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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251212T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251212T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20251124T155854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T161119Z
UID:10001290-1765569600-1765576800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:In The Mirror of Maya Deren
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a special screening of In The Mirror of Maya Deren at The Rotunda. \n“More than anything else\, cinema consists of the eye for the magic—that which perceives and reveals the marvelous in whatsoever it looks upon.” –Maya Deren \nWith In The Mirror of Maya Deren\, documentary filmmaker Martina Kudlacek has fashioned not only a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking and influential artist\, but a pitch-perfect introduction to her strikingly beautiful and poetic body of work. Crowned “Fellini and Bergman wrapped in one gloriously possessed body” by the L.A. Weekly\, Maya Deren (née Eleanora Derenkovskaya) is arguably the most important and innovative avant-garde filmmaker in the history of American cinema. Using locations from the Hollywood hills to Haiti\, Deren made such mesmerizing films as At Land\, Ritual in Transfigured Time\, and her masterpiece\, Meshes of the Afternoon\, which won a prestigious international experimental filmmaking prize at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival. Starting with excerpts from these films\, In The Mirror of Maya Deren seamlessly and effectively interweaves archival footage with observances from acolytes and contemporaries such as filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas\, dance pioneer Katherine Dunham\, and Living Theater founder Judith Malina. With an original score by experimental composer John Zorn. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nOne of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s\, Maya Deren was also a choreographer\, dancer\, film theorist\, poet\, lecturer\, writer and photographer. \nThe function of film\, Deren believed\, like most art forms\, was to create an experience; each one of her films would evoke new conclusions\, lending her focus to be dynamic and always-evolving. She combined her interests in dance\, Haitian culture and subjective psychology in a series of surreal\, perceptual\, black and white short films. Using editing\, multiple exposures\, jump cutting\, superimposition\, slow-motion and other camera techniques\, Deren created continued motion through discontinued space. She abandoned the established notions of physical space and time turning her vision into a stream of consciousness. \nPerhaps one of the most influential experimental films in American cinema was her collaboration with Alexander Hammid on Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). She continued to make several more films of her own\, including At Land (1944)\, A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945)\, and Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946) – writing\, producing\, directing\, editing\, and photographing them with help from only one other person\, Hella Heyman\, as camerawoman. She also appeared in a few of her films but never credited herself as an actress\, downplaying her roles as anonymous figures rather than iconic deities. \nJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer\, arranger\, record producer\, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn’s recorded output is prolific with hundreds of album credits as a performer\, composer\, or producer. His work has touched on a wide range of musical genres\, often within a single composition\, but he is best-known for his avant-garde\, jazz\, improvised and contemporary classical music. Zorn has led the punk jazz band Naked City\, the klezmer-influenced quartet Masada and composed the associated ‘Masada Songbooks’\, written concert music for classical ensembles\, and produced music for film and documentary. Zorn has stated that “I’ve got an incredibly short attention span. My music is jam-packed with information that is changing very fast… All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I’m an additive person – the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can’t see the connections\, but they are there.” \nAfter releasing albums on several independent US and European labels\, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and attracted wide acclaim in 1985 when he released ”The Big Gundown” with his interpretations of music composed by Ennio Morricone. This was followed by the album ”Spillane” in 1987\, and the first album by Naked City in 1989 which all attracted further worldwide attention. Zorn then recorded on the Japanese DIW label and curated the Avant subsidiary label before forming Tzadik in 1995\, where he has been prolific\, issuing several new recordings each year and releasing works by many other musicians. \nZorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the early 1980s but has since composed and performed with a wide range of musicians working in diverse musical areas. By the early 1990s Zorn was working extensively in Japan\, attracted by that culture’s openness about borrowing and remixing ingredients from elsewhere\, where he performed and recorded under the name Dekoboko Hajime\, before returning to New York as a permanent base in the mid 1990’s. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe\, Asia\, and the Middle East\, often performing at festivals with varying ensembles to display his diverse output. \n\n\n\nCo-presented with The Rotunda
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/in-the-mirror-of-maya-deren/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251206T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251206T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250804T153846Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251208T164320Z
UID:10001279-1765051200-1765058400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Blackbox Ensemble
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Blackbox Ensemble performing contemporary chamber works by Annie Nikunen\, Ileana Perez-Velazquez\, Baldwin Giang\, and James Diaz at University Lutheran Church. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nThe BlackBox Ensemble is a collective of contemporary music performers based in New York City dedicated to exploring the wide-ranging world of the music of our time. Founded in 2018\, our upcoming 2024-2025 season includes concerts at home in New York and around the country\, including the season-opening performance of the Southern Exposure Series at the University of South Carolina\, a performance at the Timucua Arts Foundation\, and residencies at the University of Chicago\, University of Florida\, and University of Central Florida. Our 2023-2024 season included major performances in New York City and beyond\, including touring engagements in Washington\, DC\, Florida\, Michigan\, and throughout the Northeast. Our season began with The Sound of Space Between Us\, a site-specific\, outdoor music and dance performance at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown\, Massachusetts. We then presented the live premiere of Borrowed Landscape\, a radio play by German playwright duo tauchgold with music by Dai Fujikura\, at the Noguchi Museum\, in a program that also features music by Anna Thorvaldsdottir\, inti figgis-vizueta\, and Toru Takemistu. We then reprised our performance of Borrowed Landscape at the Smithsonian Institute of Asian Art as part of a two-concert series. In addition\, we celebrated our 5-year anniversary with our inaugural BlackBox Festival\, including our debut at Roulette Intermedium. Finally\, our season included residencies at University of Florida\, University of Michigan\, NYU\, and the Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School. \nOur 2022-2023 season included a season-opening performance marathon on Pier 45 in Manhattan\, a portrait concert of Jessie Cox\, and performances at Culture Lab LIC and the Columbia University Sacred Music Series. Throughout the season\, the ensemble was supported by the Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward grant for emerging ensembles\, through which they received coaching and mentorship from Alan Pierson\, Conductor and Co-Artistic Director of Alarm Will Sound. Past projects include world premieres by Paul Novak (for the 2021 New Music Gathering Conference)\, Annie Nikunen\, Erich Barganier\, and composer-vocalist Tanner Porter; Gallery of Sound” a performance of solo pieces performed in isolated rooms at an underground bar and record store in Midtown Manhattan; a performance of Julius Eastman’s “Femenine” on the Brooklyn waterfront; and “Elegy\,” a video concert featuring music by Juhi Bansal\, Carlos Simon\, Yaz Lancaster\, Brittany J. Green\, and Jessica Mays. Reviewing this program\, I Care If You Listen wrote” “the 45-minute chamber music program showcased five worthy contemporary composers\, with earnest performances that did justice to the extramusical connotations.” \nOur name\, BlackBox\, is inspired by this term’s meaning in other fields. In theatre\, a Black Box is a type of performance space – usually a square room with black walls – that offers flexible staging and seating arrangements\, creating an environment ripe for creative experimentation and intimate human connection. Meanwhile\, in science\, computing\, and the humanities\, a “black box” is a system with defined inputs and outputs whose inner workings are unknown. We believe that music\, as a cultural medium\, fills the role of the black box\, enacting an ambiguous but vital relationship between artistic expression and social life. In doing so\, we follow the inspiration of the theatrical definition – to foster experimentation\, innovation\, and human connection. In all of our programs\, we aim to present contemporary classical music in a format that is approachable\, innovative\, and impactful. \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/blackbox-ensemble/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251205T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251205T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250723T170449Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251206T230230Z
UID:10001280-1764964800-1764972000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Sova
DESCRIPTION:We are pleased to present Sova in a solo set at University Lutheran Church with an opening set by Koof Ibi. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \n“Ghostly\, delicate\, elegant…” (Independent Clauses) \nFor Sova – the stage name of New York-based pianist/composer Sophia Subbayya Vastek – the piano has always been home. A second generation pianist\, she holds a deep reverence for her collective history\, coupled with an exploratory ear\, and moves quietly between musical worlds. Over the years\, her intuitive playing style — rooted in tenderness\, improvisation\, and classical training — has evolved into a dynamic\, cinematic sound. \nDescribed as performing with “passion and profound tenderness” (Second Inversion) and “serene strokes and lyrical beauty” (Brooklyn Rail)\, her music is quietly devastating\, blossoming into ambient-inspired soundscapes that range from whisper-soft echoes to expressive cascades.  \nHer most recent LP\, In Our Softening\, produced by Sam Torres (Polymouth Music)\, features nine of her own beguiling piano compositions\, each track a part of a thoughtfully woven tapestry. Recorded entirely on an upright piano built in 1902 – complete with a giant crack in the soundboard – the album draws listeners in with its vulnerable and vibrant intimacy. Exploring themes of loss\, rebirth\, and finding softness within an increasingly hard world\, the album has been called “a tender and revelatory balm” by editors at I Care If You Listen\, “heaven on earth” (Sun 13)\, and “one of the very best things I’ve heard all year” by longtime music journalist Steve Smith (Night After Night). The record also made it onto Bandcamp’s All-Time Best Selling Solo Piano list. \nHer music has been released on OPIA\, the record label founded by Ólafur Arnalds\, Innova Recordings\, and more. Her debut album\, Histories (2017)\, was produced by Grammy-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse\, and described as “a beautiful mosaic of the larger cultural intersections of our world” (Second Inversion). She has also released an EP of the complete solo piano works by composer Lili Boulanger (1893-1918)\, entitled Lili (2020\, reissued 2023).  \nEqually important to the music itself are the spaces in which Sova’s music exists. Whether she is performing or presenting\, she is dedicated to creating musical experiences that are grounded in care and intentional gathering. In that spirit\, she is a co-curator of the popular Lift Series at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall\, which finished its sold-out fifth season. She also hosts concerts in her home – a converted church-space in Troy\, NY called Troy Listening Room – that highlight risk-taking\, independent musicians.  \nIn 2022\, Sova was recognized as a composer by the New York State Council on the Arts and New York Foundation For the Arts (NYSCA/NYFA) as a Music/Sound Fellow\, a statewide program focused on the evolution of contemporary art. Her music has been featured on NPR\, BBC\, and KEXP\, and she has performed across three continents. \nKoof Ibi is a multi-instrumentalist in the Philadelphia area. On any given day you could find him strolling down Broad Street straight into the Kimmel Center with brass bands like The West Philadelphia Orchestra\, sharing the big stage with Japanese Breakfast\, or performing in the Philadelphia Museum of Art with poet/musician Moor Mother. Koof effortlessly blends his diverse musical influences into his own distinct style. At his solo shows Koof combines live instruments\, loops\, and effects pedals to create surprising soundscapes\, re-invented covers\, and sonic liberation.\nwww.koof.bandcamp.com\nwww.koofibi.com \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/sova/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251121T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251121T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20251029T165641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251124T160114Z
