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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251024T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251024T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250804T151641Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260615T151215Z
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\n\nFunding provided in part by New Music USA
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/nexus/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251018T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251018T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
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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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251017T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
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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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251004T190000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250716T170706Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260615T151135Z
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\n\nFunding provided in part by New Music USA
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250804T162527Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260506T175852Z
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 and funded in part by PECO\, Team Pennsylvania\, and Pennsylvania Creative Industries
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
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250824T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250824T170000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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:20260627T031649
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
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250314T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250314T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20240911T141238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250317T134615Z
UID:10001240-1741982400-1741989600@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Re/Create
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present RE/CREATE\, a program for six voices and six viols with Variant 6 & Sylvan Consort of Viols. The highlight of this program is a world premiere by Philadelphia composer\, Kile Smith highlighting the unique sound world created by the combination of voices and viols. Smith’s new work entitled “Endless Morn of Light” features poetry of John Milton that explores ideas of timeless divinity and the power of music to elevate the soul. Paired with this new work is Orlando di Lasso’s Prophetiae Sibyllarum\, a stunning and unconventional work that the two ensembles will present in different combinations of voices and viols. \nTEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS HERE \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. \nThe Sylvan Consort of Viols is composed of players from greater Philadelphia with members Sarah Cunningham\, Donna Fournier\, Gretchen Gettes\, Margaret Humphrey\, Rebecca Humphrey\, Heather Miller Lardin\, and Elena Smith. The name “Sylvan” not only reflects the area they call home but also the materials from which their beautiful instruments are constructed. The resonant sound of a viol has been said to “imitate the human voice in all its modulations\, even in its most intimate nuances: that of grief and joy” (Harmonie Universelle\, 1636). The consort regularly collaborates with vocalists and is excited to be collaborating with Variant 6 in this performance of early and new music.
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/re-create/
LOCATION:Fleisher Art Memorial\, 719 Catharine St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19147\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Bowerbird-Main-Img-77.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250302T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250302T170000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250129T151926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250226T151459Z
UID:10001249-1740927600-1740934800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:POSTPONED: C. Lavender
DESCRIPTION:***THIS CONCERT HAS BEEN POSTPONED. STAY TUNED FOR A NEW DATE.*** \n  \nBowerbird 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-liminal-states/
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:20250221T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250221T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250205T184607Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T155326Z
UID:10001251-1740168000-1740175200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Jonas Mekas: Guns of the Trees
