Monday, April 19, 2021

Vivary

I'm pleased to announce Vivary, a new album with Ishmael Ali and Bill Harris on Amalgam, that releases 5/7.  We'll be celebrating with a live stream from Constellation that evening.

Cover art by Jordan Martins
 

Words by Peter Margasak:

The music on Vivary captures a much different approach, balancing a research-like exploration and a refined understanding of how to arrange elusive sounds in real-time. On the opening piece “Sett,” for example, the trio almost stacks its sounds vertically. There is movement, but it’s within a deliciously narrow space, as if the musicians are looking for all of the ways they can stack a series of acoustic and electronic objects using ever-shifting densities, angles, and energies. It’s fascinating to experience such a kinetic, jagged improvised sound and simultaneously surrender to its spell. “Ranarium” layers astringent, shape-shifting electronic tones complemented and pierced by extended techniques from Harris, leaving the listener to wonder if the sounds are emanating from a percussive sphere, or if the shimmering tones are simply swallowing everything in their path. 

You can listen and pre-order here.

Sunday, November 25, 2018

aqua.flv at Elastic 11/30

I've put together a.pe.ri.od.ic's next concert at Elastic on Friday, November 30 at 8:30pm.

video still by Kim Alpert

The concert will feature a new piece I've developed in collaboration with Kim Alpert, using webdriver torso videos. The program will also feature a solo piece for bass clarinet by Linda Catlin Smith and works for ensemble by Makiko Nishikaze and Jürg Frey.

Makiko Nishikaze - moremelodies I (2014)
Jürg Frey - Extended Circular Music No. 8 (2014)
Linda Catlin Smith - Blackwing (2018)
Jeff Kimmel - aqua.flv, with 3D video by Kim Alpert (2018)
[3D glasses will be provided.]

Performers:

Eliza Bangert
Nomi Epstein
Jeff Kimmel
Kenn Kumpf
Matthew Oliphant
Ryan Packard
Robert Reinhart
Sam Scranton

Julie Pomerleau, Johanna Brock, and Whitney Johnson will open with a viola trio.

Thanks to Bill Meyer for the preview in the Chicago Reader.

Sunday, February 11, 2018

stück 1998 / anchor 2018, February 16-24

I'm thrilled to be a part of an exciting series of performances created by choreographer Ayako Kato at Links Hall during the next two weeks. She has realized 30 pages of Wandelweiser composer Manfred Werder's 4000-page piece stück 1998As the composer specifies that a single page of the score can only be performed once, each evening will feature a different excerpt of the score and uniquely explore the intersection between music and dance.

photo by Deidre Huckabay

Day 1: Friday, 2/16: Music/Sound First
Day 2: Sunday, 2/18: Dance/Movement First
Day 3: Thursday, 2/22: Music and Dance as Equals
Day 4: Saturday, 2/24: Independence of Dance/Movement as anchor 2018

Links Hall, 3111 N Western Ave, performances begin at 7pm.
Tickets are available here or at the door.

photo by Deidre Huckabay

Composition
by Mandred Werder; Actualization by Corinne Imberski, Wilson Tanner Smith, Jeff Kimmel, Christina Martin, Ayako Kato; Choreographic Direction by Ayako Kato with movement invention with artists; Costume by Amanda Franck.

You can read an interview with Ayako about this project here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Time With People

a.pe.ri.od.ic gives the US Premiere
of
TIME WITH PEOPLE
an experimental opera by Tim Parkinson


February 26, 2017, 8:30pm
Frequency Series, Constellation

'Time With People' is not an opera in the traditional sense. There are no characters, costumes, or even orchestral instruments. Instead, the stage is set with trash and other assorted objects. The soloists and chorus speak, dance, chant, and drum. And the only “classical” music comes from a recording.