UID:10001288-1763755200-1763762400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Cornelius Cardew: Treatise
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Arcana New Music Ensemble performing Cornelius Cardew’s groundbreaking work Treatise at The Rotunda. \nComposed between 1962-1967\, Treatise employs an entirely graphic score with symbols that at times looks like traditional music notation then morphs into beautiful esoteric shapes\, curved lines\, and large black dots. Without any instruction for performance and almost 200 pages long\, the work requires careful discussion and interpretation by the musicians to realize the work. \nARCANA NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE \nNicholas Handahl – flute\nNoa Even – saxophone\nMelinda Rice – violin\nCarlos Santiago – violin\nAlyssa Almeida – cello\nAndy Thierauf – percussion \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nCardew was born into a family of artists in 1936. He grew up in Cornwall\, England where until his admittance\, at age 17\, to the Royal Academy of Music in London. Trained as a pianist and cellist\, Cardew had a great interest in the new ideas that were beginning to bloom around contemporary music at that time. He taught himself guitar so that he could take part in the British premiere of Pierre Boulez’s early complex masterwork Le marteau sans maître. As a young composer\, Cornelius immersed himself in the hyper-serialist works of Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen\, while also exploring the emerging discipline of composition for electronics. This latter interest led to his attendance of the Studio for Electronic Music in Köln where he began his relationship as Stockhausen’s assistant\, most notably working with the German on the score to his massive work for four orchestras and choirs: Carré. \nAfter hearing a concert of John Cage and David Tudor in 1958 Cardew turned away from the structure of Boulez and Stockhausen toward the new languages of indeterminate music being explored by Cage\, Christian Wolff\, Morton Feldman\, and Earle Brown. It is arguable that Cardew took the graphic score and performer weighted composition of the New York school to a logical conclusion with works like the text based composition The Great Learning and Treatise. These compositions\, by withholding interpretation of the signs that make up the scores\, removed the expectation in performance to a much greater degree than most of his peers and predecessors. \nIn 1966\, he joined AMM\, an experimental improvising group in London with an instrumentation that grew around the central figures of Eddie Prévost\, John Tilbury\, and Keith Rowe. Even though the group maintained a strict improvisatory ideal\, it featured Christian Wolff at one point\, as well as Cardew. This relationship seems to have had a hand into leading Cardew further away from traditionally notated composition toward his graphic notation work of the 1960s. \nIn 1969\, as a result of The Great Learning\, Cardew formed The Scratch Orchestra with like-minded composers Michael Parsons and Howard Skempton. This group favored a populist approach to performance\, featuring a combination of trained and untrained musicians\, professed a “reverse seniority” hierarchy (or anti-hierarchy) and relied on graphic rather than traditional notation so that anyone could participate. The group operated until about 1974 at which time the politics of the group were leading to new avenues and a third period of activity and redefinition for Cardew. \nBeginning in the early 1970s\, Cardew concentrated his musical efforts on the political by creating music whose purpose was simultaneously populist\, Marxist\, Maoist\, and also critical of the excesses of the avant-garde tradition represented by Stockhausen and Cage. Moving from hyper-serialism to the new rigor of graphic notation\, Cardew’s music from this last period took English folk music tradition as the delivery system for populist political statements such as We Sing for the Future and Smash the Social Contract. Cardew was a co-founding member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain starting in 1979 and his political commitment began to overtake his musical output\, culminating in controversial text Stockhausen Serves Imperialism. He died on December 13\, 1981; the victim of a mysterious hit and run car accident. The driver was never located. \nFounded in 2016\, the Arcana New Music Ensemble is a group of Philadelphia-based musicians dedicated to presenting interesting\, beautiful\, and unconventional music in interesting\, beautiful\, and unconventional places. Built on a flexible roster of 25 musicians\, Arcana is able to perform a broad range of repertoire in numerous configurations. Composers featured in recent programs include Julius Eastman\, Sarah Hennies\, Raven Chacon\, Anahita Abbasi\, Morton Feldman\, Galina Ustvolskaya\, Pauline Oliveros\, Tom Johnson\, Moondog\, and James Tenney. Arcana has performed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art\, Fleisher Art Memorial\, The Rotunda\, The Kitchen (NYC)\, and collaborated with Variant Six\, Prometheus Chamber Orchestra\, Pig Iron Theater Company\, and Wildflower Composers.
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/cornelius-cardew-treatise/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251115T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251115T120000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20251020T144155Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251117T152123Z
UID:10001285-1763200800-1763208000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Follow The Sound
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a morning birdwalk at the Schuylkill Center led by Jayla Clark\, an experienced bird watcher with interspersed performances by Samantha Kochis\, flute\, and Sarah Cunningham\, viola da gamba. \nMeet in front of the Visitor Center \nPlease take note of the weather and dress accordingly with appropriate footwear.\nEstimated event time: 120 minutes\nDistance: approximately 1.25 miles\nTerrain: partially paved\, all flat\nFree admission – reservations are encouraged \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nJayla Clark is a Philadelphia based artist and educator that focuses on environmental science and sustainability. She is a self taught birder with 2+ years of experience teaching and leading birding hikes and activities at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. As an illustrator she likes to focus on small details of different species that make them unique\, spending a lot of time doing onsite field research. \nSamantha Kochis is a Brooklyn-based flutist\, improviser\, and composer who explores various creative environments as an artist of experimental music. In her creative works\, Samantha draws from the tradition of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation to engage in sonic conversations with listeners and collaborators alike. Her playing is described as “deeply intentioned” and “sensitive yet powerful”. Samantha is the co-founder of Phonotonic\, an artist collective dedicated to building community among experimental and improvising artists who share the experience of gender-based oppression. Her collaborations have included artists such as Luke Stewart\, gabby fluke-mogul\, and Laura Cocks\, and has also been featured at the Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art in Pittsburgh\, Pennsylvania.\nwww.samanthakochis.com \nSarah Cunningham began her viola da gamba studies in Boston\, where viol player Gian Lyman Silbiger\, as well as legendary teacher and director Marleen Montgomery\, were formative influences\, as were further studies with Wieland Kuijken in the Netherlands. After her move to London in 1981\, she co-founded the ensemble Sonnerie with Monica Huggett and recorded and toured around the world with ensembles including Fretwork\, Phantasm\, Sequentia\, Les Arts Florissant\, and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. She has performed as a soloist under Simon Rattle\, John Elliott Gardiner\, Trevor Pinnock\, and Gustav Leonhart\, and has recorded on ASV\, Virgin/EMI\, Harmonia Mundi\, Erato\, and Decca. A former faculty member at Hochschule fuer Kuenst in Germany\, the Guildhall School in London\, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki\, Cunningham has presented workshops and master classes throughout the world. She was founder and first artistic director of the East Cork Early Music in Ireland and is a founding member of Les Filles de Sainte Colombe. Cunningham has been on the faculty at Juilliard since 2011.\nwww.juilliard.edu/music/faculty/cunningham-sarah \n  \n  \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/follow-the-sound-november-2025/
LOCATION:Schuylkill Center\, 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19128\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251114T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251114T213000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20251003T144509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251116T221020Z
UID:10001287-1763148600-1763155800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Stuart Bogie & Buck McDaniel
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present composer-clarinetist Stuart Bogie and composer-keyboardist Buck McDaniel performing two concerts in one day\, continuing their acclaimed collaboration that began with the 2024 project November Variations. \nAt University Lutheran\, performing as a clarinet and piano duo\, the more percussive pairing invites rhythmic nuance and spontaneous turns showcasing both composed works and improvisations highlighting each composer’s individual voice and another view of their shared improvisational language. \nFirst conceived in 2024\, November Variations began as a series of five improvised 9 a.m. concerts at New York’s Church of Our Saviour\, recorded live to capture each composition as it unfolded. The resulting five-part album is being released in parts leading up to the 2025 five-concert residency in Manhattan\, November 17 – 21. \nThe November 14 performances in Philadelphia offer an opportunity to experience the duo’s ethos of stillness\, connection\, and sonic exploration in two distinct instrumental settings. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nComposer and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie was born in Evanston\, Illinois. He studied for 6 Years with Gary Onstad and at the Music Center of the North Shore before attending Interlochen Art Academy and the University of Michigan where he studied with Debra Chodacki. He is the recipient of a Meet the Composer grant and he composed the score for the Oscar nominated documentary How To Survive a Plague\, featuring performances by the Kronos Quartet. He has written for film\, television\, commercials\, and the stage. He has released 9 albums as a leader. \nDuring the pandemic lock-down\, Bogie performed a daily series of improvised solo clarinet pieces using the accompaniment drone tracks sent to him by over 50 different collaborators including Arcade Fire\, Richard Reed Parry\, Colin Stetson\, Sam Cohen\, Josh Kaufman\, Peter Murray\, E Dan\, Craig Finn\, Ryan Sawyer\, Dave Harrington\, Yuka Honda\, and James Murphy. Began in the second week of lock-down\, the series ran for over 150 days consecutively and has been collected into four volumes\, with more volumes in the works. An LP\, Morningside\, presenting 2 of the pieces made with James Murphy was released on October 27 on DFA records. This music is featured in a worldwide exhibition of photographs by Gregory Crewsden\, and can be heard in the documentary accompanying the exhibit. In July of 2023 Bogie premiered Morningside at Les Recontres d’Arles\, live scoring the documentary by Harper Glantz. His latest release is Patient Music\, a collaboration with longtime friends Josh Kaufman & Sam Cohen available now from Historical Fiction Records. \nBuck McDaniel is a composer\, conductor\, keyboardist\, and improviser based in New York City. His music blends the American Minimalist tradition with a personal storytelling practice. McDaniel’s work often explores site\, text\, and memory\, engaging both concert\, sacred\, and non-traditional spaces with equal depth and curiosity. \nHis compositions have been performed and broadcast internationally\, including on NBC’s Saturday Night Live\, BBC Radio 3\, WQXR\, and NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour. His work appears in Oliver Hermanus’s film The History of Sound\, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor\, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. A frequent collaborator\, McDaniel has worked with artists including Sam Smith\, Nico Muhly\, Sam Amidon\, and Stuart Bogie. \nMcDaniel is a former Kulas Composer Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre\, and his projects have been supported by institutions such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)\, the Mississippi Museum of Art\, and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. His work has been presented by the Boston University Tanglewood Institute\, the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn\, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony\, among others. \nHis music and interdisciplinary projects have been covered by The New York Times\, Time Out New York\, and Relix. Recordings of his work are available on Etymology\, Gold Bolus\, and Telarc labels. He serves as Artist-in-Residence at The General Theological Seminary and Director of Music at the Church of Our Saviour\, Murray Hill and Chapel of the Sacred Hearts\, Kips Bay. \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/stuart-bogie-buck-mcdaniel/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251114T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251114T140000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20251003T143751Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251114T175834Z