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a special screening of Guns of the Trees by filmmaker Jonas Mekas and original musical score by Lucia Dlugoszewski. \nJonas Mekas’s first feature—which he wrote\, produced\, directed\, co-photographed and edited—is an entrancing snapshot of the counterculture in the early 1960s and a work of beatnik existentialism concerning the fine line between generational hope and despair. Past and present intertwine as a young woman (Frances Stillman) searches for a reason to go on living amid a bout of paralyzing depression; she encounters a succession of characters (including a cynical intellectual\, played by Mekas’s brother and frequent collaborator\, Adolfas) who seem to represent some chance at salvation\, but the dark cloud overhead refuses to dissipate. In Mekas’s own words\, his scrappy yet ambitious and above all lyrical film “deals with the thoughts\, feelings\, and anguished strivings of my generation\, faced with the moral perplexity of our times.” \nGuns of the Trees | Jonas Mekas | 1962 | 35mm (digitized) | 75 minutes \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nJonas Mekas (1922 – 2019) was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker\, poet\, and artist who has been called “the godfather of American avant-garde cinema”. He was born in 1922 in the farming village of Semeniškiai\, Lithuania. In 1944\, he and his brother Adolfas were taken by the Nazis to a forced labor camp in Elmshorn\, Germany. After the War he studied philosophy at the University of Mainz. At the end of 1949 the UN Refugee Organization brought both brothers to New York City\, where they settled down in Williamsburg\, Brooklyn. Two months after his arrival in New York he borrowed money to buy his first Bolex camera and began to record brief moments of his life. He soon got deeply involved in the American Avant-Garde film movement. In 1954\, together with his brother\, he started Film Culture magazine\, which soon became the most important film publication in the US. In 1958 he began his legendary Movie Journal column in the Village Voice. In 1962 he founded the Film-Makers’ Cooperative\, and in 1964 the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque\, which eventually grew into Anthology Film Archives\, one of the world’s largest and most important repositories of avant-garde cinema\, and a screening venue. During all this time he continued writing poetry and making films. To this date he has published more than 25 books of prose and poetry\, which have been translated into over a dozen languages. His Lithuanian poetry is now part of Lithuanian classic literature and his films can be found in leading museums around the world. He is largely credited for developing the diaristic forms of cinema. Mekas has also been active as an academic\, teaching at the New School for Social Research\, the International Center for Photography\, Cooper Union\, New York University\, and MIT. \nLucia Dlugoszewski (1925–2000) was a Polish-American composer\, poet\, choreographer\, performer\, and inventor known for her radical approaches to sound and performance. She was a pioneer in experimental music\, developing a unique performance practice on the grand piano called the “timbre piano\,” which involved playing inside the instrument with mallets and other objects. In addition\, she designed and built numerous innovative percussion instruments\, expanding the sonic possibilities of contemporary music. Dlugoszewski was closely associated with modern dance and served as music director and later artistic director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company (EHDC) for many years. She composed extensively for Hawkins’s choreography\, crafting highly intricate scores that blended acoustic\, electronic\, and unconventional sound sources. Despite the originality and complexity of her work\, she remained somewhat outside the mainstream of contemporary classical music\, and in recent years\, efforts have been made to rediscover and celebrate her contributions. \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/jonas-mekas-guns-of-the-trees/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Jonas-Mekas-Guns-of-Trees-.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250214T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250214T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20241118T155606Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250217T150944Z
UID:10001245-1739563200-1739570400@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Leah Asher\, Dennis Sullivan\, and Christopher Goddard
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present violinist/violist Leah Asher with percussionist Dennis Sullivan and pianist Christopher Goddard to perform a program of works by Lewis Nielson\, Anahita Abbasi\, Leah Asher\, and Michael Hersch. \nFeatured on this program is Lewis Nielson’s new work clang clash roar\, whose title taken from a line in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Bells\,” emanates from the array of sound that are produced by large metal instruments\, some familiar\, others less so\, capable of considerable rhythmic discretion as well as the typical\, more sonorous and haunting sounds\, rich in timbre. There is an inevitability in the direction of the structure in which the dialogue between viola and percussion unfolds\, the outcome of which is visually prefigured but the persistence of the viola’s insistent percussion resists the tolling and rattling of the percussionist\, leading to a point of resolution that acts more as a point of departure. \nAnahita Abbasi’s violin solo\, Situation IV/lo E iO\, is a work from her series of situation pieces\, which explores the idea of the ‘dialogical self.’ In this case\, exploring the dialogical self of the musician herself\, a multiplicity of ‘self -positions\,’ an and infusion of external and internal dialogues. \nLeah Asher’s duo for violin and percussion\, A\, open. Open\, features texts of Gertrude Stein to whimsically and obsessively reflect on the perpetual cycles of everyday life. \nMichael Hersch’s epic work\, the wreckage of flowers is a set of 21 short pieces accompanying writings of the Polish-born 1980 Nobel Laureate in Literature\, Czesław Miłosz (1911-2004). Rife with imagery of barren landscapes\, frigid winters\, and vast skies\, this piece emanates a feeling of resilience amidst dark circumstances. \n\nABOUT THE MUSICIANS \nViolinist/violist\, composer\, and visual artist Leah Asher is an avid performer of contemporary music and creator of new artistic works. Leah has been a member of The Rhythm Method string quartet\, an innovative ensemble of composer-performers\, since 2016. A sought after performer and collaborator\, Leah can be found performing as a regular guest with New York-based ensembles such as International Contemporary Ensemble\, Talea Ensemble\, and S.E.M. Ensemble. She is also the co-creator of Meaningless Work\, an interdisciplinary performance collaboration with Nicolee Kuester and half of the violin-piano duo Aether Eos with Christopher Goddard. \nLeah maintains an international career with performances presented by the Lucerne Festival\, Lake George Music Festival\, Omaha One Festival\, MATA Festival\, TriBeCA New Music\, Festspillene i Nord Norge\, Music Mondays\, and Codes d’accès. Leah has equally enjoyed performing at such celebrated venues as The Wiener Musikverein\, Disney Concert Hall\, Carnegie Hall\, Miller Theatre\, and the KKL Lucerne\, as well as smaller\, more intimate venues such as The Owl Music Parlor\, Kimaira\, Echoraum\, the cell theatre\, Konsthall C\, and JACK. Leah has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble. Leah formerly served as solo violist of the Arctic Philharmonic Sinfonietta and co-principal viola of the Arctic Philharmonic. \nAs a guest artist and educator\, Leah has given performances and worked with students at universities including Rice University\, New York University\, Bowling Green State University\, Zurich University for Art and Music\, Arkansas State University\, Tulane University\, Peabody Conservatory\, Hunter College\, Brown University\, and Youngstown State University. \nAs a composer\, Leah has been commissioned by several ensembles\, including andPlay\, Chartreuse\, Periapsis\, NorthArc Percussion Group\, The Great Learning Orchestra\, Du.0\, and solo artists such as Meaghan Burke\, Tristan McKay\, and Jennifer Torrence. Recent releases include Leah’s solo album ‘Retreat into Afters’ (SCRIPTS Records)\, and The Rhythm Method’s self-titled debut album (Gold Bolus Recordings). Leah joined the faculty of Manhattan School of Music as of 2022. \nLeah completed her undergraduate degrees at Oberlin College and Conservatory\, studying violin with Gregory Fulkerson and studio art primarily with John Pearson. As a recipient of the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship\, she completed her Master’s in Contemporary Performance at Manhattan School of Music with Curtis Macomber\, then continued studies at UCSD under the tutelage of János Négyesy. \n  \nBased in New York City\, Dennis K. Sullivan II is a percussionist\, composer\, and electronicist\, focusing on new and contemporary music. His music has been performed across the globe by the International Contemporary Ensemble\, yarn/wire\, New Thread Quartet\, DECODER\, Ensemble Adapter\, Hypercube\, and Dal Niente in venues such as the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg)\, The Stone (NYC)\, Nymusikk Bergen (Norway)\, Omaha Under the Radar\, Splendor (Amsterdam)\, and the Edmonton Fringe Festival (Canada). He is a founding member and core performer in Radical 2\, a classification-defying duo that explores the use of theatric\, vocal\, percussive\, and prototype electronic mediums\, and Popebama\, an experimental duo that applies text\, electronics\, and high-energy performances to non-traditional sounds. \nAn active chamber and orchestral percussionist\, Sullivan has shared the stage with leading contemporary music ensembles such as The Argento New Music Project\, Either/Or\, The International Contemporary Ensemble\, ECCE Ensemble\, Ensemble Court Circuit (Paris)\, Ensemble Pamplemousse\, Wavefield Ensemble\, Newband\, Mivos Quartet\, The Darmstadt Preistrager Forum\, and Ensemble Modern Academy\, among others. He has performed in notable NYC venues such as BAM\, Roulette\, Merkin Hall\, Miller Theater\, Symphony Space\, Le Poisson Rouge\, The Shed\, and The Stone. Equally at home in the world of improvisation\, he has shared the stage with luminaries such as Brandon Lopez\, Erin Rogers\, Peter Evans\, Tom Rainey and Dana Jessen. An advocate for the new music community\, Sullivan successfully curated an annual series of theatrically driven new music\, bringing together classical music\, theater\, rock\, heavy metal\, and film at Jack (Brooklyn) from 2015-17. \nPerformance awards include grand prize at the Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence\, the Stipiendienpreise at the Darmstadt International Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik (Darmstadt\, Germany) and a STEIM Center composer residency for electroacoustic music (Amsterdam\, Netherlands). Sullivan has recorded for the New Amsterdam\, Mode\, GoldBolus\, New Focus\, Original Abstraction and INNOVA labels. \nSullivan holds a Bachelor of Music (BM) from the Hartt School of Music and Master of Music (MM) / Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) from SUNY Stony Brook University (New York). Sullivan currently serves as instructor of percussion and music tech as well as director of the wind ensemble at Adelphi University. \n  \nChristopher Goddard is a Canadian composer and pianist. As a composer\, he has collaborated with NYO Canada\, Esprit Orchestra\, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne\, Quatuor Molinari\, Continuum\, Ensemble