marc Mellits, Lori Laitman, and Ruby Fulton.

Carolyn Borcherding is a composer and sound artist predominantly interested in building sounding and visual worlds within which performing bodies and audio gestures can exist together in fluid relationships. Her body of work ranges from pieces for solo instrument to multimedia ensembles consisting of video, electronically produced sound, and acoustic instruments. In her multimedia works, she considers each medium an essential performing body in which the media interact with, relate to, and inform one another. In fixed media works, she experiments particularly with the creation and destruction of the listeners’ sense of space. Her works have increasingly explored narrative constructs related to historical, cultural, and personal matters.

Carolyn received her master’s degree in music composition at Western Michigan University and her doctorate at the University of Illinois. She is currently Assistant Professor in Composition at Baldwin Wallace University.

Borcherding will be joined by Hollis Whittman on vibraphone.

Legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble brings profound healing through music! EHE has toured internationally, as well as recorded enumerable celebrated projects over the last 45 years. The current line up, featuring Corey Wilkes/trumpet, Alex Harding/baritone sax, and the bands founder, Dr. Kahil El’Zabar/multi-percussion/composition is guaranteed to inspire audiences.

Sir Kahil El’Zabar was knighted by the Counsel General of France in 2014 for his long standing international contributions in the Arts. Additionally, Dr. El’zabar holds a PHD in Interdisciplinary Arts from Lake Forest College, 2006. He was an associate professor of music and collaborative arts at University of Nebraska (Lincoln), from 1985-1995 and University of Illinois (Chicago) from 1999-2004. El’Zabar was chairman of the iconic Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) from 1975-1983 and has worked with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Pharoah Sanders, Cannonball Adderly, Donnie Hathaway, Lester Bowie, Neneh Cherry, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Nona Hendryx, and Ntozake Shange.

As alumnus of the famed Berkley School of Music, former associate professor of jazz trumpet at Roosevelt University from 2008- 2016, and current member of the world famous AACM, Corey Wilkes is one of the most sought after trumpeters in the world today. Wilkes had the honor of being chosen to replace the late, great Lester Bowie in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Wilkes has played with the greats, Roy Hargrove, Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith, James Carter, Bilal, Roscoe Mitchell, and Nona Hendryx. Additionally, he is currently starring in a reoccurring role in the hit TV show "Empire." 

For two decades, Alex Harding was the most sought after baritone saxophonist in New York City. In recent years, Alex has moved back to his hometown of Detroit and still is one of the busiest musicians in the world. Harding was the band director of the Tony Award winning Broadway hit, "Fela" and has worked with legends such as Dollar Brand, Sun Ra, Hamiet Bluiett, James Carter, Roy Hargrove, Oliver Lake, Joe Bowie’s Defunkt, and Aretha Franklin. He studied privately for many years with the legendary baritone saxophonist, Hamiet Bluiett.

Ken Vandermark - reeds

Tim Daisy - drums and percussion

Chicago based improvisers, Tim Daisy (percussion) and  Ken Vandermark (reeds)  reconvene their longstanding duo project which began back in 2007 with the ltd edition self - release "August Music " followed by the double vinyl recording "Light on the Wall" (Lawrence Family), The Conversation (Multikulti) and Consequent Duos: Series 2A (Audiographic)

Ken Vandermark and Tim Daisy have been performing, recording, and touring together in a number of critically acclaimed groups since 2001; these ensembles include the Vandermark 5, the Frame Quartet, Sound In Action Trio, Bridge 61, the Resonance Project, and Made To Break

Performing in the unique format of a reed/drum duo, they concentrate on investigating free improvisation from the standpoint of rhythmic melodicism; following an international tradition that's been developed by artists such as Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell, Anthony Braxton/Max Roach, Evan Parker/Paul Lytton, and Peter Brotzmann/Han Bennink.

In this band Tim and Ken draw on a number of musical influences, including many sources outside the Jazz lexicon, for example: percussion music from Africa and South America, New Music ideas of composers like Morton Feldman and John Cage, popular music forms such as Funk and Rock. Together they combine their creative energies to further explore and assemble sound in an open, completely improvised context.

Through regular performances in their home city, the duo developed a special level of communication and invention. The excitement of the group warranted documentation and a desire to bring the music to audiences outside of Chicago.

Tonight's concert, the first time the duo has performed in Cleveland since 2011, will showcase a new book of material composed by each member of the group, with a recording and cd release planned for 2023 on Tim’s Relay Recordings imprint.

Dana Jessen's (un) Wired is a solo electroacoustic and improvisatory work that incorporates sonic environments and live processing through Ted Moore's DJII interface. This performance will showcase Jessen's unique musical language interacting with digital processes and sound worlds that one might associate with a science fiction soundtrack.

Hailed as a “bassoon virtuoso” (Chicago Reader), Dana Jessen tirelessly seeks to expand the boundaries of her instrument through original compositions, improvisations, and collaborative work with innovative artists. Over the past decade, she has presented dozens of world premiere performances throughout North America and Europe while maintaining equal footing in the creative music community as an improviser. Her solo performances are almost entirely grounded in electroacoustic composition that highlight her distinct musical language. As a chamber musician, Dana is the co-founder of the contemporary reed quintet Splinter Reeds, and has performed with Alarm Will Sound, Amsterdam’s DOEK Collective, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Tri-Centric Ensemble, among many others. A dedicated educator, Dana teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and has presented masterclasses and workshops to a range of students from across the globe. More at: www.danajessen.com

CUSP is proud to present performances by:

Matt Evans
&
Marcia Custer

A shared concert featuring two amazing artists at Convivium 33 Gallery, 1433 E 33rd St, Cleveland

Doors at 7:30pm, music at 8:00pm

$15 recommended ticket price or pay what you can. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Masks are encouraged.

About the artists:

Matt Evans is a drummer and producer making acoustic and electronic music about the poetic interconnections between landscapes: internal, external, fictional, and virtual. Taking cues from millennial esoterica, natural phenomena, and science fiction, Matt uses drum-driven hypnotic soundscapes and improvisatory performances to embody imaginary ecosystems of surreal sonic worlds. In “New Topographics” (2020) and “Soft Science” (2022), vintage synth burbles, peculiar percussion skitters, and muddy foraged samples are enmeshed like critters in a sci-fi biome. Matt performs these tracks from the drum kit, with samplers and pedals, embodying the array of characters as a ritualistic representation of these futuristic landscapes. His approach creates a groovy psychedelic instrumental music that is "hyperreal and phantasmal" (Wire Magazine), "meticulous and expressive." (New York Times), and "a form of chill complexity" (New York Times).

"Soft Science" releases Nov 18, 2022 on Moon Glyph Records:
https://thisismattevans.bandcamp.com/album/soft-science

Saprotrophia Music Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2alTj0__pc

Marcia Custer is a movement and sound-based performance artist with a penchant for both the bizarre and the sublime. Her original work has been performed at Pitchfork Music Festival, Elastic Arts Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Transformer Station, and basements, backyards, and bookstores across the U.S. Custer’s performances are rooted in feminist and queer approaches to embodiment, experimental sound, and community dance practice.

www.marciacuster.com