UID:10001286-1763121600-1763128800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Stuart Bogie & Buck McDaniel
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present composer-clarinetist Stuart Bogie and composer-keyboardist Buck McDaniel performing two concerts in one day\, continuing their acclaimed collaboration that began with the 2024 project November Variations. \nAt Stoneleigh: a natural garden\, the duo performs a completely improvised set for clarinet and organ\, melding contemporary American minimalism\, drones\, and rapturous melodies. McDaniel’s expansive organ voicings and deft melodic interplay provide a dynamic landscape for Bogie’s clarinet\, creating an immersive\, horizonless sound. \nFirst conceived in 2024\, November Variations began as a series of five improvised 9 a.m. concerts at New York’s Church of Our Saviour\, recorded live to capture each composition as it unfolded. The resulting five-part album is being released in parts leading up to the 2025 five-concert residency in Manhattan\, November 17 – 21. \nThe November 14 performances in Philadelphia offer an opportunity to experience the duo’s ethos of stillness\, connection\, and sonic exploration in two distinct instrumental settings. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nComposer and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Bogie was born in Evanston\, Illinois. He studied for 6 Years with Gary Onstad and at the Music Center of the North Shore before attending Interlochen Art Academy and the University of Michigan where he studied with Debra Chodacki. He is the recipient of a Meet the Composer grant and he composed the score for the Oscar nominated documentary How To Survive a Plague\, featuring performances by the Kronos Quartet. He has written for film\, television\, commercials\, and the stage. He has released 9 albums as a leader. \nDuring the pandemic lock-down\, Bogie performed a daily series of improvised solo clarinet pieces using the accompaniment drone tracks sent to him by over 50 different collaborators including Arcade Fire\, Richard Reed Parry\, Colin Stetson\, Sam Cohen\, Josh Kaufman\, Peter Murray\, E Dan\, Craig Finn\, Ryan Sawyer\, Dave Harrington\, Yuka Honda\, and James Murphy. Began in the second week of lock-down\, the series ran for over 150 days consecutively and has been collected into four volumes\, with more volumes in the works. An LP\, Morningside\, presenting 2 of the pieces made with James Murphy was released on October 27 on DFA records. This music is featured in a worldwide exhibition of photographs by Gregory Crewsden\, and can be heard in the documentary accompanying the exhibit. In July of 2023 Bogie premiered Morningside at Les Recontres d’Arles\, live scoring the documentary by Harper Glantz. His latest release is Patient Music\, a collaboration with longtime friends Josh Kaufman & Sam Cohen available now from Historical Fiction Records. \nBuck McDaniel is a composer\, conductor\, keyboardist\, and improviser based in New York City. His music blends the American Minimalist tradition with a personal storytelling practice. McDaniel’s work often explores site\, text\, and memory\, engaging both concert\, sacred\, and non-traditional spaces with equal depth and curiosity. \nHis compositions have been performed and broadcast internationally\, including on NBC’s Saturday Night Live\, BBC Radio 3\, WQXR\, and NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour. His work appears in Oliver Hermanus’s film The History of Sound\, starring Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor\, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. A frequent collaborator\, McDaniel has worked with artists including Sam Smith\, Nico Muhly\, Sam Amidon\, and Stuart Bogie. \nMcDaniel is a former Kulas Composer Fellow at Cleveland Public Theatre\, and his projects have been supported by institutions such as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA)\, the Mississippi Museum of Art\, and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. His work has been presented by the Boston University Tanglewood Institute\, the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn\, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony\, among others. \nHis music and interdisciplinary projects have been covered by The New York Times\, Time Out New York\, and Relix. Recordings of his work are available on Etymology\, Gold Bolus\, and Telarc labels. He serves as Artist-in-Residence at The General Theological Seminary and Director of Music at the Church of Our Saviour\, Murray Hill and Chapel of the Sacred Hearts\, Kips Bay. \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/stuart-bogie-buck-mcdaniel-stoneleigh/
LOCATION:Stoneleigh: a natural garden\, 1829 County Line Road\, Villanova\, PA\, 19085\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251108T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251108T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250814T213057Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251110T151129Z
UID:10001283-1762632000-1762639200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Beehive Cathedral
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present American traditional music trio Joseph Decosimo\, Luke Richardson\, and Cleek Schrey performing music from their recent album Beehive Cathedral. \nJoseph Decosimo\, Luke Richardson\, and Cleek Schrey\, three of the most compelling musicians in the American traditional music scene\, explore traditional repertoires from Appalachia and the broader South\, gleaned from visits with older players\, field recordings\, vintage 78s\, and archival tune collections. Working with fiddle\, hardanger d’amore (a fiddle with sympathetic strings)\, banjos\, and a 19th-century pump organ\, the trio conveys both the sonic details of their instruments and a generous musical interplay rooted in a dozen years of collaboration. Their 2024 debut album Beehive Cathedral\, released on Dear Life Records\, presents resonant\, thoughtful\, and expansive explorations of Appalachian and American music. Irish fiddle luminary\, Martin Hayes\, declares it “a hypnotic recording that is grounded\, subtle and refined.” The trio departs from the string band format that has defined the genre\, especially since the Old-time music revival of the 1970s made guitar\, bass\, and chordal accompaniment features of the music. Untethering the music from chord patterns and guitars\, they reimagine older approaches to the music filled with tonal ambiguity\, drone\, and dissonance. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nThe members of the trio are veteran performers in the Old-time scene\, where they’ve worked with renowned string bands The Bucking Mules and Bigfoot. Beehive Cathedral draws on the group’s experiences making music together at Southern fiddlers’ conventions\, in the back of NYC pubs\, on stages\, and in their homes. It also sources energy from their broader musical lives\, including Schrey’s participation in NYC’s experimental sound community and Decosimo’s collaborations with Durham\, NC projects Wye Oak\, Hiss Golden Messenger\, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. \n\nBeehive Cathedral by Joseph Decosimo\, Luke Richardson\, Cleek Schrey \n\n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/beehive-cathedral/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251030T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251030T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250707T160111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251031T155537Z
UID:10001274-1761854400-1761861600@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Cole Pulice
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present saxophonist\, composer\, and improviser Cole Pulice in a solo set at The Maas Building. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nSaxophonist\, composer and improviser Cole Pulice traffics in shimmering\, otherworldly beauty. On Land’s End Eternal\, their first album for Leaving Records (releasing May 9th)\, the Oakland-based artist expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements. The result is a prismatic collection of pastoral chamber jazz in six parts. Cole’s previous release\, a 22-minute electroacoustic odyssey titled If I Don’t See You in the Future\, I’ll See You In the Pasture (Longform Editions\, 2023)\, was named ‘Best New Music’ by Pitchfork and included in the publication’s Best Songs Of The 2020s. Cole has also released a smattering of solo and collaborative work on beloved labels including Moon Glyph\, Aural Canyon and Cached Media. Their performance history includes appearances at Pitchfork Music Festival (UK)\, Rewire (NL)\, ÜBERJAZZ (DE)\, Drone Not Drones (US)\, & Noise Pop Festival (US). \n\nIf I Don’t See You in the Future\, I’ll See You in the Pasture by Cole Pulice \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/cole-pulice/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251024T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251024T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250804T151641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251026T215928Z
UID:10001281-1761336000-1761343200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Nexus
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present vocal sextet Variant 6 performing NEXUS\, a program featuring a wide expanse of a capella repertoire for three treble voices\, featuring Jessica Beebe\, Rebecca Myers\, and Elisa Sutherland. From rarely performed works of the Medieval era to contemporary works by some of our favorite composers\, this concert will showcase a dazzling display of virtuosity performed by long-time collaborators: the founding trebles of Variant 6. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nVariant 6 explores the expressive potential of the human voice through vocal chamber music that is at once virtuosic\, poignant\, and approachable. Composed of artists with a diverse set of skills and a wide range of expertise\, we seek out repertoire that embodies this potential. We collaborate with artists of many disciplines\, creating refreshing interpretations of music of the past and innovative premieres of new works. Our concerts are unique and intimate musical experiences that foster deep conversation between artists and audience. Variant 6 shares our unique take on vocal chamber music with people all over the city of Philadelphia. Our approachable and collaborative projects create an environment where audiences of different backgrounds will feel inspired to attend our events\, respond to our music\, and get to know us as individuals.\nvariantsix.com \n\n\n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/nexus/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251018T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251018T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250908T151851Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251019T191753Z
UID:10001284-1760817600-1760824800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:David Grubbs Duo
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a duo performance featuring films about and sonic work by Brunhild Ferrari. \nPROGRAM: \nTwo films by LF:\n     N’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild) (2023\, 9 min.)\n     N’Importe Quoi (Extérieur-Jour) (2024\, 11 min.) \nErrant Ear\, Brunhild Ferrari (fixed media) \nJ’ai pensé sans paroles\, duo performance\, sound material provided by Brunhild Ferrari \n(note: Brunhild Ferrari will not be present for the concert) \nNOTES: \nN’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild) (2023\, 9 min.)\nThe film N’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild) in many ways stands in the tradition of Fowler’s impressionist portraits of persons who have made an impact on his personal and artistic life. Quite often\, the person being portrayed remains unseen\, with Fowler concentrating instead on their voice and traces of their presence in the form of personal ephemera or the atmosphere of their room. Yet\, in this new film\, the performativity of his subject Brunhild Meyer-Ferrari is self-evident. Composer Brunhild Ferrari\, born 1937 in Frankfurt a.M.\, Germany moved to Paris in 1959 where she would meet and marry the composer Luc Ferrari. Brunhild Meyer\, who produced a number of works of radio art in the 70’s and 80’s for SWF\, slowly began to emerge as a composer in the last decade (adopting her husband’s surname only after his death). Luc Ferrari\, was a pioneer of musique concrète and a founding member of Groupe de recherches musicales (GRM) with Pierre Schaeffer in Paris. Fowler’s film provides peripheral glimpses into their collaborative life and work but resists a traditional biographic narrative. \nN’Importe Quoi (Extérieur-Jour) (2024\, 11 min.)