Paramirabo\, l’Orchestre de la Francophonie\, andPlay duo\, No Exit New Music Ensemble\, NOISE-BRIDGE\, and others. Recent commissions have come from the Lucerne Festival\, the Royal Conservatory/ \nKoerner Hall for the 21C Festival and the City of Reutlingen. He was selected for the 11th International Forum for Young Composers with the NEM\, and has participated in the Wellesley Composers Conference\, the National Arts Centre Young Composers Program\, and the Rencontres de Musique Nouvelle at Domaine Forget. His work has been recognized by the MacDowell Foundation\, the Graham Sommer Competition for Young Composers\, the Prix Collégien de Musique Contemporaine\, the SOCAN Young Composer Awards\, and the Robert Avalon Competition for Young Composers. \nHe was recently named as the 2022 protégé of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards\, a mentorship program in collaboration with 2021 GGPAA laureate Alexina Louie. The Canadian League of Composers presented him with the 2015 Friends of Canadian Music Award to share with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada\, who would later select him as their 2016 RBC Foundation Emerging Composer-in-Residence. The resulting work received its premiere in Lisbon and was broadcast on CBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3. \nAs a performer and advocate of contemporary music\, Christopher Goddard has presented dozens of premieres by his colleagues\, appearing with new music groups such as Ensemble Moto Perpetuo\, Columbia Composers\, Penn Composers Guild\, the Wet Ink Ensemble and others. He has participated in the Samos Young Artist Festival\, the Avant Music Festival in New York and was a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy. He performed with TACTUS\, the contemporary music ensemble at the Manhattan School of Music\, while studying with pianists Christopher Oldfather and Anthony de Mare. Previous piano studies took place with Nicole Presentey in Ottawa and Kyoko Hashimoto in Montreal. \nChristopher Goddard holds a D.Mus. in composition from McGill University\, an M.M. in contemporary performance from the Manhattan School of Music\, an M.M.\nin composition from Rice University\, and a B.Mus. in composition and theory from McGill University. Principal past composition mentors include John Rea\, Pierre Jalbert\, Karim Al-Zand\, Chris Paul Harman and Brian Cherney. He is an associate member of the Canadian Music Centre and has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts. He served as Artistic Director of Ottawa New Music Creators from 2017-2019 and currently teaches theory and aural skills at the University of Florida.
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/leah-asher-dennis-sullivan-and-christopher-goddard/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250126T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250126T170000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20250106T172320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250127T162700Z
UID:10001247-1737903600-1737910800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Pauline Oliveros: The Well and The Gentle
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Arcana New Music Ensemble performing Pauline Oliveros’ works The Well and The Gentle at the Icebox Project Space. \nWritten between 1982-1983 and commissioned by Philadelphia’s Relâche Ensemble\, The Well and The Gentle  are two of Oliveros’ text based intuitive pieces. Rooted in listening\, the scores consist of written instructions\, scales\, and a rhythmic motif. \nPROGRAM \nOliveros: The Well (1982) \nOliveros: The Gentle (1983) \nARCANA NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE \nNicholas Handahl – flute\nNoa Even – tenor saxophone\nMelinda Rice – violin\nCarlos Santiago – violin\nAlyssa Almeida – cello\nAnne Ishii – percussion\nAndy Thierauf – percussion \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \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\, 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\, and Pig Iron Theater Company. \nPauline Oliveros’ (1932-2016) life as a composer\, performer and humanitarian was about opening her own and others’ sensibilities to the universe and facets of sounds. Her career spanned fifty years of boundary dissolving music making. In the ’50s she was part of a circle of iconoclastic composers\, artists\, poets gathered together in San Francisco. In the 1960’s she influenced American music profoundly through her work with improvisation\, meditation\, electronic music\, myth and ritual. \nShe was the recipient of four Honorary Doctorates and among her many recent awards were the William Schuman Award for Lifetime Achievement\, Columbia University\, New York\, NY\,The Giga-Hertz-Award for Lifetime Achievement in Electronic Music from ZKM\, Center for Art and Media\, Karlsruhe\, Germany and The John Cage award from from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts. \nOliveros was Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute\, Troy\, NY\, and Darius Milhaud Artist-in-Residence at Mills College. She founded “Deep Listening®\,” which came from her childhood fascination with sounds and from her works in concert music with composition\, improvisation and electro-acoustics. She described Deep Listening as a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life\, of nature\, of one’s own thoughts as well as musical sounds. \n“Deep Listening is my life practice\,” Oliveros explained\, simply. Oliveros founded Deep Listening Institute\, formerly Pauline Oliveros