Alternately funny, playful, perplexing, and sad, the work challenges audiences to reconsider their preconceived notions of the nature of music. Writing about the world-premiere performance at HCMF in 2013, Lawrence Dunn remarked, “This is a world in which music is a kind of memory—something that must be reconstructed from the ground up, and afterwards returned to the same ground.”

This​ ambitious project was brought to fruition thanks to the Sponsored Artist Program at High Concept Labs, where a.pe.ri.od.ic has been preparing the work over the last 5 months.




Thursday, October 6, 2016

distance from you & distance from each other




On Thursday, October 20, I'll be part of a Parlour Tapes+ curated concert at the Comfort Station, performing two new works:

first,

Jane Ate Soup
a no-instrument symphony and/or ensemble theater piece
co-created by Deidre Huckabay and Jessica Anne

honoring the onstage death of Jane Little
bassist in the Atlanta Symphony
and holder of the world record for longest professional tenure
in an orchestra
(what a way
what a way
what a way to go
go on now)
with performances by people you love
including
Lia Kohl, Michael Lewanski, Jess Aszodi, Jeff Kimmel, Zach Moore
and others

second,
distance from you & distance from each other
a piece about pneumatic engineering
and dad texts
(here are your tax returns
here are pictures of some of the bottles
here is the contact for Susie)
with a spiritual undertone
or overtone
created using flutes, clarinets
vinyl tubes, ceramic tile, wicker rattles
and other trash
composed by Sam Scranton
with Deidre Huckabay and Jeff Kimmel
and performed by Sam, Deidre, and Jeff
together


the goal is to honor everyone
and ourselves

the program is maybe an hour long
including intermission


---

Thursday, October 20 - 7:30pm
Parlour Tapes+ presents: Jane Ate Soup by Deidre Huckabay and Jessica Anne, and distance from you & distance from each other, co-created with Deidre Huckabay and Sam Scranton @ Comfort Station

Friday, June 3, 2016

Morton Feldman's Bass Clarinet and Percussion

I'll be performing Morton Feldman's Bass Clarinet and Percussion in collaboration with percussionists Chris Sies and Isaac Stevenson on Sunday, June 26 at Constellation, as part of a.pe.ri.od.ic's Feldman/Earle Brown program.



Looking forward to diving into this serene and challenging piece.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

May Concerts


I'm excited to be taking part in some diverse projects over the next month.  First, I'll be improvising with Katie Young, Daniel Wyche and Aaron Zarzutzki at Constellation in a first-time trio meeting. The following week, my long-running clarinet trio with Kurt Bjorling and Don Jacobs will be performing arrangements of Baroque and Renaissance music at a church in the South Loop.

At the end of the month, Frank Rosaly presents a revamped version of his ¡Todos De Pie! project in a three-day residency at the Owl.  The group will be drawing from Puerto Rican bomba and plena traditions.  I'm honored to be included in a stellar cast of musicians: Ben Boye, Nick Broste, Alex Farha, Ibiliesse Guardia Ferragutti, Russ Johnson, and Brian Sulpizio. You can hear a bit of us from a guest appearance on WBEZ's Morning Shift.

I will also be playing a concert with a.pe.ri.od.ic during that weekend, in a concert featuring premieres of new work by Ryoko Akama, Sarah Hughes, Tisha Mukarji and Nomi Epstein written for the ensemble.

Monday, May 11 - 7pm
with Katie Young, Daniel Wyche and Aaron Zarzutzki @ Constellation

Wednesday, May 20 - 6pm
Orlando's Dream @ Second Presbyterian Church, Sounds of the South Loop series

Friday, May 29 - 8pm
Saturday, May 30 - 8pm
Sunday, May 31 - 10pm
Frank Rosaly's ¡Todos De Pie! @ the Owl
with Ben Boye, Nick Broste, Alex Farha, Ibiliesse Guardia Ferragutti, Russ Johnson, and Brian Sulpizio

Sunday, May 31 - 8:30pm
with a.pe.ri.od.ic @ Constellation