\nPart 2 of N’Importe Quoi. Filmed with Brunhild Ferrari at her home in Montreuil and in several locations in Paris\, with sound recordings by Eric La Casa and music by Brunhild Ferrari. Cinema didn’t quite begin with the face\, but its role quickly became central. From as early as the research of Vertov and Epstein\, the face in motion was understood as uniquely compelling\, capable of betraying a whole new range of expressive possibilities too subtle for stillness to capture. It’s odd\, then\, how rarely artists have produced filmed portraits free of any narrative framework. There are\, of course\, by now thousands of biographical documentaries—many based around the oft-derided ‘talking head’—but with the towering exception of Warhol’s Screen Tests\, cinema’s most sophisticated and accomplished pure portraits have tended to work obliquely\, drawing together fragments around the empty centre of their subject\, whose face appears rarely\, if at all. Luke Fowler’s two decades of work comprise\, I think\, the most significant body of cinematic portraiture produced to date. He has fashioned a canon of eccentric\, obscure\, or under-recognized artists and thinkers out of the sediment of their lives\, the documents of their archives\, the places they passed through. Biography is absent; anecdote\, even\, is minimal. If classical portraiture attempts to pluck its subject from the world and refashion them as a symbol of it (Goldin’s work depends on showing just how unwilling the world is to let go of its subjects)\, Fowler works by the inverse\, beginning with the world at large and searching out the tiniest traces that might speak to a single\, specific path through it. N’importe quoi. Anything goes\, it’s all game\, as the world forever is before the camera. And so finally we arrive at his remarkable new film\, N’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild)\, a portrait of Brunhild Meyer-Ferrari\, who\, alongside her husband Luc\, did as much as anyone to realize the post-Cagean whatever of musical composition\, to test the thin line between the form of the world and the forms of art. Fowler begins in Meyer-Ferrari’s charmingly cluttered studio\, catching glimpses of her amidst endless stacks of tapes and analog devices for the recording and manipulation of sound. “Je pense sans parole\,” she says—“I think without words”—and Fowler cuts to a pair of glasses upon a tabletop in burnished\, golden light: some think with microphones\, others with lenses. Meyer-Ferrari departs the studio with her microphone to collect the sounds of Parisian parks and train stations. At the moment of this transition from studio to city\, she recounts her earliest meetings with the man who would become her husband and collaborator\, “He engaged me for work that was really interesting to me: it was research on [the] relationship between sound and image.” The final image we see of the studio in this opening passage is a tape box labeled presque rien—next to nothing—then\, after a rhythmic cut to black\, Meyer-Ferrari alone in the dusty bowl of a park as urban ambience fills the soundtrack. Fowler holds on thismedium shot for 10 seconds or so\, before moving into one of his typical series of quick reframings\, culminating in another cut to black which leads on to an instance of his other recurring gesture: rotating the Bolex’s turret mid-shot\, drawing a curved image down as the lens pops into place. The sound\, previously continuous\, changes abruptly at this last cut; where we heard chatter and sporting thwacks that might have seemed appropriate to a park on a sunny day\, there is only sparse birdsong and the rustle of leaves. This layering of potential realities is\, I’ll suggest\, the ground of Fowler’s practice. (Text by Phil Coldiron) \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nDavid Grubbs is a musician and writer based in Brooklyn. He was a founding member of the groups Gastr del Sol\, Bastro\, and Squirrel Bait\, and has performed with the Red Krayola\, Will Oldham\, Tony Conrad\, Pauline Oliveros\, Loren Connors\, Susan Howe\, and many others. His books include Good night the pleasure was ours\, The Voice in the Headphones\, Now that the audience is assembled\, and Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage\, the Sixties\, and Sound Recording (all published by Duke University Press). Grubbs is a 2024-25 Berlin Prize recipient from the American Academy in Berlin as well as Distinguished Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center\, CUNY. \nBrunhild Ferrari: “Like most of my fellow human beings\, I was born\, I grew up\, I attended schools\, I passed exams\, I failed\, I loved\, I worked hard sometimes\, I enjoyed life; I continue. I worked with Pierre Schaeffer in the ORTF research department on the relationship between sound and image. Of German origin\, I have had an activity as an interpreter and translator. Following Luc Ferrari’s advice in matters of life\, music\, and composition\, and working with him over the course of our 40 years together\, I made my own Hörspiele and radio plays broadcast on France Culture\, in the United States\, and the main German radio stations. Since Luc left us in 2005\, I have taken care of the preservation of his vast archives; founded the Association Presque Rien—Friends of Luc Ferrari—initiated and organized the biennial competition PRESQUE RIEN Prize by providing artists with original sound material from Luc’s sound recordings; and edited a book of his writings and documents (Musiques dans les spasmes\, published by les Presses du Réel\, France) as well as one more book in English together with Catherine Marcangeli (Luc Ferrari: Complete Works\, published by Ecstatic Peace Library). I composed music; I continue.” \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/david-grubbs-duo/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250716T173115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251018T143529Z
UID:10001278-1760731200-1760738400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Don Slepian
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Don Slepian celebrating the forty-fifth anniversary of his album Sea of Bliss\, which has been reissued on Numero Group. Opening the evening will be sound artist Saapato. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nDon Slepian\, a composer\, performer\, and music technologist\, is celebrated as a pioneer in the ambient and new age music movement\, blending classical influences with cutting-edge electronic techniques. From serving as artist-in-residence at Bell Laboratories and Synthesizer Soloist with the Honolulu Symphony to performing at esteemed venues like Lincoln Center\, WNYC’s New Sounds\, and the Centre Pompidou\, his career spans decades of innovation and acclaim. Recently\, he has sold out shows at the Philosophical Research Society\, accompanied therapeutic psychedelic ceremonies\, lectured at Stanford University\, appeared on Dublab radio\, and is preparing a tour celebrating the forty-fifth anniversary of his seminal record Sea of Bliss. Now based in the Pocono Mountains\, Slepian continues to compose\, perform\, and build innovative instruments\, cementing his legacy as a visionary in the field.\ndonslepian.com\nSea of Bliss \nSaapato is the music project of upstate NY based sound artist Brendan Principato. His work focuses on the intersection of ecology and music\, using a distinct blend of manipulated field recordings and lush electronic soundscapes to encourage listeners to reconsider their place within nature. He spent August 2023 in residence with the Alaska State Park Service recording bird migrations and the salmon run outside of Juneau. In September of 2022 he was in residence with the National Park Service on Fire Island\, NY documenting “shoulder season” in rare and rapidly disappearing swale and dune habitats.\nsaapato.com \n\nMars by Don Slepian \nDecomposition: Fox on a Highway by Saapato
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/don-slepian/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T190000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250716T170706Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T200226Z
UID:10001277-1759597200-1759604400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Explorations
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the New Thread Quartet performing their program Explorations. The ensemble invites the audience to a reception following the performance. \nNew Thread Quartet presents Explorations\, Vol. 8: Energy Flows\, featuring music by Marilyn Shrude\, Georg Friedrich Haas\, Hannah Kendall\, James Tenney\, and a world premiere by Hong-Da Chin. The quartet’s annual Explorations Series\, now in its 8th iteration\, is dedicated to programming important works of our time. The unifying element that brings these works together is the undulation of sonorities. \nWishing doesn’t make it so was inspired by the same phrase from Stephen King’s Heart of Atlantis. Hong-Da Chin is intrigued by these words\, because they point to how our “minds can run like a child in a world full of winter\,” but it’s not until we take action that our ideas become real and hold meaning. This transfers to the action a composer takes when they engrave the ideas they have in their mind. Chin takes the trill\, a standard technique used for centuries\, to a whole new level. \nenergy flows nervously . . . in search of stillness is seeped in the chromatic motion and harmony typical of Marilyn Shrude’s music. Pulsating\, churning\, and thickly layered\, the intensity waxes to its loudest\, most dissonant sonorities\, finally waning to calmness and silence. \nHannah Kendall’s Gilt was inspired by Hew Locke’s 2022-2023 Facade Commission of the same name\, created for The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Kendall represents Locke’s four shimmering\, golden sculptures with each voice in the quartet. The extreme saturation of sound and layered texture mirrors the meaning and symbolism behind Locke’s piece. \nSaxophonquartett is a spectral motor of microtones\, swelling and rubbing against each other until they explode into wailing overtones. The piece is a masterful display of Georg Friedrich Haas’ ability to take musicians to the edges of their instruments. \nJames Tenney\, American music theorist and composer\, included Swell Piece in his collection entitled Postal Pieces\, short works that could fit on a postcard. Instrumentation is not specified and the instructions are simple. Players swell from nothing to as loud as they can play and return to nothing with as little timbre and intonation shift as possible. The piece demonstrates Tenney’s interest in harmonic perception\, minimal material\, meditation\, among other parameters. \nNew Thread Quartet Program Notes \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nNew Thread Quartet was formed with the mission to develop and perform impactful new music for the saxophone\, and to provide high level ensemble playing to feature today’s compositional voices. In 11 seasons\, the quartet has commissioned and premiered over 45 new works by composers such as Amy Beth Kirsten\, Richard Carrick\, Ben Hjertmann\, Ebun Oguntola\, Scott Wollschleger\, Kathryn Salfelder\, Taylor Brook and Emily Koh. \nBased in New York City\, New Thread has performed at Carnegie Hall\, Roulette\, Dance Theatre of Harlem\, Morgan Library\, Bang on a Can Summer Festival Benefit\, and Monadnock Music. The quartet has performed\, toured and recorded more than 30 important works for saxophone quartet including Kati Agócs’ Hymn in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall; Marilyn Shrude’s Evolution V and energy flows nervously… in search of stillness\, as part of a 75th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Dimenna Center featuring Lost Dog Ensemble and the Momenta Quartet; Erin Rogers’ Urban Composites at the World Saxophone Congress in St. Andrews\, Scotland; and the premiere recording of Elliott Sharp’s seminal work Approaching the Arches of Corti for 4 soprano saxophones\, recorded with Grammy-winning engineer\, Judith Sherman\, now available on New World Records. New Thread released its debut album Plastic Facts in 2018 on New Focus Recordings and in 2020 recorded three works on [word]plays\, an album by Emily Koh now available from Innova Recordings. \nNew Thread has a track record of working closely with composers in a workshop environment during the formation of new works. The quartet strives for multiple performances of newly commissioned works in an attempt to bring new music to different audiences as often as possible. New Thread’s annual self-presented Explorations Series showcases works by emerging composers\, adding exciting new voices to the saxophone canon. \nNew Thread has conducted masterclasses\, residencies\, and performances for student saxophonists and composers at Peabody Conservatory\, University of Virginia\, Berklee Conservatory\, Bronx Community College\, Aaron Copland School (Queens College)\, Montclair State University\, and New York University. A strong community supporter\, New Thread attends NASA Regional and Biennial conferences across the US. The quartet encourages young composers to create new works for saxophones through an open submission policy\, conducting reading and feedback sessions throughout the year. New Thread is a presenting partner of Composers Now. \nEnsemble members are Jonathan Hulting-Cohen (soprano saxophone)\, Noa Even (alto saxophone)\, Erin Rogers (tenor saxophone)\, and Zach Herchen (baritone saxophone). \nwww.newthreadquartet.com/ \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/explorations/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250919T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250919T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250716T163654Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T200117Z
UID:10001276-1758312000-1758319200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Moondog on the Keys