Foundation\, now the Center For Deep Listening at Rensselaer\, Troy\, NY. Her creative work is currently disseminated through The Pauline Oliveros Trust and the Ministry of Maåt\, Inc. \n\n \nFrom The Relache Chronicles Podcast\nEpisode Number Three – Pauline Oliveros “The Well”\nA discussion of the origins of the “The Well” and “The Gentle” with Joseph Franklin\, Joe Kasinskas\, and others. \n\nLISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE \nTHE RELACHE CHRONICLES is a podcast about musicians residing in what we call “the Margins of American Music.” In these 30-to-45-minute episodes\, we’ll play recordings – primarily by The Relache Ensemble from Philadelphia – of complete musical works plus commentary by composers\, performers\, and others with insight to the music. Throughout the podcast\, we’ll discuss the guest composers’ processes\, how they utilized current and past technologies and how the acoustical properties of a given space informed the creation and performance of a musical work. Finally\, we will discuss how the composers’ relationship with the musicians brought the music to life. Episodes feature music by John Cage\, Robert Ashley\, Joe Kasinskas\, Pauline Oliveros\, Guy Klucevsek\, Eve Beglarian\, Fred Ho\, Phill Niblock\, Romulus Franceschini\, Bill Duckworth\, Lois v Vierk\, and an overview of the New Music America Festival 1987 – Philadelphia\, and the expansive residency/performance project named Music in Motion. THE RELACHE CHRONICLES is produced\, directed\, and edited\, by Arthur Stidfole with Joseph Franklin\, Joe Kasinskas\, and Arthur Sabatini. Throughout their careers\, they have been performing musicians\, composers\, executive and artistic directors\, university teachers\, radio hosts and authors\, dedicated to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries. \n\nSupport for this program provided by the Penn Treaty Special Services District
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/pauline-oliveros-the-well-and-the-gentle/
LOCATION:Icebox Project Space\, 1400 N. American St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250118T193000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250118T213000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20241209T154857Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250121T160305Z
UID:10001246-1737228600-1737235800@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:New Thread Quartet: Album Release
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present New Thread Quartet’s album release show featuring “A Little Night Music\,” and Tori Cheah’s Walk for a Shell from their new album\, Saxifraga. \n$15-25 suggested donation\, which includes a CD and digital download; No one turned away for lack of funds \nWhile Irish composer Emma O’Halloran was living in Miami\, she listened to the ocean waves at night for comfort and reflection. Her Night Music ripples and whirls like the sea with a nod to Latin music and Miami Sound Machine\, the mixtape that kept O’Halloran company during that year abroad. LA-based Kay Rhie composed Night Blooms for mixed trio following her father’s death in 2019. Adapted for saxophone quartet\, the piece tells the story of his final days in the hospital. As she watched his breathing machine expand and contract\, Rhie was reminded of flowers that bloom at night and how “many first-generation immigrants probably dreamed of beautiful ‘blooms’ during the quiet hours when not too many people took notice.” Helena Tulve‘s Öö\, which is “night” in Estonian\, sets an unsettled atmosphere of impending doom. The concert concludes with Walk for a shell\, which Tori Cheah describes as a reference to a pilgrimage wherein one applies time and effort across a distance in an offering of respect for forces greater than oneself. Short lullaby interludes composed by New Thread members weave the program together. \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/new-thread-quartet-album-release/
LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250117T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250117T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20241111T163003Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250118T141000Z
UID:10001243-1737144000-1737151200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Laraaji
DESCRIPTION:*Please note: The performance starts at 8:00pm. Those who reserved tickets will be able to enter at 7:30pm with seating on a first come first served basis; then standing room only. After 8pm\, those without reserved tickets may enter depending on capacity* \n  \nWe are thrilled to welcome back Laraaji\, a key figure in the evolution of ambient music whose distinctive sound has been captivating listeners for decades. Philadelphia-born and New Jersey-raised\, Laraaji has pursued spiritual transcendence through music since the mid-1970s. After years of developing an aesthetic shaped by Eastern philosophies and transcendental research in his longtime Harlem home\, Laraaji’s breakthrough came when Brian Eno discovered him busking in Washington Square Park in 1979\, improvising celestial meditations on his electric zither. This encounter led to a collaboration on Eno’s influential Ambient series\, resulting in the 1980 album Day of Radiance. \nSince then\, Laraaji has become a defining figure in new age and ambient music\, known for his commitment to hand-crafted sounds over synthesizers and his embrace of a human presence in his performances. Whether playing monochord instruments\, singing\, or using electronics-kissed percussion\, his music remains rooted in a cosmic African-American tradition. His soundscapes are as hypnotically beautiful as they are rich with moments of tension and dissonance\, bringing depth to his trance-inducing explorations. For over four decades\, Laraaji’s work has continued to evolve\, inviting listeners into deep states of reflection while remaining grounded in a deeply personal musical journey. \n\n\n  \n\n 