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to bring back Julian Calv\, Sarah Penna\, and Alex Stewart to perform the music of Moondog at University Lutheran. Also on the program will be organist Gavin Black\, who collaborated with Moondog on his organ and harpsichord works. \nThe concert features piano works\, vocal canons\, and other songs by the maverick composer Moondog performed by trimbist/vocalist Julian Calv\, pianist Alex Stewart\, and vocalist/percussionist Sarah Penna joined by two guest vocalists for the vocal rounds – Emma Bockrath\, and Liam Mulligan. Louis Hardin AKA Moondog composed music creating an unexpected link between the resurgent science of counterpoint\, Arapaho\, Navajo\, Blackfoot\, and Sioux rhythms and song forms\, the art of jazz improvisation\, and the beginnings of a repetitive and minimalist aesthetic. The concert spans Moondog’s career with selections from The Last Concert\, Moondog: Piano Trimba\, In Europe\, A New Sound Of An Old Instrument\, Moondog (1956); and includes background about the music from Julian- who studied with Moondog’s only student\, Stefan Lakatos. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nLouis T. Hardin AKA Moondog was an American composer\, musician\, performer\, music theoretician\, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer he composed music with an unexpected link between the resurgent science of counterpoint\, Arapaho\, Navajo\, Blackfoot\, and Sioux rhythms and song forms\, the art of jazz improvisation\, and the beginnings of a repetitive and minimalist aesthetic. His strongly rhythmic\, contrapuntal pieces and arrangements were recognized by Igor Stravinsky and other contemporaries; and influenced American minimalist composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass. Due to an accident\, Moondog was blind from the age of 16. He lived in New York City from the late 1940s until 1974\, during which time he was often found on Sixth Avenue\, between 52nd and 55th Streets\, selling records\, composing\, and performing poetry. He briefly appeared in a cloak and horned helmet during the 1960s and was hence recognized as “the Viking of Sixth Avenue” by passersby and residents who were not aware of his musical career. \nJulian Calv is an American composer\, singer\, and trimbist. Born February 18 1999 in New Brunswick\, NJ\, Julian grew up in Bethlehem Township\, NJ. He graduated from Moravian University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s of Music focusing on composition\, education\, and classical piano. While there he studied piano with Barbara Thompson and Dan DeChellis. In 2021 he completed an independent study of 20th c. American composer Louis T. Hardin\, AKA Moondog’s\, creative life. Throughout the course of this impactful project he established an apprenticeship with Stefan Lakatos. Self proclaimed as Moondog’s grand-student\, Julian is the sole prodigy of Stefan Lakatos– who is “the leading [and only] exponent of the Moondog method of drumming.” Quote Moondog himself. Calv traveled to Stockholm\, Sweden\, in 2022 to meet Stefan and understand this tradition first hand. Through both this mentorship and dedicated study of Moondog’s creative life\, he upholds Louis’ dying wish to “please take care of my music.” Following Stefan’s death in 2023\, Julian continued through 2024 with projects featuring solely the music of Moondog and himself. \nAlex Stewart is a musician\, architect\, and man about town. This year’s musical projects include: Darkness to Light\, a recital in January with violinist Charlotte Perkins. In April 2024\, he led the Kearsarge Community Band in regional premieres of Carmen Fantasy for Symphonic Band (Bizet/Suzuki) and Howl’s Moving Castle Fantasy (Hisaishi/Kojima). He’s played in “MOONDOG: On The Keys” since November 2024. \nSarah Penna is a dynamic artist who feels most at home deep in the intersection of education\, the arts\, and the natural world. She synergizes her love of Nature\, Music\, and Community in all corners of her life\, professionally and personally. With her heart and eyes wide open\, she savors every new experience\, collecting them each like tiles in the game of Life. Sarah is many things; a New Englander\, lover\, daughter\, poet\, singer\, park ranger\, Girl Scout\, forest bather\, herbalist\, gardener\, and more\, but above all she is unabashedly herself. \nGavin Black is best known for his recordings of seventeenth-century keyboard music on the PGM label. He studied organ and harpsichord with Paul Jordan and Eugene Roan\, and conducting with Jahja Ling and Otto-Werner Mueller\, and attended Princeton University and Westminster Choir College. He served as Associate University Organist at Princeton from 1977 to1979\, while a student there\, and was Organist and Senior Choir Director at Hillsborough Reformed Church\, Millstone\, New Jersey\, from 1988 until 1994. He has been a teacher of organ\, harpsichord\, clavichord and continuo-playing since 1979\, teaching from time to time at Westminster Choir College and at the Westminster Conservatory of Music. He currently writes a monthly column on organ and harpsichord teaching for The Diapason. \nAs a performer\, Gavin Black has focused on 17th-century keyboard music\, especially music of Dutch\, German\, or Italian origin\, and on the organ music of Bach\, which he has performed in its entirety. In the year 2002 he performed Bach’s Art of the Fugue on the new organ at the Princeton Theological Seminary\, and elsewhere. His recording of harpsichord music of Sweelinck\, played on a Philip Tyre copy of a Ruckers transposing double was released in 2006 by Centaur Records and his recording of music of Frescobaldi played on a 17th century Italian harpsichord will be released soon. Gavin Black has also specialized in the music of the 20th-century American composer Moondog\, recording a selection of his harpsichord music for the Musical Heritage Society in 1978. He has made a specialty of Bach’s Art of the Fugue\, and has recently recorded that work in a version for two harpsichords\, with George Hazelrigg (see The Art of the Fugue.com). In 2023 and beyond Gavin will be performing The Art of the Fugue in concert as a solo harpsichord work. \nGavin Black has also been a founding member of several chamber ensembles\, including the Princeton Baroque Ensemble\, Whitechapel Baroque\, Channel Crossings\, and Col Legno. \n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/moondog-on-the-keys-2025/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bowerbird-Main-Img-2025-07-16T122752.895.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250907T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250907T120000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250804T162527Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T195742Z
UID:10001282-1757241000-1757246400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Follow The Sound
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a morning birdwalk at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum with birding by ear guide Gregg Gorton interspersed with two performances by Will Fredendall\, flute\, and Carolyn Zaldivar Snow\, synthesizers. \nPlease take note of the weather and dress accordingly with appropriate footwear.\nMeet at the Environmental Education Pavilion\, to the right of the visitor center\, near the parking lot\, there are toilets and a water fountain nearby. Map \nEstimated run time: 90 minutes\nDistance: less than one mile\nTerrain: ADA accessible\nFree admission – reservations are encouraged\n \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nGregg Gorton\, a musician since he was 5 years-old\, grew up on the edge of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona\, where he fell in love with the natural world. Listening to music of all kinds has always been important to him\, but not until age 40 did he discover birding and the magic of birding by ear when he attended his first birdwalk at the Heinz Refuge. He has led such walks at Heinz for 30 years and is a past President of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (founded in 1890). \nWill Fredendall is a flutist\, improviser\, and composer from Philadelphia\, Pennsylvania. While attaining his Bachelor’s of Music degree at the New England Conservatory\, he had the opportunity to study with renowned flute soloist Renee Krimsier as well as profound improvisers Joe Morris\, Jason Moran\, Frank Carlberg\, Jerry Bergonzi\, and Ran Blake. Through these influences\, Will has developed a unique sound that reaches the furthest extremes of each musical parameter without sacrificing musicality and expression. Drawing from many improvised and composed styles as well as contemporary extended techniques\, Will weaves a vivid story that transports listeners to a world outside our own—one that can be reached only with the flute. \nCarolyn Zaldivar Snow is a field recordist and journalist whose work explores the textures of tape\, water\, and place. Her sound installations have been presented at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden\, as well as in more ephemeral settings—abandoned chocolate factories\, geodesic domes\, and overgrown Victorian gardens. She leads editorial at the electronic music label Mystery Circles\, where she helps shape conversations around experimental sound\, and contributes to Tape Op Magazine\, writing about recording\, listening\, and the spaces in between.\nthiselectricspace.com \n  \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/follow-the-sound-sept-2025/
LOCATION:John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum\, 8601 Lindbergh Blvd\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19153\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-2025-08-04T121346.043.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250824T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250824T170000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250425T170356Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260217T142510Z
UID:10001266-1756047600-1756054800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:C. Lavender
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Liminal States\, an ongoing series of in-person performances designed for deep listening and relaxation. Intended to guide audiences to that magic space between wakefulness and sleep\, these performances invite listeners to lie down\, close their eyes\, and immerse themselves in sound. Sink in\, bliss out. \nThis edition features C. Lavender in a solo set at the Maas Building\, blending sound healing and electronic music for a “sound bath” experience—creating a space for calm\, reflection\, and rest. \nPlease bring a blanket\, yoga mat\, or other similarly comfortable option. Chairs will be limited. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nC. Lavender (Lavender Suarez) is a New York-based interdisciplinary sound artist\, sound healing practitioner\, and educator. Bandcamp describes her music as having “curative powers” while also being “confrontational\, primed to change you whether or not you want it to.” She is the author of Transcendent Waves: How Listening Shapes Our Creative Lives and has released recordings on Editions Mego\, Ecstatic Peace!\, and RVNG Intl. Her latest album\, Rupture in the Eternal Realm (iDEAL Recordings)\, explores meditative soundscapes through Buchla synthesizer\, gongs\, and field recordings. For more info: www.clavender.net \n\nRUPTURE IN THE ETERNAL REALM by C. LAVENDER \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/c-lavender/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-88.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250812T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250812T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250714T143509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T195323Z
UID:10001275-1755028800-1755036000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:TRANSCENDENCE
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present TRANSCENDENCE\, a duo performance by master percussionists Kweku Sumbry and Shakoor Hakeem at The Perch. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nGrounded in the traditions of the Djembe Orchestra\, Kweku Sumbry is a multi-percussionist from Washington\, DC. With the djembe\, drumset\, and a multitude of West African Percussion instruments\, Kweku is bringing forth a new sound to the jazz world. He began his studies as a toddler under the tutelage of Mahiri Fadjimba Keita\, Mamady Keita\, and Djiali Djimo Kouyate.\nKweku is a member of the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet\, and has performed alongside Ambrose Akinmusire\, Yosvany Terry\, Cyrus Chestnut\, Solange\, Shabaka Hutchings\, and Reggie Workman\, to name a few. \nFearless percussionist Shakoor Hakeem\, a prolific up-and-coming talent\, has a gift for making experimental\, Afro-diasporan\, rhythmic improvisational music immediately enjoyable. Hakeem’s unique old soul has him adhering to the cultural traditions of mysticism and folklore\, within which are contained the secrets of his elders. The mythical experience of his stage presence evokes feelings that you are witness to a ceremonial gathering\, of an ancient rhythmic history. In building this\, he has long supported many of the most forward-thinking legendary improvisers\, including Graham Haynes\, Immanual Wilkins\, Maria Grand\, Joel Ross\, Adam Rudolph\, Bobby Zankel and Wallace Roney. Performing live with these great artists\, he refrains from overplaying and prefers minimalism\, playing with the musical and compositional contexts of colors and texture\, delivering limited solos\, all while occupying the eye of the hurricane. \n\n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/transcendence/
LOCATION:The Perch\, 2321 Emerald St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19125\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bowerbird-Main-Img-2025-07-14T102356.174.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250802T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250802T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250523T163341Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T195136Z
UID:10001272-1754164800-1754172000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Sahba Motallebi and Reza Mohsenipour
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird along with Philly Iranians and Fire Museum Presents\, are pleased to present Grammy Award winner Sahba Motallebi joined by fellow countryman and Tar virtuoso Reza Mohsenipour. Sahba and Reza will illuminate us on the history behind their musical selctions which are deeply rooted in Persian culture. Their lives and careers have been profoundly influenced by the deep history of their homeland\, Iran. Through their musical selections they will demonstrate\, explore and discuss how sound\, frequency and vibration are important in our lives. There is healing to be found through the experience of live music when there are also shared intentions such as seeking peace\, health and positive relationships. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nMesmerizing with her command of the tar\, setar and shoorangiz\, Sahba Motallebi captivates audiences globally with music born from centuries of Iranian tradition\, interpreted through a contemporary lens\, creating brand new music rooted in the past. She takes the listener on a journey of enchanted song\, through a flurry of rhythmic chord hits and punctuated finger-work. Her hands dance across the strings\, agile and flexible\, effortless even at lightning speed. Known as “Queen of the Tar\,” or “Jimi Hendrix\, but on Tar\,” Sahba invites us into a terrain of perfected sound with nuanced harmonics and siren-like whispers. \nBorn into a Baha’I family in Tehran and later relocating to Sari near the Caspian Sea\, Sahba began her musical career at age 11 by learning the setar. Three years later\, her talent earned her a place at the prestigious Tehran Conservatory of Music. She defied societal norms by moving to Tehran in 1992 where she lived independently and studied music despite the fact that women were not allowed to be seen carrying instruments in public. She experienced a life-altering moment when she was introduced to the tar at age 15 which led her to study with Master Fariborz Azizi and Master Ostad Hossein Alizadeh. She began practicing 8hours a day\, learning the “radif\,” systems of Persian music. At the Conservatory\, she earned the award of Best Tar Player from 1993 – 1996. Then Sahba surpassed all expectations and won first prize for all levels\, ages\, and genders as the “Best Tar Player” in all of Iran for four years in a row in all festivals and competitions\, from 1995 – 1998. In 1999\, Sahba was invited to join the Iranian National Orchestra and began her international career. She also founded the first all-female Iranian band ever called “Chakaveh” despite the rule that women were not allowed to perform without men in Iran. At the time\, women weren’t even allowed to perform with men in the main concert hall. Since then she has played concerts all over the world as a soloist and with renowned musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma\, Keyhan Kalhor\, Rahim AlHaj\, and Arturo O’Farrill. \nReza Mohsenipour is a leading Iranian musician having studied at the Tehran Conservatory and later from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome and La Sapienza University in Rome. He performed with the Tehran Symphony and the Iranian Television Orchestra in addition to founding The Barbad musical project with his brothers Hamid and Navid Mohsenipour. \n\n\n  \n\n\nPresented in collaboration with Fire Museum Presents and Philly Iranians
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/sahba-motallebi-and-reza-mohsenipour-2025/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Bowerbird-Main-Img-66.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250717T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250717T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250611T175638Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260220T194919Z
UID:10001273-1752780600-1752789600@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:SQUANDERERS
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present SQUANDERERS\, the glowingly new trio of guitarists Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs alongside multi-instrumentalist and legendary producer Kramer. The evening will open with a solo set by Jason Calhoun. \n7:00pm Doors\n7:30pm Show \nTheir debut LP If a Body Meet a Body appeared on Shimmy-Disc in November 2024\, and the group performed at the 2025 Big Ears festival. A second album\, Skantagio\, is forthcoming from Shimmy-Disc in August 2025. Squanderers first sprung into action as the duo of Kramer and Grubbs with the single “Congress of Poodles” b/w “Lendrick Muir Bible Study Weekend\,” part of Kramer’s 2023 Shimmy-Disc box set Rings of Saturn. SQUANDERERS now enter the arena of live performance with the addition of bona-fide guitar slayer Eisenberg\, a dream of a foil to Grubbs’s grubbslike guitarisms\, setting the scene for Kramer to follow his musical divining rod. Divining urges not dirges. In Grubbs’s book-length poem\, The Voice in the Headphones\, “Squanderer” is the nickname that most deeply troubles of the book’s unnamed protagonist: “Hang your head\, Squanderer. You’ll never darken the doorway of Studio A.” Will this trio of inveterate SQUANDERERS redeem themselves? \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nWendy Eisenberg is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar\, pedals\, the tenor banjo\, the\ncomputer\, the synthesizer\, and the voice. Their work spans genres\, from jazz to noise to avant-\nrock to delicate songs; their performances span venues\, from international festivals to intimate\nbasements. Though often working solo as both a songwriter and improviser\, with acclaimed\nreleases on Tzadik\, Ba Da Bing\, VDSQ\, Out of your Head\, and Dear Life\, they also perform in\nthe rock band Editrix\, and in endless other combinations of their heroes and peers including Bill\nOrcutt\, Caroline Davis\, Carla Kihlstedt\, John Zorn\, Billy Martin\, and Allison Miller. They also\nwrite about music and other things\, with published essays on music in Sound American\, Arcana\nXIII\, and the Contemporary Music Review. \nDavid Grubbs has released sixteen solo albums and was a member of the groups Gastr del Sol\,\nBastro\, and Squirrel Bait. He has performed with Tony Conrad\, Pauline Oliveros\, Luc Ferrari\,\nSusan Howe\, Will Oldham\, the Red Krayola\, and many others. Grubbs is Distinguished\nProfessor of Music at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center\, CUNY\, and author of books\nincluding Good night the pleasure was ours\, The Voice in the Headphones\, Now that the\naudience is assembled\, and Records Ruin the Landscape: John Cage\, the Sixties\, and Sound\nRecording. \nKramer is a composer/musician/filmmaker and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with\nartists as diverse as John Zorn\, Butthole Surfers\, Bill Frisell\, Ween\, The Fugs\, Thurston Moore\,\nPenn Jillette\, Allen Ginsberg\, Jad Fair\, and Laraaji\, to name but a few. He is also a renowned\nrecord producer (Galaxie 500\, Low\, Daniel Johnston\, Will Oldham\, etc.) and the founder of the\niconic NYC record label\, Shimmy-Disc. He rarely performs onstage\, and Squanderers is his first\nlong-term recording project to include live performances since 1999. He currently lives and\nworks in the Appalachian Temperate Rainforest. \nThe hallmark of jason calhoun’s music–either under his given name or under the naps alias–is an emotional resonance that allows fragility and perseverance to occupy the same space. Though humble in his approach\, calhoun has done something quietly extraordinary in building a body of work that\, unlike so much music that seeks to transport you elsewhere\, instead asks you to check in with yourself. \nIf A Body Meet A Body by SQUANDERERS \na four part cure by jason calhoun + foresteppe
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/squanderers/
LOCATION:The Perch\, 2321 Emerald St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19125\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Bowerbird-Main-Img-2025-06-11T135242.222.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250713T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250713T170000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250514T155100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250713T201155Z
UID:10001269-1752418800-1752426000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Stuart Bogie
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Liminal States\, an ongoing series of in-person performances designed for deep listening and relaxation. Intended to guide audiences to that magic space between wakefulness and sleep\, these performances invite listeners to lie down\, close their eyes\, and immerse themselves in sound. Sink in\, bliss out. \nThis edition features Stuart Bogie in a solo set at the Maas Building\, blending sound healing and electronic music for a “sound bath” experience—creating a space for calm\, reflection\, and rest. \nPlease bring a blanket\, yoga mat\, or other similarly comfortable option. Chairs will be limited. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nComposer and performer Stuart Bogie was born in Evanston\, Illinois. He studied for 6 Years with Gary Onstad and at the Music Center of the North Shore before attending Interlochen Art Academy and the University of Michigan where he studied with Debra Chodacki. He is the recipient of a Meet the Composer grant and he composed the score for the Oscar nominated documentary How To Survive a Plague\, featuring performances by the Kronos Quartet. He has written for film\, television\, commercials\, and the stage. He has released 9 albums as a leader. \nIn the section week of November\, 2024\, Bogie collaborated with organist Buck McDaniel and producer Fritz Myers to create November Variations: a daily series of improvisations performed for a free and open audience of New Yorkers at 9am in the morning Monday through Friday. Held at Church of Our Saviour\, a few blocks from Grand Central Station\, the project garnered universal praise for its emotional potency and began a fruitful collaboration between Buck\, Fritz and Bogie. \nDuring the pandemic lock-down\, Bogie performed a daily series of improvised solo clarinet pieces using the accompaniment drone tracks sent to him by over 50 different collaborators including Arcade Fire\, Richard Reed Parry\, Colin Stetson\, Sam Cohen\, Josh Kaufman\, Peter Murray\, E Dan\, Craig Finn\, Ryan Sawyer\, Dave Harrington\, Yuka Honda\, and James Murphy. Began in the second week of lock-down\, the series ran for over 150 days consecutively and has been collected into four volumes\, with more volumes in the works. An LP\, Morningside\, presenting 2 of the pieces made with James Murphy was released on October 27 on DFA records. This music is featured in a worldwide exhibition of photographs by Gregory Crewsden\, and can be heard in the documentary accompanying the exhibit. In July of 2023 Bogie premiered Morningside at Les Recontres d’Arles\, livescoring the documentary by Harper Glantz. In 2024\, Bogie released Patient Music on Historical Fiction records. The live album combined the talents of producer/mixer Pat Dillett\, and long time collaborators Josh Kaufman and Sam Cohen. \nIn 2022 Bogie released The Prophets in the City\, an album of music composed for Brass and Percussion between 2019 and 2021\, featuring the drumming of friend and collaborator Joe Russo. Relix wrote “The music is a study in contrasts: at once aggressive and patient\, instrumental yet lyrical. It is also simultaneously structured and free-wheeling\, equally jubilant and foreboding.” The 10 piece ensemble debuted live at the Winter Jazzfest\, NYC\, in January of 2020 then re-emerged post-lockdown for a rousing performance at The Newport Jazz Festival (2021) which Jazztimes called “Mesmerizing waves of harmony and rhythm overlapped each other\, like a mashup of Fela Kuti\, Sun Ra\, and King Crimson—with (more) tuba! And (sometimes) multiple flutes! An energized frontman\, Bogie went from conducting the band to conducting its listeners…”. \nBogie led the collaborative group Superhuman Happiness (2008-2018) through 5 original albums of music\, and coast to coast national tours over 10 years. The group became known for their extended improvisations of dance music\, and the various musical games they would employ to develop their collective creativity and mine for fresh collaborative compositional ideas. Spin magazine wrote “their music joins buoyant call-and-response harmonies\, rippling highlife-inspired guitar leads\, !!!’s muscular funk-punk\, and the spirited pulses of Steve Reich’s Clapping Music.” \nAs a member of the group Antibalas (2001-2012)\, Bogie wrote the piece “Indictment\,” which The Village Voice called “…a fantastic Bush-era protest song\, lithe and lethal” as well as the piece “Beaten Metal” which Pitchfork named a top 100 song of 2007 and noted “quick splashes of colorful sound and some slowly building drama\, ‘Beaten Metal’ sounds brazen\, rhythmic\, and powerful – like Edgar Varese coming of age after hip-hop.” \n  \n\nMorningside by Stuart Bogie \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/stuart-bogie/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bowerbird-Main-Img-98.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250613T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250613T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250502T160736Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250608T181903Z
UID:10001267-1749844800-1749852000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:POSTPONED: The Elias Stemeseder\, Kris Chen Lil’Injure\, Shakoor Hakeem Trio
DESCRIPTION:DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES\, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. STAY TUNED FOR A NEW DATE \nBowerbird is pleased to present the Elias Stemeseder\, Kris Chen Lil’Injure\, Shakoor Hakeem Trio at The Perch. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nKris Chen Lil’Injure was born 1984 in Lübben and is a drummer\, composer and representative of the modern creative style and new improvisational music. From 2000 to 2004 Lillinger studied at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber at Dresden. He plays in the trio Gropper | Graupe | Lil’Injure\, with the saxophonist Philipp Gropper and the guitarist Ronny Graupe. \nIn 2008\, he arranged his first band Kris Chen Lil’Injure’s Grund\, whose first first two records were released in late 2009 and 2013. Since 2004 he has been working in the EUPHORIUM\, the Ensemble of Contemporary Performing Arts and Music. Since 2009 he founded several projects and bands in which he collaborated with numerous well-known artists. Kris Chen Lil’Injure published different albums in cooperation with other musicians and international jazz lables. \nElias Stemeseder is a pianist\, keyboard instrumentalist\, electronic musician and composer with an interest in synthesizing musical thought\, discipline and tools from diverse time periods and geographic origins to create original sonic ordering principles. Performing on historic and contemporary (keyboard-) instruments\, Stemeseder is part of the ensembles Stemeseder-Lillinger\, Neon Dilemma\, WRENS and the Elias Stemeseder Trio. He also works alongside luminaries such as Anna Webber\, Adam O’Farrill\, Craig Taborn\, Ingrid Laubrock\, Thomas Morgan and Peter Evans\, performs as a soloist\, and is a recording artist for Intakt Records. \nFearless percussionist Shakoor Hakeem\, a prolific up-and-coming talent\, has a gift for making experimental\, Afro-diasporan\, rhythmic improvisational music immediately enjoyable. Hakeem’s unique old soul has him adhering to the cultural traditions of mysticism and folklore\, within which are contained the secrets of his elders. The mythical experience of his stage presence evokes feelings that you are witness to a ceremonial gathering\, of an ancient rhythmic history. In building this\, he has long supported many of the most forward-thinking legendary improvisers\, including Graham Haynes\, Immanual Wilkins\, Joel Ross\, Adam Rudolph\, Bobby Zankel and Wallace Roney. Performing live with these great artists\, he refrains from overplaying and prefers minimalism\, playing with the musical and compositional contexts of colors and texture\, delivering limited solos\, all while occupying the eye of the hurricane. \n\n\n\n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/postponed-the-elias-stemeseder-kris-chen-lilinjure-shakoor-hakeem-trio/