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/laraaji-2025/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241220T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241220T220000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20241104T171842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241223T162633Z
UID:10001242-1734724800-1734732000@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:The Adventures of Prince Achmed
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is delighted to present a special screening of Lotte Reiniger’s pioneering animated film\, The Adventures of Prince Achmed. \nWhen The Adventures of Prince Achmed premiered in Germany on September 23\, 1926\, it was hailed as the first full-length animated film. More than seventy-five years later\, this enchanting film still stands as one of the great classics of animation — beautiful\, mesmerizing and utterly seductive. \nTaken from The Arabian Nights\, the film tells the story of a wicked sorcerer who tricks Prince Achmed into mounting a magical flying horse and sends the rider off on a flight to his death. But the prince foils the magician’s plan and soars headlong into a series of wondrous adventures — joining forces with Aladdin and the Witch of the Fiery Mountains\, doing battle with the sorcerer’s army of monsters and demons\, and falling in love with the beautiful Princess Peri Banu. \nThis cinematic treasure has been beautifully restored with its spectacular color tinting and with a new orchestral recording of the magnificent 1926 score by Wolfgang Zeller. Thrilling\, sensuous and dazzling\, Prince Achmed will enthrall children and film enthusiasts of all ages. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nLotte Reiniger made over sixty films\, of which eleven are considered lost and fifty to have survived. The film maker is best known for her pioneering silhouette films\, in which paper and cardboard cut-out figures\, weighted with lead\, and hinged at the joints were hand-manipulated from frame to frame and shot via stop motion photography. The figures were placed on an animation table and usually lit from below. In some of her later sound films the figures were lit both from above and below\, depending on the desired visual effect. Framed with elaborate backgrounds made from varying layers of translucent paper or colorful acetate foils for color films\, Reiniger’s characters were created and animated with exceptional skill and precision. \nIn addition to producing silhouette animation films\, Reiniger was equally engaged by live shadow puppetry\, which was at times recorded on film and used in live-action films. For example\, in 1933\, Reiniger made a shadow play sequence for G.W. Pabst’s Don Quixote (1933). In 1937 she created “Le Pont Cassé\,” which translates to “the Broken Bridge\,” a short shadow play sequence filmed for Jean Renoir’s La Marseillaise (1938). This famed shadow play was the most popular piece by François Dominique Séraphin\, founder of the Theatre Séraphin in Versailles in 1770. Reiniger’s filmed play emulated Séraphin’s style and was thus an homage to the roots of European shadow play. \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/the-adventures-of-prince-achmed/
LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241208T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241208T170000
DTSTAMP:20260627T031649
CREATED:20241114T155538Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241209T153009Z
UID:10001244-1733670000-1733677200@www.bowerbird.org
SUMMARY:Chris Dingman
DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Chris Dingman in a solo set at the Maas Building for a “sound bath” style performance. \nPlease bring a blanket\, yoga mat\, or other similarly comfortable option. Chairs will be limited. \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nChris Dingman is a vibraphonist and composer known for his distinctive approach to the instrument: sonically rich and expansive\, bringing listeners on a journey to a beautiful\, transcendent place. He has done significant work with legendary artists Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter as well as next generation visionaries such as Linda Oh\, Ambrose Akinmusire\, Steve Lehman\, and many others\, performing around the world including India\, Vietnam\, and extensively in Europe and North America. \nHe has been profiled by NPR\, The New York Times\, AMNY and many other publications\, and has received fellowships and grants from the Chamber Music America\, the Doris Duke Foundation\, New Music USA\, South Arts\, and the Herbie Hancock Institute (formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute). Hailed by The New York Times as a “dazzling” soloist and a composer with a “fondness for airtight logic and burnished lyricism\,” the fluidity of his musical approach has earned him praise as “an extremely gifted composer\, bandleader\, and recording artist.” (Jon Weber\, NPR). \n\n
URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/chris-dingman/
LOCATION:Maas Building\, 1325 N Randolph St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States
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