LOCATION:The Perch\, 2321 Emerald St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19125\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bowerbird-Main-Img-96.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250608T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250608T170000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250414T173803Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250609T144037Z
UID:10001265-1749394800-1749402000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Neel Murgai
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Liminal States\, an ongoing series of in-person performances designed for deep listening and relaxation. Intended to guide audiences to that magic space between wakefulness and sleep\, these performances invite listeners to lie down and immerse themselves in sound. Sink in\, bliss out. \nThis edition features Neel Murgai and Seema Lisa Pandya at the Maas Building. They will be performing Harmonic Infinity Loops\, a performance with sitar\, overtone singing\, frame drums\, live looping and effects with projection. Enter the raga dreamscape as psychedelic drones\, subtle melodies\, primal rhythms and cascading harmonics collide in a meditative sound experience. Time in the music is measured by breaths not bars\, as Neel moves slowly between overtone melodies\, Indian classical ragas\, chords\, textures and drumming. Neel will usher the audience into direct participation while teaching overtone singing fundamentals towards the end of the set. \nPlease bring a blanket\, yoga mat\, or other similarly comfortable option. Chairs will be limited. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nNeel Murgai is a sitarist\, overtone singer\, daf player\, composer and teacher from Brooklyn\, NY. He is a co-founder and artistic director of the South Asian music collective\, Brooklyn Raga Massive. Neel has studied sitar for 30 years from Pundit Krishna Bhatt. He is a graduate of Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program. His work with the band Quadrature showcases his compositions and signature sound with effects in a psychedelic raga rock context. Neel has performed around the world with numerous artists from varying disciplines including\, Bill T. Jones\, Cyndi Lauper\, Wyclef Jean\, Andre DeShields\, Karsh Kale\, Vijay Iyer\, Adam Rudolph\, Daniel Bernard Romain\, Dana Leong\, Ellen Stewart\, Laraaji\, Yuerba Buena\, Baba Israel\, Raz Mesinai\, Mission on Mars\, Akim Funk Buddha\, Loren Conners\, Suzanne Langille\, Louis Bellogenis and Cosmo Vinyl. He has performed at venues ranging from the Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center to Late Night with David Letterman to jazz clubs such as the Blue Note and at festivals around the U.S including Art Wallah\, Arts Plosure\, Masala! Mehndi! Masti! and many others. Neel was the music director for Brooklyn Raga Massive’s recording of Terry Riley’s classic “In C” and co-composed their homage to the maestro\, “In D”. Neel played in the orchestra for Disney’s musical theater adaptation of “The Jungle Book” directed by Mary Zimmerman. Neel has composed music for many film\, TV\, video\, theater and dance projects including the features\, “The Yes Men Fix the World”\, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and “A Decent Arrangement” starring Shabana Azmi. \nSeema Lisa Pandya is a Brooklyn based multidisciplinary artist\, accomplished sustainability consultant\, and green building educator who explores the intersection between sustainability\, art\, culture\, and the built-environment with an aim of connecting audiences with an experiential awareness of nature and primordial forms. Her work ranges from fine art\, public art\, sculpture\, painting\, photography\, video animation\, wood-working\, light sculptures\, kinetic interactive sculptures\, and building integrated installations; as well as\, sustainability consulting\, green building certification coordination. She also teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in sustainability formally at FIT SUNY and currently at the New York School of Interior Design. \nQuarantine Dreams by Brooklyn Raga Massive \n\n \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/neel-murgai/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Bowerbird-Main-Img-95.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250524T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250524T120000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250512T175246Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250528T140631Z
UID:10001268-1748082600-1748088000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Follow The Sound
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a morning birdwalk at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum led by Debbie Beer\, interspersed with two performances by violinists\, Cleek Schrey and Carlos Santiago. \nPlease take note of the weather and dress accordingly with appropriate footwear.\nMeet at the pavilion near the parking lot\, there are toilets and a water fountain nearby. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nDebbie Beer has been an avid birder for more than 20 years. She’s traveled to multiple countries and continents for birding\, including Africa\, India\, Brazil and beyond. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia – a short drive from home in Delaware County\, PA – is Debbie’s favorite local patch\, where she directs the annual “Big Sit” event and leads monthly bird walks. Debbie is fortunate to blend professional and personal interests while working for Natural Lands as Director of Volunteers. In that capacity she manages robust volunteer bird survey\, nestbox monitoring\, and land stewardship programs on Natural Lands properties. Debbie participates in the annual Christmas Bird Count\, Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census and other conservation initiatives. She is an avid eBirder\, fellow of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) and president of the Birding Club of Delaware County (BCDC). Debbie is passionate about sharing nature with others\, supporting conservation\, and advocating access to green space in a diverse\, urban community. \nCleek Schrey is a fiddler\, improviser\, and composer from Virginia. He plays traditional music from Appalachia and Ireland and makes experimental work using composition\, film\, and field recordings. His work is preoccupied with the physical phenomena of vibrating strings and the histories and aesthetics of recording technologies. He collaborates with experimental composers such as David Behrman and Alvin Lucier and the downtown improviser Shelley Hirsch. Solo appearances include the Big Ears Festival (Knoxville)\, SuperSense Festival of the Ecstatic (AUS)\, and the Kilkenny Arts Festival (IE). He is a 2021-2022 Jerome Foundation Artist in Residence at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn. \nCarlos Santiago was born and raised in Philadelphia and was educated at The Hartt School of Music and Temple University. Approaching music from multiple standpoints\, Carlos has relished performing in a wide variety of musical settings and styles such as the multi – disciplinary Bismuth String Quartet\, the complex mathematical compositions of the rock band Normal Love\, soloing with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia\, playing Tango\, Salsa\, and Afro-Caribbean jazz with Sonic Liberation Front\, or Roma jazz with BeauDjango. Past teachers include John Blake\, Diane Monroe\, Yusef Lateef\, Adolf Sandole\, Louis Lanza\, and Nicholas Mann. Sharing the unity of all of these types of music is the driving force behind his passion for sonic exploration. \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/follow-the-sound/
LOCATION:John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum\, 8601 Lindbergh Blvd\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19153\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bowerbird-Main-Img-97.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250516T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250516T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250317T151450Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250521T141335Z
UID:10001258-1747425600-1747432800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Nmperign
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Nmperign the saxophone/trumpet duo of Bhob Rainey and Greg Kelley at The Rotunda. The duo is known for exploring the quiet side of free improvisation often basing its music around long tones and extended-technique effects to evoke the sounds of electronic drones. \nThe evening will open with a set by Lauren Pakradooni and Bill Nace. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nBhob Rainey is a Philadelphia-based composer\, saxophonist\, and sound designer celebrated for his innovative contributions to contemporary\, experimental\, and improvised music. A recipient of the prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts and co-founder of the influential improvisational duo nmperign\, Rainey has garnered acclaim for his groundbreaking work across disciplines\, including collaborations in theater\, dance\, and visual art. With performances and commissions spanning prestigious venues and festivals worldwide\, his work continuously challenges boundaries of musical thought and instrumental technique.\nbhobrainey.com \nGreg Kelley has performed throughout North America\, Europe\, Japan\, Argentina & Mexico at numerous festivals\, in clubs\, outdoors\, in living rooms\, in a bank\, and at least once on a vibrating floor. He has collaborated with a number of musicians across the globe performing experimental music\, free jazz and noise\, appearing on over 100 recordings in the process. He constantly seeks to push the boundaries of the trumpet and of “music.”\nordinaryfanfares.com \nLauren Pakradooni\, an artist and musician living in the Philadelphia region\, has performed under the monikers Tether and Pak for the past two decades in performance and recordings. She manipulates and layers handmade cassette tape loops into compositions structured around created sonic spaces of melody and dissonance teetering on song. She has released recordings with Hot Releases\, Scumbag Relations\, Sleepy Cobalt Sounds\, Price Tapes\, Dungeon Taxis\, Rare Youth\, Stenze Quo Musik\, Eggy Records\, among others.\nlaurenpakradooni.com \nBill Nace is an artist and musician based in Philadelphia\, PA. He has collaborated with an extraordinary range of musicians\, including Michael Morley\, Graham Lambkin\, Sakina Abdou\, Twig Harper\, Jooklo Duo\, chik white\, John Truscinski\, Thurston Moore\, Jake Meginsky\, Jessica Rylan\, Paul Flaherty\, Wally Shoup\, Aaron Dilloway\, and Kim Gordon\, with whom he regularly plays as one half of the duo Body/Head. His last solo LP Through a Room was released on Drag City Records He has been a featured musician in festivals such as ATP (curated by Jim Jarmusch and held in Monticello\, NY)\, Colour Out of Space(Brighton\, UK)\, Supersonic Festival (Birmingham\, UK)\, International Festival Musique Actuelle (Victoriaville\, QC)\, and Homegrown (Boston\, MA). He has performed in a wide variety of venues\, running the gamut from the Musee d’Art Contemporain (Strasbourg\, France) to The Stone (NYC) to Bennington College (Vermont). Nace’s range has been described as “veering from sculptural\, almost Remko-Scha-esque chime to Loren Connors-style elegance in only a few short moves.” (Mimaroglu Music\, 2010). In addition to Drag City and Three Lobed\, recordings can be found on Ecstatic Peace (Northampton\, MA)\, Ultra Eczema (Belgium)\, Holidays (Italy)\, Throne Heap (VA)\, HP Cycle (Toronto\, ON)\, as well as on Nace’s own label Open Mouth.\nopenmouthrecords.blogspot.com \n\nOmmatidia by Nmperign
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/nmperign-2025/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bowerbird-Main-Img-94.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250418T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250418T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250116T165052Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250421T164230Z
UID:10001248-1745006400-1745013600@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Zelzeleh (Faraway Ghost & Sunken Cages)
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird and Fire Museum present the duo Zelzeleh of Iranian vocalist Kamyar Arsani (Faraway Ghost) and Indian-born percussionist/producer Ravish Momin (Sunken Cages) with an opening set by Savan DePaul aka Ishtar Sr. Their collaboration combines Persian poetry with Mumbai street rhythms\, layered over intricate electronic soundscapes. Arsani’s mastery of Persian classical modes (dastgahs) and his evocative vocals merge seamlessly with Momin’s polyrhythmic live-looping and electronic drumming. Together\, they create a unique sound described as “Digital Sufi Music.” \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nRavish Momin (Sunken Cages)\nRavish Momin is a drummer and electronic music producer whose work draws on Indian and Black music traditions as well as global underground dance music. He has performed internationally for over two decades\, including appearances at the Kennedy Center\, Big Ears Festival\, and Le Guess Who? Festival. As Sunken Cages\, Momin integrates live-looping and electronic drums into his performances. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists and is signed to Akuphone Records (France). \nKamyar Arsani (Faraway Ghost)\nKamyar Arsani is an Iranian multi-instrumentalist\, vocalist\, and songwriter based in Washington\, D.C. A performer and teacher of the daf\, Arsani’s music bridges classical Persian traditions with experimental electronic sounds. He has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center and the Library of Congress and is the lyricist and singer for the punk band Shadow Riot. Arsani’s work explores a diverse range of musical styles while remaining deeply rooted in Persian musical heritage. \nSavan DePaul \nSavan DePaul (they/them\, she/her\, dey/dem)\, who also goes by the future pop moniker Ishtar Sr.\, is a singer\, rapper\, producer\, engineer\, and visual artist living in West Philadelphia. DePaul’s music encompasses many styles\, from abstract hip hop polemics to futuristic R&B experiences to dance pop anthems. The Ishtar Sr. project specifically consists of an Afrofuturistic blend of glitch pop and club/rave-centric R&B nestling various odes to Blackness\, sexual autonomy\, and queer revenge/retaliation. Ishtar released the “HOLYHOUSE b/w/ Fourth Planet Funk” single with Astro Nautico in 2020 and two projects with Grimalkin Records (the 2021 debut album Divine Ecdysis and the 2022 mixtape Ecdysis Incomplete) in addition to some self-released singles and EPs. She is currently working on her second and third studio albums. \n  \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/faraway-ghost-x-sunken-cages/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-85.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T190000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250303T160820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250407T151130Z
UID:10001255-1743958800-1743966000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Secret Sounds of Ponds - West Fairmount Park
DESCRIPTION:***Please note this event is happening rain or shine. We recommend bringing a camping chair\, blanket\, or other item to sit on.*** \nBowerbird and LandHealth Institute are pleased to co-present a unique out-of-doors performance by musician-naturalist-philosopher David Rothenberg and the secret sounds of two of Philadelphia’s favorite lakes. \nJoin David Rothenberg\, interspecies musician\, composer\, naturalist-philosopher and author of over a dozen books and forty albums including “Why Birds Sing”\, “Bug Music”\, and “Survival of the Beautiful”. In 2024\, Rothenberg released Secret Sounds of Ponds\, a book/music/performance initiative which reveals the unknown music beneath the surface of even the most ordinary pond. Join him for an afternoon of aquatic vibrations\, bug solos\, and inter-species jamming. David uses hydrophones (underwater microphones) to tune into live bug sounds and then improvises\, using his clarinet to duet with the plants and insects amplified from under the water. You’ll never see a pond quite the same way again. All ages are welcome\, though the morning concert will be more oriented towards kids and will have hands-on activities for younger listeners who wish to touch and draw as well as listen. \nBoth concerts are free and open to the public. \nSunday\, April 6th\n9-11 AM at FDR Park’s Edgewood Lake (family friendly auxiliary activities provided)\nFDR Park\, Boathouse Dock (precise coordinates: 39.903669\, -75.181716) \n5-7 PM at West Fairmount Park’s Concourse Lake (for the more contemplative crowd)\nConcourse Lake (precise coordinates: 39.979653\, -75.215121) \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nRothenberg’s books have been translated into eleven languages and he has more than forty recordings out\, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House which came out on ECM\, and most recently In the Wake of Memories and Faultlines. He has performed or recorded with Pauline Oliveros\, Peter Gabriel\, Ray Phiri\, Suzanne Vega\, Scanner\, Elliott Sharp\, Umru\, Iva Bittová\, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. His award-winning film Nightingales in Berlin has been shown all over the world. His latest book is “Whale Music and Invisible Mountains”. Rothenberg is a Distinguished Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. \n\nCo-presented with Landline Health Institute and organized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/secret-sounds-of-ponds-west-fairmount-park/
LOCATION:West Fairmount Park – Concourse Lake\, Centennial Lake\, Philadelphia\, 19131\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bowerbird-Main-Img-93.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250406T110000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250303T155359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250407T151103Z
UID:10001254-1743930000-1743937200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Secret Sounds of Ponds - FDR Park
DESCRIPTION:***Please note this event is happening rain or shine. We recommend bringing a camping chair\, blanket\, or other item to sit on.*** \nBowerbird and LandHealth Institute are pleased to co-present a unique out-of-doors performance by musician-naturalist-philosopher David Rothenberg and the secret sounds of two of Philadelphia’s favorite lakes. \nJoin David Rothenberg\, interspecies musician\, composer\, naturalist-philosopher and author of over a dozen books and forty albums including “Why Birds Sing”\, “Bug Music”\, and “Survival of the Beautiful”. In 2024\, Rothenberg released Secret Sounds of Ponds\, a book/music/performance initiative which reveals the unknown music beneath the surface of even the most ordinary pond. Join him for an afternoon of aquatic vibrations\, bug solos\, and inter-species jamming. David uses hydrophones (underwater microphones) to tune into live bug sounds and then improvises\, using his clarinet to duet with the plants and insects amplified from under the water. You’ll never see a pond quite the same way again. All ages are welcome\, though the morning concert will be more oriented towards kids and will have hands-on activities for younger listeners who wish to touch and draw as well as listen. \nBoth concerts are free and open to the public. \nSunday\, April 6th\n9-11 AM at FDR Park’s Edgewood Lake (family friendly auxiliary activities provided)\nFDR Park\, Boathouse Dock (precise coordinates: 39.903669\, -75.181716)\n*Road closures planned for Sunday April 6: INFO HERE \n5-7 PM at West Fairmount Park’s Concourse Lake (for the more contemplative crowd)\nConcourse Lake (precise coordinates: 39.979653\, -75.215121) \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nRothenberg’s books have been translated into eleven languages and he has more than forty recordings out\, including One Dark Night I Left My Silent House which came out on ECM\, and most recently In the Wake of Memories and Faultlines. He has performed or recorded with Pauline Oliveros\, Peter Gabriel\, Ray Phiri\, Suzanne Vega\, Scanner\, Elliott Sharp\, Umru\, Iva Bittová\, and the Karnataka College of Percussion. His award-winning film Nightingales in Berlin has been shown all over the world. His latest book is “Whale Music and Invisible Mountains”. Rothenberg is a Distinguished Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. \n\nCo-presented with Landline Health Institute and organized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/david-rothenberg-secret-sounds-of-ponds-fdr-park/
LOCATION:FDR Park – Edgewood Lake\, 1500 Pattison Avenue\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19145\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bowerbird-Main-Img-92.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250323T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250323T210000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250217T162420Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250324T150909Z
UID:10001253-1742756400-1742763600@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Jules Reidy
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Jules Reidy at the Maas Building performing works from their recent album Ghost/Spirit. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nJules Reidy’s sublime music maps the human experience in glittering constellations of sound. The guitarist is a driver of Berlin’s fertile contemporary music scene\, a respected polymath whose prolific output and worldwide touring has led to performances and collaborations with myriad lauded artists. Reidy’s breathtaking recordings and magnetic performances offer a truly futuristic\, singular vision of guitar music. Explorations of microtonal mysticism and alternate tunings drawn from transcendental folk and minimalism color Reidy’s playful experiments with smudged pop melodics and sampling. A wide-eyed imagination combined with technical mastery guide each work in Reidy’s extensive catalog\, from solo guitar albums and collaborations with innovative peers\, including recent works with claire rousay\, Oren Ambarchi\, Andrea Belfi and Sam Dunscombe to major commissions from institutions such as JACK Quartet and Zinc & Copper. The songs of Ghost/Spirit collectively convey an astral sense of yearning and wonder\, pushing towards transcendence. The album charts a deeply personal journey with love\, spirituality and transformation expressed in fractal guitar figures\, ethereal vocal vapors and rippling microtones. \n\nINSTANTS & THEIR ECHOES by Jules Reidy \n\n\n  \n\nOrganized in collaboration with World Askew
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/jules-reidy/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Bowerbird-Main-Img-91.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250321T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250321T220000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250127T163558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250324T150832Z
UID:10001250-1742587200-1742594400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Nathan Davis
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Nathan Davis in a solo performance at The Rotunda. \nFinding narrative in natural processes and acoustic phenomena\, Nathan Davis’s solo work elucidates essential characters of instruments and objects. This concert presents his recent work with the bowed psaltery alongside pieces for river stones and amplified computer\, supported by and immersive video projections. \n“It is beautiful\, haunting\, immersive. A meditative sound world to live in for a time and think about once you’ve left… In Davis’ hands\, the psaltery soars and twangs\, pings and croons. Gentle and meditative at one moment\, sharp and melancholy the next\, evoking fluid shapes and celestial voices moving together through a complex\, slowly shifting soundscape. It is both of this world and somehow beyond it.” – Megan Westberg – STRINGS Magazine \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nNathan Davis “writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority” (NY Times). His opera/ballet “Hagoromo” was produced by American Opera Projects and premiered at the BAM Next Wave Festival with the International Contemporary Ensemble\, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus\, choreographer David Neumann\, and dancers Wendy Whelan\, and Jock Soto. Lincoln Center presented the premiere of “Bells”\, a site-specific work for ensemble\, multi-channel audio\, and live broadcast to audience members’ mobile phones. \nNathan received other commissions from GMEM and Ensemble CBarré (Marseille)\, FringeArts and the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage\, Donaueschinger Musiktage (Germany)\, Yarn/Wire\, Claire Chase\, Ekmeles\, Miller Theatre\, Ojai Music Festival\, the Calder Quartet\, and Third Coast Percussion\, with premieres at Tanglewood\, Park Avenue Armory\, Guggenheim Museum\, and Carnegie Hall. His music has been released on Starkland\, Tundra\, New Focus\, Bridge\, Infrequent Seams\, and Sono Luminus. \nAn Aaron Copland Fellow at the Bogliasco Foundation\, Davis received awards and fellowships from the Camargo Foundation\, New Music USA\, NYSCA\, Meet The Composer\, Fromm Foundation\, Jerome Foundation\, American Music Center\, MATA\, and ASCAP. He and Phyllis Chen won an NY Innovative Theater Award for their score to Sylvia Milo’s play “The Other Mozart”. \nAn active percussionist and multi-instrumentalist\, Nathan has premiered hundreds of works by luminaries and by emerging composers\, and he appeared as a concerto soloist on hammered dulcimer with the Seattle Symphony\, Tokyo Symphony\, and Nagoya Philharmonic. Davis holds degrees in composition and in percussion from Rice\, Yale\, and the Rotterdams Conservatorium on a Fulbright Fellowship\, and he teaches composition and electronic music at The New School. www.nathandavis.com
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/nathan-davis/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-87.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T213000
DTSTAMP:20260423T054459
CREATED:20250210T164850Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250319T141837Z
UID:10001252-1742326200-1742333400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:ALASH
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia favorites Alash at The Rotunda for a FREE concert. Alash are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei)\, a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Masters of traditional Tuvan instruments as well as the art of throat singing\, Alash are deeply committed to traditional Tuvan music and culture. At the same time\, they are fans of western music. Believing that traditional music must constantly evolve\, the musicians subtly infuse their songs with western elements\, creating their own unique style that is fresh and new\, yet true to their Tuvan musical heritage. \nPresented with The Rotunda. \n**Please note: The performance starts at 7:30pm. Seating and admission to the building for the performance will be on a first come first served basis. Doors will open at 6:45pm. RSVPing helps us to anticipate attendance but does not guarantee entry. If you RSVP but do not check in by 7:20pm\, we may give your spot away to someone waiting in line.** \n\n\n 
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/alash-2025/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Bowerbird-Main-Img-90.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR