BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//BOWERBIRD ::: MUSIC, DANCE, FILM ::: Philadelphia, PA - ECPv6.16.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.bowerbird.org X-WR-CALDESC:Events for BOWERBIRD ::: MUSIC, DANCE, FILM ::: Philadelphia, PA REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20250309T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20251102T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240920T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240920T210000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240903T142843Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240923T153121Z UID:10001239-1726858800-1726866000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:The Musical Offering DESCRIPTION:***Please note this concert is at 7:00pm*** \nBowerbird is pleased to present Filament with flautist Héloïse Degrugillier performing J. S. Bach’s The Musical Offering. In the spring of 1747\, J.S. Bach paid a visit to King Frederick the Great\, where his son Carl Phillip Emmanuel was employed as a court musician. Curious to test Bach’s contrapunctal prowess\, Frederick presented Bach with a subject to improvise two fugues\, first one in three parts\, and then one in six. Declining the second of these tests\, Bach took Frederick’s subject home with him to create one of his most fascinating collections of music\, The Musical Offering. \n  \n\n\nABOUT THE MUSICIANS \nFILAMENT is a chamber ensemble\, formed in 2019\, of Philadelphia-based period-instrument soloists. Comprising a core trio of violin\, viola da gamba\, and keyboards\, its respective founding members are Evan Few\, Elena Kauffman\, and John Walthausen. As a collective\, its mission is to be the bright connective thread—that eponymous filament—linking the world of its audience with that of its repertoire\, illuminating the delightful\, sometimes uncanny familiarity of the emotions and images it evokes. \nFilament is building a reputation as a leading proponent and champion of 17th- and 18th-century chamber music. The Broad Street Review praised Filament for a “fervor and delight that make early music seem current\, and easy\, joyful communication\,” and the Lancaster News noted Filament’s “profound understanding” of its repertoire. Filament’s programs bridge the gap between music from some of history’s most celebrated and familiar composers and music that is completely unknown. Recent concerts have featured unpublished music by anonymous composers\, Filament’s own original transcriptions\, and music by female composers. \nFilament presents concerts in its core formation and in collaboration with other musicians in \nPhiladelphia\, the Delaware Valley\, and across the country. In its hometown\, Filament performs on numerous concert series\, including Main Line Early Music and the PhilaLandmarks Early Music Series\, and in self-presented concerts in a variety of sacred and secular spaces\, including Gloria Dei “Old Swedes” Church and the Fleischer Art Memorial. Regionally\, Filament has been featured on Gotham Early Music Scene’s Midtown Concert Series and Musae (New York\, NY); Early Music at St. James (Lancaster\, PA)\, Market Street Music’s Festival Concerts (Wilmington\, DE)\, Concerts at Locktown Stone Church (Flemington\, NJ)\, and Immanuel Concerts at Immanuel on the Green (New Castle\, DE). Recent performances in South Carolina and Florida have expanded Filament’s reach. Of its 2023 collaboration with vocal ensemble Variant 6\, the Chestnut Hill Local cited a “sterling performance.” Filament was a featured ensemble in Early Music America’s 2021 Emerging Artists Showcase\, and in 2022 was featured on the American Bach Society’s TinyBach series. \nDuring the 2023-2024 season\, marking its fifth anniversary\, Filament made its debut at Penn Live Arts at the University of Pennsylvania with renowned mezzo soprano Meg Bragle and Friends\, presenting seldom-heard music of Salamone Rossi. In February 2024\, Filament traveled to New Orleans to perform 18th-century music from that historic city in partnership with fellow Philadelphia chamber ensemble Variant 6 in a concert presented by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. \nVisit www.filamentbaroque.com to learn more. \nFilament is joined by Héloïse Degrugillier who has worked extensively as both a recorder and traverso performer\, and teacher throughout Europe and the United States. She has performed with leading period ensembles\, including the Boston Camerata\, Boston Early Music Festival\, Piffaro and Tempesta Di Mare. \nHeloise also enjoys an active teaching career. She teaches at Tufts university and Rhode Island College. She is the president and music director of the Boston Recorder Society. She has completed her studies in the Alexander Technique and has a Masters in Music from the Utrecht Conservatory in the Netherlands. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/the-musical-offering/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-76.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240710T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240710T200000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240624T170710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240715T143448Z UID:10001230-1720634400-1720641600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Wildflower Composers Festival Faculty Concert DESCRIPTION:The Wildflower Composers Festival and Arcana New Music Ensemble are pleased to announce their annual concert featuring new works by Wildflower faculty. The July 10\, 2024\, performance will take place at 6pm at Rock Hall at Temple University\, 1715 N. Broad Street\, Philadelphia\, PA. The suggested donation is $10–20. \nThe program will feature five compositions by Wildflower faculty composers Melissa Dunphy\, Cerulean Payne-Passmore\, Sepehr Pirasteh\, Cece Olszewski\, and Erin Busch. The performers from Arcana will be Chelsea Meynig (flute)\, Jonathan Leeds (clarinet)\, Angelique Montes (cello)\, Aaron Stewart (saxophone)\, and Melinda Rice (violin). A Q & A with the composers will follow the program. \nPROGRAM\nSepehr Pirasteh: Narrative for solo cello scordatura\nErin Busch: inhabit\, for flute\, clarinet\, and cello\nCece Olszewski: bonedog\, for alto saxophone and tape\nMelissa Dunphy: Scallops and Bollocks for solo violin and pre-recorded tape\nCerulean Payne-Passmore: Duet for flute and live electronics \n  \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nThe Wildflower Composers Festival is a 12-day program for young female\, transgender\, nonbinary\, and/or genderqueer composers between the ages of 13 and 19. This is the second year that Wildflower Composers and Arcana New Music Ensemble have partnered to highlight faculty works. \n“Our partnership with the Arcana New Music Ensemble allows our students to witness the creative collaboration process between Wildflower faculty and Arcana performers\, and also provides our faculty with an opportunity to showcase their creative work\,” says Wildflower founder and executive director Erin Busch. \nWildflower Composers was founded by Dr. Erin Busch in 2018 as Young Women Composers Camp (YWCC) as a way to address the gender disparity in contemporary classical music. The organization brings together young\, gender-marginalized composers for composition mentorship\, coursework\, and community-building. \nThe Arcana New Music Ensemble is built on a flexible roster of 25 Philadelphia-based musicians dedicated to presenting a broad range of repertoire in numerous configurations. \nFor more information about Wildflower Composers\, visit https://wildflowercomposers.org. \nFor more information about Arcana New Music Ensemble\, visit https://www.arcananewmusic.org/. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/wildflower-composers-festival-faculty-concert/ LOCATION:Rock Hall Temple University\, Philadelphia\, PA ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Bowerbird-Main-Img-64.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240621T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240621T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240515T154853Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240624T171523Z UID:10001229-1719000000-1719007200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Screening: John Cage Meets Sun Ra DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a special screening of John Cage Meets Sun Ra: The Complete Concert at The Rotunda. \nRecorded at Sideshows by the Seashore along the Coney Island boardwalk on June 8th\, 1986 as documented by John Polizzi under the commission of event producers Rick Russo and Bronwyn Rucker. \nFrom Pitchfork: “John Cage Meets Sun Ra: The Complete Concert gradually emerges as something greater than a footnote. That’s not because the pairing results in an ‘avant super duo.’ As it happens\, the two artists tend to trade off soloing\, and only play together audibly at one point during this hour-plus set\, recorded at Coney Island. Yet despite the arms-length embrace\, the overall concert has a surprisingly seamless quality.” \nCo-presented with The Rotunda \n\n URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/screening-john-cage-meets-sun-ra/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Shiraz-Main-Bowerbird-Main-Img-2.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240612T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240612T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231103T160403Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240613T203552Z UID:10001209-1718222400-1718229600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Dynasty Battles DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present pianist Dynasty Battles at University Lutheran Church. \nPROGRAM \n\nFranz Schubert: 4 Impromptus\, Op. 90\, D. 899 with Improvised Interludes in-between loosely based on its themes. \nFranz Schubert: Allegro molto moderato in C minor\, No.1\nDynasty Battles: Improvised Interlude\nFranz Schubert: Allegro in E-flat major\, No. 2\nDynasty Battles: Improvised Interlude\nFranz Schubert: Andante in G-flat major\, No.3\nDynasty Battles: Improvised Interlude\nFranz Schubert: Allegretto in A-flat major\, No.4 \nJohannes Brahms: Rhapsody\, Op. 79\, No.2 (Part 1)\nPaul Hindemith: Ludus Tonalis: XI. Interludium (Part 2)\nJohannes Brahms: Ballade\, Op. 118\, No.2 (Part 3)\nAlexander Scriabin: Piano Sonata\, Op. 30\, No.4 \n\nABOUT THE ARTIST \nDynasty Battles\, the recipient of the 2021 Career Advancement Award by the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia\, has been featured with soprano Marietta Simpson in The Philadelphia Inquirer\, and on music critic David Patrick Stearns’ radio program “Creatively Speaking” on Philadelphia’s WRTI (90.1FM). \nA highlight include a composition Battles debuted by multiple Grammy nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist Ted Hearne\, composed for Dynasty himself\, which was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Recent engagements comprise of hall debuts at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in a concert curated by John Adams\, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall as a featured artist in the International Music Foundation’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts\, and the Benjamin Franklin Hall with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Additionally\, he made his international debut at the Barbican Centre in London while in residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. \nCareer highlights include an invitation to perform George Walker’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in a private engagement at the distinguished composer’s home. In a project profiled by The New York Times\, he also performed in Bowerbird Philly’s ongoing series highlighting the works of Julius Eastman. \nBattles studies with concert pianist Leon Bates and Eve Wolf\, pianist\, and Executive Artistic Director of Ensemble for the Romantic Century. He also studied counterpoint and harmony and analysis with Jonathan Coopersmith\, Chair of Musical Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. A native of Philadelphia\, Dynasty received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance\, cum laude from Temple University\, under the instruction of Harvey Wedeen as a recipient of the Esther Boyer College Scholarship. \nmore at www.dynastybattles.com \nPhoto: Helena Raju \n  \n\n URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/dynasty-battles/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Bowerbird-Main-Img-51.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240520T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240520T200000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240206T203301Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240529T142310Z UID:10001224-1716235200-1716235200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Claire Rousay DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present LA-based musician and artist claire rousay at The Rotunda with opening set by Apologist. claire rousay\, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms\, recently released a new album in early 2024. A meditation on loneliness\, her new album is her most audacious work yet\, synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences from throughout rousay’s long and varied career as a performer. \nPhoto: Zoe Donahoe \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nclaire rousay is a singular artist\, known for challenging conventions in experimental and ambient music forms. rousay masterfully incorporates textural found sounds\, sumptuous drones and candid field recordings into music that celebrates the beauty in life’s banalities. Her music is curatorial and granular in detail\, deftly shaped into emotionally affecting pieces. sentiment is a meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness\, nostalgia\, sentimentality\, guilt\, and sex. The album’s narrative arc is guided by delicate musical gestures and artistic vulnerability\, audaciously synthesizing disparate and unexpected influences. rousay crafted the songs in various homes\, bedrooms\, hotels\, and other private places\, the feeling of time and energy spent alone radiating from each passage. The album is a collection of heart-rending\, incisive pop songs that explore universal feelings with subtlety and remarkable vision. \nRose Actor-Engel is a Philadelphia based musician and composer. She uses synthesizer\, tape and field recordings to create ambient and experimental music\, implementing specific rules and protocols to determine structure. She has been recording/performing as Apologist since 2018. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/claire-rousay/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-61.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240518T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240518T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230913T150957Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240520T154824Z UID:10001205-1716062400-1716069600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Un bel sol DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present vocal ensemble Variant 6 performing an acapella program that explores the timeless theme of the natural world and its influence on the human condition. In a stunning presentation of music spanning over 1\,000 years – from Medieval composers like Hildegard Von Bingen and Claude le Jeune all the way through music of today by Edie Hill\, Edith Canat de Chizy\, and Pelle Gudmunsen-Holmgreen – this program will showcase the wide range of composer’s reflections of the world we inhabit. \nPROGRAM \nO Viridissima Virga\nHildegard Von Bingen (1098-1179) \nGreen (to the greenwood we must go\, alas)\nPelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (1932-2016) \nLe Chant des Oiseaux\nClément Janequin (1485-1558) \nSweet Suffolk Owl\nThomas Vautor (1592 – 1619) \nIl Bianco e Dolce Cigno\nJacques Arcadelt (1505 – 1568): \nIl Mio Più Vago Sole \nSulpitia Cesis (1577 – 1619) \nO Radiant Dawn\nJames MacMillan (1959-) \nAlma Beata et Bella\nEdie Hill (1962-) \nSolhyme – Movements II & III\nVagn Holmboe (1909 – 1996) \nOctonaires de la Vanité et Inconstance du Monde (excerpts)\nQuand la terre au Printemps\nLa glace est luisante et belle\nLors que la fueille va mourant\nVois tu l’Hyver accroupi\nCe luy qui pense pourvoir\nCe Monde est un pelerinage\nRevecy Venir du Printemps\nClaude Le Jeune (1528 -1600) \nTEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS \n  \nVARIANT 6 \nRebecca Myers – soprano\nJessica Beebe – soprano\nTim Parsons – counter-tenor\nNick Karageorgiou – tenor\nSteven Eddy – baritone\nDan Schwartz – bass \n  \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nLauded as having a “honey-colored tone” and “the most radiant solo singing” (Opera News)\, soprano Jessica Beebe is an affecting interpreter of repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to contemporary American opera. As a sought-after concert soloist\, Ms. Beebe has performed as a soloist with several major orchestras and ensembles across the world including The New York Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall\, The English Concert at the Barbican Theatre and Carnegie Hall\, The Los Angeles Philharmonic\, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra\, The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra\, The Folger Consort\, Utah Symphony\, Omaha Symphony\, Baltimore Symphony\, Lancaster Symphony\, The Washington Bach Consort\, Piffaro\, Gamut Bach Ensemble\, Bach Choir of Bethlehem\, Philadelphia Bach Collegium\, Lyric Fest and more. Some of Beebe’s solo operatic highlights include premiering multiple operas by Jennifer Higdon\, Lembit Beecher and David Hertzberg with Opera Philadelphia\, Bergen National Opera in Norway\, and a Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in Meredith Monk’s opera\, Atlas. Ms. Beebe is a member of Variant 6\, The Crossing\, Seraphic Fire\, Clarion\, Lorelei\, Trio Eos\, The Thirteen\, and is on several GRAMMY-nominated albums with The Crossing and Clarion Ensemble. Most recently\, Ms. Beebe was placed as a finalist in the New York Oratorio Society competition. Ms. Beebe is a graduate of The University of Delaware and Indiana University. Ms. Beebe has been a voice faculty member at Franklin and Marshall College since 2015.  \nAn accomplished concert artist and Baroque music specialist\, baritone Steven Eddy has garnered praise as a soloist and professional choral singer with such ensembles as The New York Philharmonic\, The Oratorio Society of New York\, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra\, Seraphic Fire\, True Concord Voices and Orchestra\, Spire Chamber Ensemble\, Clarion Music Society\, American Classical Orchestra\, Sacred Music in a Sacred Space\, Choral Arts Philadelphia\, Handel Choir of Baltimore\, and Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity. \nUpcoming projects in the 2023-2024 season include Considering Matthew Shepard with Spire Chamber Ensemble\, the premiere of Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg’s Any of Those Decembers in conjunction with LyricFest\, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with American Classical Orchestra and The Thirteen\, and concert projects with Seraphic Fire\, Variant 6\, and Choral Arts Philadelphia. \nTenor Nick Karageorgiou has established himself as a formidable chamber musician and soloist. A resident of Brooklyn\, Nick is a member of the Trinity Wall Street Chorus\, performing a wide array of choral repertoire\, from baroque gems\, to new commissions. Last fall\, Nick sang the reimagined role of Narrator in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. \nHe can also be heard singing in ensembles like Seraphic Fire\, TENET\, and Clarion Music Society. Previous engagements have also included ensembles such as Pegasus Early Music Society\, True Concord\, The Crossing\, Spire\, The Thirteen\, and The Rose Ensemble. \nOutside of a busy performance season\, Nick is frequently seen with needles and yarn\, biking through the park\, or going on a hike. Nick is excited to join Variant Six for their ‘23-‘24 season! \nPhiladelphia based artist Rebecca Myers is a soloist\, vocal chamber singer\, collaborator\, recording artist\, and creator in high demand. Rebecca has gained a reputation for her “timbral clarity and flawless pitch”\, “nimble coloratura” and “vulnerability and grace”. She has appeared on three GRAMMY winning albums\, most notably as a soloist on The Crossing’s Born\, winner of the 2023 GRAMMY for Best Choral performance. Last season she made her New World Symphony Debut under the baton of Patrick Dupre Quigley in 2023 as soprano soloist in Carmina Burana. This past summer she performed at the esteemed Institute de France in Paris for the European premiere of Philip Lasser’s A Mask in the Mirror with Verità Baroque. \nHer 2023/2024 season includes the world premiere of David T. Little’s SIN-EATER with The Crossing\, the world premiere of Benjamin Perry Wenzelberg’s Any of Those Decembers with Lyric Fest\, the role of Vagaus in Vivaldi’s Juditha Triumphans with Tempesta di Mare\, several solo and ensemble engagements with Seraphic Fire\, and an appearance as the the soprano solo in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion at the annual CalPoly Bach week. Rebecca is thrilled to be taking on this new role as Artistic Director of Variant 6. \nTimothy Parsons is an acclaimed and GRAMMY®-nominated countertenor & choral conductor. \nHe has traveled and performed extensively – as an ensemble & consort singer\, and as soloist – in such venues as New York’s Carnegie Hall\, Metropolitan Museum of Art\, and Alice Tully Hall\, London’s St John’s Smith Square\, Montreal’s Salle Bourgie\, and Utrecht’s Tivoli Vredenburg. Timothy has performed with many of North America’s top early music ensembles\, including TENET Vocal Artists (for whom he has also served as programming consultant) and Apollo’s Fire\, and has twice toured with the English Concert performing Handel oratorios. He has had the great privilege of premiering two Pulitzer-prize winning operas\, Ellen Reid’s p r i s m\, for LA Opera and the Prototype Festival\, and Du Yun’s Angel’s Bone\, for the Prototype Festival. He is a former Lay Clerk of Christ Church Cathedral\, Oxford\, and a longtime member of two GRAMMY®-nominated New York ensembles\, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street and the Clarion Choir. Timothy can be heard on numerous recordings\, including the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom and the GRAMMY®-nominated Vespers by Benedict Sheehan\, recordings of p r i s m and Angel’s Bone\, and numerous recordings with the Clarion Choir and the Choir of Trinity Wall Street. Highlights of the ’23/’24 season include a marathon concert of Ockeghem at the Metropolitan Museum’s Cloisters\, festival appearances in Norway and Germany with Ekmeles\, and debut appearances with Blue Heron and Variant Six. He is an avid hiker\, meditator\, and vegan. He is the co-artistic director of Ampersand\, a vocal chamber music ensemble and resides in Vermont. \nA Philadelphia native\, Daniel Schwartz received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Temple University where he studied voice with retired Metropolitan Opera baritone Daivid Arnold.  Upon his graduation in 2011\, Daniel was honored with the Elaine Brown Award for musicianship\, dedication to excellence\, and humanitarianism. \nAfter graduating\, Daniel won the position of Artistic Director of the Philadelphia Voices of Pride\, Philadelphia’s LGBT mixed voice chorus. From 2014-2017 Daniel sang with the Opera Philadelphia chorus where he performed a number of roles such as The Foreman in the east coast premiere of Oscar.  Daniel also sings with The Crossing and has performed on three of their Grammy winning albums.  In 2014 he traveled to California to perform Louis Andriessen’s De Materie with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and seven other singers from The Crossing\, who also made their Carnegie Hall debut that year.  In 2018 he made his debut as a soloist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for Pat Metheny and the American Beat.  Most recently\, he has performed with The Crossing alongside the New York Philharmonic. Daniel also teaches voice at Haverford College. \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. \nVariant 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.  \nVariant 6’s artists have performed with internationally recognized ensembles and orchestras including The Crossing\, Lorelei\, Seraphic Fire\, Roomful of Teeth\, The Santa Fe Desert Chorale\, Apollo’s Fire\, Chicago Bach Project\, Piffaro\, Tempesta di Mare\, TENET Vocal Artists\, the Philadelphia Orchestra\, Opera Philadelphia\, The New World Symphony\, The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra\, The Aspen Festival Orchestra\, Opera Philadelphia\, American Bach Soloists\, The Philadelphia Orchestra\, Lyric Fest\, and more.  \n\n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/un-bel-sol/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bowerbird-Main-Img-44.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240517T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240517T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231127T230027Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240518T140832Z UID:10001213-1715976000-1715983200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Music of Moondog DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Music of Moondog performed by the Arcana New Music Ensemble. \nLouis Thomas Hardin\, Jr.\, better known as Moondog\, is one of the most famous and influential outsider musicians of the twentieth century. Born in Kansas to a devoutly religious family\, Hardin was blinded at age 16 when he dug up a live dynamite cap. For 30 years\, from the early 1940s to the early 1970s\, he lived in New York City\, where he became a well-known street performer known\, thanks to his Nordic garb\, as “the Viking of Sixth Avenue.” During this time he recorded several albums and won the respect of many important musicians\, including Leonard Bernstein\, Charlie Parker (for whom he wrote the piece “Bird’s Lament”)\, and Philip Glass (with whom he briefly shared an apartment). From 1974 until his death in 1999\, Moondog lived primarily in Germany\, where he enjoyed the most stable and productive creative period of his life. Celebrated for his diverse body of work that combines– among other influences– the rhythmic energy of jazz\, the ritualistic intensity of Native American tribal music\, and classical principles of counterpoint\, Moondog’s music is at once uncategorizable and instantly identifiable. \n\nPROGRAM \nTheme\nBird’s Lament\nWitch of Endor\nSpruchweisheiten\nSandalwood\nMother’s Whistler\nChaconne in G Major\nElf Dance\nDog Trot\nPastorale in C \nand others \nENSEMBLE \nAaron Stewart – saxophones\nTessa Ellis – trumpet\nCarlos Santiago – violin\nThomas Kraines – cello\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. \n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/music-of-moondog/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Bowerbird-Main-Img-55.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240426T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240426T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231213T162741Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240429T161544Z UID:10001214-1714161600-1714168800@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Ghost Ensemble DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Ghost Ensemble performing works by Catherine Lamb and Ben Richter.  Based in New York the ensemble fosters groundbreaking music that blurs borders of genre\, style\, and scene\, expanding perceptual horizons through shared immersive experience. \nBen Richter’s Rewild\, inspired by nonhuman perspectives and distant orders of magnitude in the universe of life\, explores the thresholds at which pitch becomes rhythm\, harmonic interval becomes beating rate\, and timbres morph over time. By offering an aural metaphor for the interacting gradual processes of quantum and cosmic systems\, Rewild’s pulsing\, breathing sonic ecosystem aims to auralize the vast and infinitesimal timescales we do not experience in everyday life. Catherine Lamb’s interius/exterius explores multi-dimensional harmonic space\, investigating how collective intentions or focal points allow various and sometimes unusual pathways to emerge. As the group links together in phase\, the greater web of activity aligns intention and desire within a community of musicians sounding together\, the initiation of sound constantly shifting\, unfolding new sonic dimensions. \nPROGRAM \nBen Richter: Rewild \nCatherine Lamb: interius/exterius \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nGhost Ensemble fosters groundbreaking music that blurs borders of genre\, style\, and scene\, expanding perceptual horizons through shared immersive experience. Collaboration with living composers is its primary focus. Since its 2012 inception\, the ensemble has performed over 100 works and commissioned 34 new compositions by a diverse range of highly original composers who share a belief in music’s potential for individual and community transformation. Rethinking the norms of composer/performer collaboration\, Ghost Ensemble conducts innovative workshops to nurture adventurous new music over the course of multiple seasons. The resulting work often draws from contemporary classical\, experimental chamber music\, avant-garde jazz\, environmental sound art\, and territories in between. Critics have praised Ghost Ensemble performances as “prodigious … a thrilling listen” (Christian Carey\, Sequenza21)\, “wonderful work … both exhilarating and a bit scary” (Peter Margasak\, Bandcamp Daily)\, “beautifully performed and recorded … a body-felt sound mass … a multifaceted texture that evokes the primeval” (Meg Wilhoite\, Sound Meets Sound)\, and “cloudy\, mysterious\, and dark … Beckettian in its slow spread … certainly a group to keep an eye on” (Brian Olewnick\, Just Outside).\nwww.ghostensemble.org \nBen Richter is a composer\, accordionist\, and founding Artistic & Executive Director of Ghost Ensemble. Inspired by nonhuman consciousness\, Ben’s immersive\, gradually evolving compositions seek new orders of magnitude in musical parameters to mark humanity’s transient yet vital role within the immensity of geologic time. A student of Pauline Oliveros\, Ben also explores the extended microtonal and timbral potential of the accordion in solo works such as Panthalassa: Dream Music of the Once and Future Ocean\, hailed as “likely to offer a profound impact on the very nature of listening” (Stephen Smoliar\, The Rehearsal Studio).\nwww.benrichtermusic.com \nCatherine Lamb is an active composer exploring the interaction of tone\, summations of shapes and shadows\, phenomenological expansions\, the architecture of the liminal\, and the long introduction form. She began her musical life early\, later abandoning the conservatory in 2003 to study Hindustani music in Pune\, India. She received her BFA in 2006 under James Tenney and Michael Pisaro at CalArts in Los Angeles\, where she first developed her research into the interaction of tone. She mentored under the experimental filmmaker/Dhrupad musician Mani Kaul until his death in 2011. In 2012 she received her MFA in music/sound from the Milton Avery School of Fine Arts at Bard College in New York. She toured Shade/Gradient extensively and was awarded the Henry Cowell Research Fellowship to work with Eliane Radigue in Paris. In 2013 Lamb relocated to Berlin\, Germany where she lives currently\, and has written for ensembles such as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra\, Konzert Minimal\, Dedalus\, Ensemble neoN\, the London Contemporary Orchestra\, as well as the JACK Quartet\, while collaborating regularly with Marc Sabat\, Johnny Chang (Viola Torros)\, Bryan Eubanks\, and Rebecca Lane. In 2019 she co-founded the collectively oriented Harmonic Space Orchestra. She is a 2020 recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Composer’s prize\, a 2018 recipient of the Grants to Artists award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts\, a Staubach Fellow for the 2016 Darmstadt Summer course\, and a 2016-2017 Schloss Solitude Fellow. \nGhost Ensemble’s concerts with premieres by Catherine Lamb\, Sky Macklay\, and Miya Masaoka are presented\nwith the friendly support of URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/ghost-ensemble/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Bowerbird-Main-Img-56.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240417T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240417T210000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240401T144939Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240421T175449Z UID:10001228-1713380400-1713387600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Opening Day: Baseball in Experimental Film and Video DESCRIPTION:”It’s a paradise of balls and bats” — George Kuchar \n  \nWhat does baseball mean to the experimental filmmaker? In the great taxonomy of American archetypes\, the jocks and the artists don’t tend to sit together at the same proverbial table. So it’s unsurprising that although baseball was the most popular American sport from the days of early cinema through at least the Vietnam War and an unquestionable symbol of Americanism\, film outside of the mainstream paid little attention to the sport. But it was only a matter of time until filmmakers would begin mining baseball and its iconography to tackle subjects that have always been near and dear to the American avant-garde: nationalism\, nostalgia\, masculinity\, identity\, and celebrity. \nIn honor of the beginning of the baseball season\, Opening Day presents five very different films and videos which use baseball as raw material. Pittsburgh-based filmmaker Brady Lewis playfully works with his town’s obsession with the Pirates and much more in a dense collage of references. Robert Breer\, one of the legends of hand drawn animation\, incorporated his youthful love of baseball into Bang!\, a kaleidoscopic hybrid of drawings\, animation\, film\, and video. In Breer’s hands baseball takes a role as a symbol of nostalgia and American boyhood. Sharon Couzin similarly uses baseball as a marker of nostalgia and boyhood but to very different effects. Cousin’s OdilonOdilon looks back at the swirl of cultural and political forces surrounding young Odilon coming of age in World War II. Vanalyne Green’s A Spy in the House that Ruth Built is a quintessential work of 1980s feminist video art\, deconstructing the male-dominated sport and desire for their bodies with a confessional edge. With Joe Dimaggio 1\, 2\, 3\, Anne McGuire takes the obsession with the icons Green intellectualizes and turns it pure Id as she stalks and sings to the elderly Hall of Famer around San Francisco. Without any knowledge that McGuire is following him and McGuire’s performative total lack of self-awareness\, Joe Dimaggio 1\, 2\, 3 is the missing link between the earlier generation of videography and the current “weirdo” strain of YouTube and Vine video art. \nCo-presented with Nightletter. \n\nPROGRAM\nBang! / Robert Breer / 1986 / 10 min / 16mm\nOdilonOdilon / Sharon Couzin / 1984 / 21 min / 16mm\nQuick Opener / Brady Lewis / 1987 / 5 min / 16mm\nA Spy in the House that Ruth Built / Vanalyne Green / 1990 / 29 min / Digital\nJoe Dimaggio 1\, 2\, 3 / Anne McGuire / 1991 / 11 min / Digital URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/opening-day/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Shiraz-Main-Bowerbird-Main-Img-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240410T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240410T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240117T154612Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240415T141134Z UID:10001220-1712779200-1712786400@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Bennardo-Larson Duo DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Bennardo-Larson Duo – violin and piano – at UniLu performing works by Anthony Vine and Maya Bennardo. \n\nPROGRAM \nAnthony Vine: Worshipful Company \nMaya Bennardo: dormant gardens \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nMaya Bennardo (she/her) is an active performer and composer living in Stockholm\, Sweden. Maya is interested in opening the dialogue and blurring the boundaries between composers and performers\, and is devoted to performing music of the present. She is a founding member of the violin/viola duo andPlay\, described by I Care If You Listen as “enthusiastic champions for new music and collaboration.” She is a member of the internationally acclaimed Mivos Quartet and also performs new and traditional repertoire for violin and piano with pianist Karl Larson in their Bennardo/Larson Duo. Maya’s compositions are characterized by slow\, unfolding timbral movements–exploring the co-existence of pitch and noise. Her compositions have grown naturally out of her improvisational practice on the violin\, and the two continue to inform each other. This season Maya is composing new works for NoExit + andPlay\, Lamnth\, Alkemie + Amanda Gookin\, Bennardo/Larson Duo\, and a new long-form piece for solo violin. \nKarl Larson is a Brooklyn-based pianist and specialist in the music of our time. A devoted supporter of contemporary composers and their craft\, Larson has built a career grounded in commissioning and long-term collaborations. He frequently performs in a variety of chamber music settings\, most notably with his trio\, Bearthoven\, a piano / bass / percussion ensemble focussed on cultivating a diverse new repertoire for their instrumentation. As a soloist\, Larson is known for championing the works of his peers and the recent canon alike\, often gravitating towards long-form\, reflective works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through his work with Bearthoven\, collaborations with a wide variety of chamber musicians\, and his solo projects\, Larson has helped to generate a large body of new work\, resulting in world premiere performances of pieces by notable composers including David Lang\, Sarah Hennies\, Chris Cerrone\, and Michael Gordon. \nAnthony Vine is a composer and guitarist living in Brooklyn. He creates music about spirituality\, beauty\, and acoustics. His work across different media—performance\, installation\, and sound sculpture—is minimal yet acoustically rich and deeply emotive. Currently his imagination is most at ease with medieval liturgical and devotional music. His recent work has been inspired by medieval motets\, church acoustics\, the sound of prayer\, and how medieval notation communicates to the eye and ear. These projects range from hagiographic concertos to archaeoacoustic research. His music has been presented by Blank Forms\, Carnegie Hall\, Gaudeamus Muziekweek\, Lévy Gorvy\, The Metropolitan Museum of Art\, Musiikin Aika\, Pioneer Works\, Transit Festival\, and Ultima Festival\, and performed by Alarm Will Sound\, AndPlay\, Quatuor Bozzini\, Bearthoven\, Dudok Kwartet\, Gareth Davis\, Duo Axis\, Madison Greenstone\, Hotel Elefant\, Mari Kawamura\, The La Jolla Symphony and Chorus\, David Lackner\, Will Lang\, Karl Larson\, loadbang\, longleash\, The Minnesota Orchestra\, Ensemble Modelo62\, Palimpsest\, The Rhythm Method\, Steven Schick\, Trio SurPlus\, and Yarn/Wire. Recordings of his music have been released on Cantaloupe\, Galtta Media\, and Yarn/Wire’s imprint. \n\n URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/bennardo-larson-duo/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-59.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240330T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240330T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240108T165707Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240401T145018Z UID:10001217-1711814400-1711836000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Shiraz Panorama DESCRIPTION:TICKET PRE-SALES HAVE ENDED. TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR. \nThe Shiraz Arts Festival was a platform for cultural exchange that brought together artists from around the world to share and celebrate their diverse artistic expressions. One notable event from the festival was the “Stockhausen Panorama” in 1972\, which celebrated the work of the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen through a series of multiple concerts. Our “Shiraz Panorama” celebrates that legacy through the rich lens of Philadelphia’s vibrant performing arts community. Mina Zarfsaz & Eugene Lew will present a new work inspired by the Persian poem “The Conference of the Birds\,” followed by a gallery tour with curator Vali Mahlouji. Traditional Indian classical Bharatanatyam dance will be performed by USILOQUY DANCE\, and the evening will include a cultural debate with special guests. Jupiter Blue\, featuring members of Sun Ra Arkestra\, will captivate with guitar and vocals\, leading to traditional Balinese music and dance by Gamelan Gita Santi x Modero & Company\, and a striking performance of Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza III per voce” (1965) by Alize Rozsnyai. Experimental percussion by Shakoor Hakeem & Pete Angevine\, Toshi Makihara’s unique fusion of percussion and dance\, and traditional Korean percussion by Uriol우리얼 will round out this vibrant celebration of world arts. \nThis event runs from 4pm to 10pm\, and the exhibition will be open this day from 2pm to 10pm.   \n\nSCHEDULE\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\nTIME\nTHEATER\nGALLERIES\n\n\n4:00 PM\n7 VALLEYS: REWIND/REWILD\nMina Zarfsaz & Eugene Lew perform a new work inspired by the Persian poem “The Conference of the Birds”\n\n\n\n\n\nGALLERY TOUR\nwith “A Utopian Stage” curator Vali Mahlouji\n\n\n5:00 PM\nUSILOQUY DANCE\ntraditional Indian classical Bharatanatyam dance\n\n\n\n\n\nA CULTURAL ATLAS DEBATE\nwith Vali Mahlouji and Peter Crimmins\n\n\n6:00 PM\nJUPITER BLUE\nguitar and vocals from members of Sun Ra Arkestra\n\n\n\n\n\nBREAK\n\n\n7:00 PM\nGAMELAN GITA SANTI x MODERO & COMPANY\ntraditional Balinese music and dance\n\n\n\n\n\nALIZE ROZSNYAI\nperforming Luciano Berio “Sequenza III per voce” (1965)\n\n\n8:00 PM\nUNIVERSAL RHYTHM\nExperimental rhythm & drone with percussion & electronics – Pete Angevine and Shakoor Hakeem\, percussion\, Chris Powell  and Manna Pourrezaei\, drones\n\n\n\n\n\nTOSHI MAKIHARA\nsolo drum improvisation\n\n\n9:00 PM\nURIOL우리얼\ntraditional Korean percussion ensemble\n\n\n\n\n\nADDITIONAL INFORMATION: \nEach performance will be approximately 30mins.  All start times are approximate and subject to change. Only one act will be performing at a time. \nPerformances will take place in the Theater and Galleries and audiences will be asked to move to different spaces through out the event. \nA single general admission ticket is good for one individual for the whole day.  Audiences may arrive or depart at any time they wish.  Re-entry (with provided wristband) will be permitted. \n  \n\nThis event is part of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \nPictured above: Mantra\, for two Pianos\, Karlheinz Stockhausen (composer)\, Alfons Kontarsky\, Aloys Kontarsky (pianists) – Saray-e Moshir\, 1972; Courtesy Stockhausen-Stiftung für Musik / Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n7 Valleys: REWIND/REWILD\nInspired by the Seven Valleys of Attar of Nishapur’s “Conference of the Birds\,” a renowned Persian literary masterpiece\, and the conservation concept of “Rewilding\,” this collaborative performance by Mina Zarfsaz & Eugene Lew synthesizes a multi-sensory space that revolves around the semiotics of social interactions among multi-species.\n\n\n\nUSILOQUY\nUsiloquy Dance Designs creates traditional and contemporary cross-cultural works rooted in the technique of Indian classical dance style Bharatanatyam. Founded in 2008 by Artistic Director Shaily Dadiala\, Philadelphia-based Usiloquy applies Bharatanatyam embracing new modalities of an ancient arts form.\nDancers: Aney Abraham\, Ankita Reddy\, Asavari Scarff\, Meghna Gummadi\, Shaily Dadiala.\n\n\n\nJupiter Blue\nFrom the Sun Ra Arkestra’s engine room\, Jupiter Blue’s tone scientists DM Hotep and Jupiter Girl (Tara Middleton) emerge to reveal elements and precepts of another kind of language\, another tomorrow. Their collaboration is interstellar and unique\, granting passage through spacious\, jazz textured sonorties informed by Ra’s ever necessary mission of saving the world.\n\n\n\nGamelan Gita Santi x Modero & Company\nGamelan Gita Santi is a community-based music ensemble and class led by Gapura\, the Indonesian community non-profit. The group offers free weekly classes for the Indonesian community in South Philadelphia\, catering to individuals aged 6 years and older. Tom Whitman of Swarthmore College leads the group\, which also collaborates with Modero & Company\, a dance company founded by Sinta Penyami Storms. Gita Santi hosts spring and fall concerts for the public and performs at the annual Indonesian Festival\, The Island Country.\n\n\n\nAlize Francheska Rozsnyai\nAlize Francheska Rozsnyai coloratura soprano and graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music “displaying profound imagination and control” (Philadelphia Inquirer)\, building a diverse and exciting performance career as a classical soprano with a “superb voice” (Harrogate News) which is “sparkling” (ArtBlog)\, all while serving up “deliciously diva performances” (I CARE IF YOU LISTEN). This season she appears with St. Petersburg Opera as an Emerging Artist and cover for Morgana in Handel’s Alcina\, is part of the development as Five Ways to Die with Experiments in Opera NYC\, and makes her role debut as Frasquita in Carmen with Boheme Opera NJ. Ms. Rozsnyai has performed with Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro\, Den Nye Opera in Bergen\, Norway\, Opera Philadelphia\, San Diego Opera\, Chautauqua Opera\, Seattle Symphony [Untitled 3] Series\, Carnegie Hall\, The Kennedy Center\, Opera Fayetteville\, Center for Contemporary Opera\, The Cape Cod Symphony\, and favorite role credits include Adina (l’elisir d’amore)\, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare)\, Hilda (Elegy for Young Lovers-Henze)\, and Ilia (Idomeneo).\n\n\n\nUniversal Rhythm\nUniversal Rhythm is the catchall title for the always-in-flux musical expression of brothers in percussion\, Shakoor Hakeem and Pete Angevine.\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.Pete Angevine works independently as a creative producer with a constellation of individuals and organizations in fields such as life sciences\, farmer cooperatives\, public art\, and experimental music.He has helped to develop and create many creative projects including musical albums\, experimental theater\, Ice Cream dreams\, public history themed augmented reality apps\, art exhibitions\, a Wide Range of Popular and Avant Garde Musics\, free food for the people\, murals\, watershed science infused walking tours\, two beloved children\, interactive sound sculptures\, historically interpretive artist-designed miniature golf holes\, psychedelic ceremonies\, gongs\, and more.\n\n\n\nToshi Makihara\nToshi Makihara’s performance utilizes traditional percussion with a variety of discovered sound media\, everyday objects and toys. Through a rigorous\, systematic\, and practiced process of experimentation\, Makihara seeks out sounds that have never been heard before\, experimenting with touch\, force\, and speed\, and always remaining aware of sound’s relationship to the body. Makihara studied drums and percussion with Sabu Toyozumi\, a renowned improvising percussionist in Tokyo. He has also studied butoh with dance master Kazuo Ohno and others.\n\n\n\nURIOL우리얼\nFounded in 2018\, URIOL(우리얼) is a traditional Korean percussion ensemble based in Philadelphia. URIOL began as a Samulnori group and continues to explore and create new music for traditional percussion instruments. Hyunjin Cha\, artistic director of URIOL\, has been a performer and director of programming & operations for Dulsori\, a world-renowned Korean world music ensemble that has appeared in over 54 countries and prestigious festivals such as WOMAD\, Edinburgh Fringe Festival\, and Roskilde Rock Festival. URIOL’s music is for anyone and everyone\, based on the traditional Korean performance of ‘Pungmul’\, ‘Minyo’\, and ‘Chukjae’. During the performance\, we play and dance to wish for our happiness and hopes to be fulfilled. As you become one with the performers\, enjoying and applauding\, you will feel a magical sensation.\n\n\n\nPeter Crimmins\nPeter Crimmins has been reporting on arts and culture for WHYY News since 2010\, reporting stories on a wide variety of cultural topics\, from artist profiles to community initiatives to philanthropic funding trends. He started his career in the San Francisco Bay Area\, cutting his teeth at community station KALX and producing syndicated radio programming for Ben Manilla Productions. He lives in Fishtown with his wife and dogs.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMajor support for A Utopian Stage has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.. Presented in collaboration with Asian Arts Initiative and Fire Museum Presents URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/shiraz-panorama-a-utopian-stage/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-A-Utopian-Stage-PANORAMA-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240329T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240329T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240108T164524Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240517T202451Z UID:10001216-1711742400-1711749600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Contemporary Persian Poetry and Music DESCRIPTION:Composer/performers Mahya Hamedi and Sepehr Pirasteh unite their talents with the Shiraz Ensemble and the Arcana New Music Ensemble to craft an enchanting evening celebrating Contemporary Persian Poetry and Music. With poems curated by Fatemeh Shams\, the event will immerse audiences in the depth of Iran’s poetic legacy while capturing the spirit of the contemporary moment. \nHarking back to the inception of the Shiraz Arts Festival in 1967\, the platform played a pivotal role in showcasing Iran’s vibrant community of poets and musicians. A recital of “Contemporary Persian Poetry\,” the inaugural year paid homage to literary giants Hafez and Sa’di and living poets took the stage to recite their own verses.  The venerable Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar\, Iran’s eldest living poet\, debuted a new poem in honor of the Festival. The poetic event took place at Hafeziyeh\, the final resting place of the esteemed Persian poet Hafez. \nParallel to the poets’ engagement with both historical and contemporary themes\, composers at the Shiraz Arts Festival drew inspiration from a fusion of past and present elements. Noteworthy figures from the Euro-American avant garde\, such as Karlheinz Stockhausen\, Iannis Xenakis\, Olivier Messiaen\, Bruno Maderna\, John Cage\, David Tudor\, and Morton Feldman\, were featured at the festival.  Proposals for a significant arts center\, encompassing electronic music and recording studios\, were planned but were thwarted by the onset of the Revolution. Nevertheless\, the festival left an indelible mark on Iran’s contemporary and experimental music scene\, shaping its trajectory in enduring ways. \n\nPROGRAM \nFarzia Fallah (b. 1980): Posht-e Hichestan for solo flute \nAida Shirazi (b. 1987): ephemera for clarinet and percussion \nAnahita Abbasi (b. 1985): Situation IV/Io E iO for solo violin \nArcana New Music Ensemble\nNicholas Handahl\, flute\nJonathan Leeds\, clarinet\nAndy Thierauf\, percussion\nCarlos Santiago – violin \n~ INTERMISSION ~ \nMahya Hamedi\nShiraz Ensemble\nNooshin Nowrouzi\, kamancheh\nSepehr Pirasteh\, alto kamancheh\nSina Homaee\, santoor \nperforming new works based on poetry selections by Fatemeh Shams. \n  \n\nThis event is part of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \nPictured above: Shahr-e Qesseh (City of Tales)\, Bijan Mofid (playwright & director); from left: Soheil Souzani\, Mehdi Ali Beigi\, Jamileh.Nedai\, Mahmood Ostad Mohamad\, Rashid Kanaani\, commissioned by the Festival\, University Hall\, 1968. Courtesy of Dariush Hajir / Afshin Mofid / Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nMahya Hamedi (born 1999) is an Iranian vocalist\, pianist\, and composer from Tehran. Singing and playing the piano since the age of nine\, Mahya realized quickly that music was her lifelong passion. Her early compositions for theatre won local and national awards\, and she has performed in groups across Iran and in Greece before university. Unable to pursue studies in vocal performance in her home country due to a national ban on women singing\, she studied classical piano at the University of Tehran for two years before traveling to Berklee to focus on voice and composition. Mahya’s recorded works are highly syncretic\, fusing Iranian folk music with contemporary jazz pop\, and classical music showcasing her powerful and versatile voice. \nSepehr Pirasteh is a composer and conductor born in Shiraz\, Iran. His compositions draw on Persian classical and folk as well as contemporary classical music vocabularies to express his concerns and fears about the political and social realities of the world we are living in. Sepehr’s works have been performed by ensembles such as Argus String Quartet\, PRISM saxophone quartet\, Pushback Ensemble\, Unheard-of Ensemble\, Orquestra Criança Cidadã\, Hole in the Floor\, fivebyfive\, and members of the Fifth House Ensemble. He has been commissioned by Susan Horvath Chamber Music\, ENA chamber opera ensemble\, Philadelphia Student Composers Project\, Detroit Composers’ Project\, YInMn project\, Pushback Collective\, Fresh Inc. Festival\, Yara Ensemble\, Central Michigan University’s (CMU) Percussion Ensemble\, and the CMU Saxophone Ensemble. His music has been performed in Argentina\, Brazil\, Iran and the United States. Sepehr has also been a fellow in festivals and residencies such as Harvard University’s Fromm Foundation Fellowship (Composers Conference)\, CCI Initiative\, and Fresh Inc Festival. \nDr. Fatemeh Shams is a Persian poet\, literary scholar\, and translator. She currently teaches Persianate literature and history at the University of Pennsylvania and is a core faculty member of the Gender\, Sexuality\, and Women’s Studies Program. Her work focuses on the intersection of literature\, politics\, and society. Fatemeh is interested in the evolution of poetry and patronage in the Persian literary tradition and the representation and transformation of this relationship in modern Iran. She previously taught poetry at Oxford and SOAS Universities in the UK. She has published three award-winning poetry collections in Persian and English. In her academic research\, she concentrates on the intersection of poetry and politics in past and present Iran. Her book\, Revolution in Rhyme: Poetic Co-Option Under Islamic Republic (Oxford University Press)\, explores the role of poetry and poetics in the political ideology of the Islamic Republic. \nShiraz Ensemble embodies a global perspective\, combining their roles as citizens of the world and passionate artists to shed light on crucial socio-political matters through art. Drawing inspiration from their personal journeys as immigrants from Iran to the United States\, they channel their experiences into a transformative musical narrative. Blending contemporary classical music with the rich traditions of Iran\, Shiraz Ensemble aims to engage audiences and promote cultural understanding by fusing different musical aesthetics. Founded in Philadelphia\, Shiraz Ensemble takes its name from the ancient city of Shiraz in Iran\, a place of birth and upbringing for both its founders\, Sina Homaee (santoor and tombak) and Sepehr Pirasteh. \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. \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\nMajor support for A Utopian Stage has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.. Presented in collaboration with Asian Arts Initiative\, Fire Museum Presents and Philly Iranians URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/contemporary-persian-poetry-and-music-a-utopian-stage/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/A-Utopian-Stage-Shahr-e-Qesseh-City-of-Tales.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240320T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240320T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231120T183747Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240318T150451Z UID:10001212-1710964800-1710972000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:POSTPONED: Ensemble Pamplemousse DESCRIPTION:Photo by Joe Lamberti \nTHIS CONCERT IS POSTPONED. STAY TUNED FOR A NEW DATE \n  \nBowerbird is thrilled to bring Ensemble Pamplemousse back to UniLu featuring new works performed and composed by David Broome\, Natacha Diels\, Andrew Greenwald\, and Bryan Jacobs. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS:\nComposer/performer collective Ensemble Pamplemousse was founded in 2003 to provide a focal point for like-minded creators with a thirst for sonic exploration. The ensemble is a close-knit group of divergent artistic personalities\, emergent from training in disparate musical fields. Their collective love for the exquisite in all sonic realms leads the ensemble to persistently discover new vistas of sound at the frayed edges of dissective instrumental performance technique. Compositions aggregate each member’s unique virtuosic talents into extraordinary magical moments. In the flexible moments of performance\, the ensemble weaves together shapes of resonance\, clusters of glitch\, skitters of hyper action\, and masses of absurdity into impeccable structures of unified beauty. \nwww.pamplemoussies.bandcamp.com/album/shadows \n\n\n\n  \n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/ensemble-pamplemousse/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Bowerbird-Main-Img-57.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240315T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240315T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240205T160435Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240318T150351Z UID:10001222-1710532800-1710540000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Kaffe Matthews DESCRIPTION:Photo: Katharina Hauke \nBowerbird is pleased to present Berlin-based British music maker Kaffe Matthews at The Rotunda with opening set by Spectral Forces. \n  \nABOUT THE ARTIST \nKaffe Matthews is a pioneering music maker who works live with space\, data\, things\, and place to make new electroacoustic composition. Site\, accessibility and the physical experience of this music has always been central to her approach and so she has also invented some unique interfaces – the sonic armchair\, the sonic bed and a variety of sonic bikes which enable new paths into composition for makers\, and ways in to listening for wide ranging audiences. In 2021 she developed the breathing Enviro Bike to enable riders to hear music made by the pollution of the air as they ride. Summer 2022 saw the Buzz Bike in street compositional research in Berlin\, now ready to make new vibrational composition. Today\, she is back live on stage with no laptop. Instead a new DIY instrument the Ripley\, a noise filter system designed on alchemical discoveries made by G.Ripley\, a 15th British alchemist\, flanked by 2 processing ipads. \nSpectral Forces\, a Philadelphia based trio of Pete Dennis (bass)\, Julius Masri (drums)\, and Alex Smith (keys and words)\, brings triangulated octohedronal hysteria\, wired nexus and timpanic atom bathe! the new wave in mystic sonic structure. \n\n \nKaffe Matthews · Finding Languages URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/kaffe-matthews/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-Main-Img-63.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240309T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240309T180000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240214T022647Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240311T143005Z UID:10001223-1709992800-1710007200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:A Utopian Stage Film Marathon DESCRIPTION:Beginning in its inaugural year in 1967\, the Shiraz Arts Festival treated audiences to daily film screenings\, drawing enthusiastic crowds\, particularly among the younger demographic. Initially held at the Paramount and Capri cinemas\, the festival later found its home at the Ariana Theatre\, a state-of-the-art venue owned and operated by filmmaker Shahrokh Golestan\, a native of Shiraz. The festival’s diverse lineup encompassed both classic and contemporary works\, ranging from retrospectives of esteemed directors like Brook\, Bergman\, Buñuel\, and Satyajit Ray to screenings of cutting-edge films by emerging Iranian talents and international auteurs. \nOne of the festival’s defining features was its thematic programming\, which showcased a wide array of genres and topics. In 1970\, for example\, the festival delved into the theme of ‘theatre and ritual\,’ presenting unfiltered glimpses of African rituals through the lens of French filmmaker Jean Rouch. Similarly\, thematic showcases such as the 1975 presentation of musicals from Hollywood’s Golden Age and the 1977 exploration of Japanese cinema’s historical significance enriched the festival’s offerings and expanded its cultural impact. \nOf particular note in the festival’s history was the premiere of Sergei Parajanov’s masterwork\, “The Color of Pomegranates\,” which took place amid significant anticipation and defiance of Soviet censorship. This groundbreaking film\, along with other daring and thought-provoking selections like “Grass” and “Heir to Genghis Khan\,” solidified the Shiraz Arts Festival’s reputation for showcasing groundbreaking cinema from around the world. Through its bold programming choices and pioneering spirit\, the festival played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of Iranian cinema and leaving a lasting mark on the global film landscape. \nThis program features three films shown back to back. Opening the afternoon is William Greaves’ “The First World Festival of Black Arts”\, a documentary film that celebrates a Shiraz-like festival that took place in the Senegalese capital of Dakar in 1966. Next shown will be a film shown at the Shiraz Arts Festival: Sergei Parajanov’s “The Color of Pomegranates”\, a visually stunning exploration of the life and work of the Armenia poet Sayat-Nova. And closing the afternoon will be another film shown at the Shiraz Arts Festival – “Dayereh-ye Mina”\, a film by Dariush Mehrjui\, an Iranian filmmaker who was assassinated in October 2023. \n\n  \nPROGRAM \n2:00pm: The First World Festival Of Negro Arts (Dir. William Greaves\, American\, 1966\, 40min)\n2:45pm: The Color of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov\, 1969\, Armenian\, Georgian\, 78 min)\n4:00pm: Dayereh-ye Mina / The Mina Cycle (Dariush Mehrjui\, 1975\, Iran\, 101 min) \n\nThis event is part of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \n\nABOUT THE FILMS \nThe First World Festival of Negro Arts (1968) 40 minutes  \nWriter/Director: William Greaves\nProducer: Motion Picture and Television Service of the United States Information Agency\nCinematographer: Georges Bracher\, William Greaves\nCourtesy William Greaves Productions  \nWilliam Greaves (1926 – 2014) was a Harlem-born American documentary filmmaker\, writer\, producer and a pioneer of African American filmmaking. His film The First World Festival of Negro Arts is a Black history treasure and documents the landscape of the seminal performance festival held in Dakar\, Senegal\, in 1966\, one year prior to the inauguration of Shiraz-Persepolis. The festivals at Dakar and Shiraz-Persepolis shared a similar decolonising ethos. The film was officially commissioned to document the events that attracted over two thousand writers\, artists and performers from Africa and the African diaspora\, including: Duke Ellington\, Langston Hughes\, Alvin Ailey\, Aime Cesaire\, Leopold Senghor and other artists\, performers and dignitaries from thirty countries.  \nGreaves began his career as a Broadway actor and a member of The Actor’s Studio. He later served as executive producer and co-host of the Black Journal television programme for which he was awarded an Emmy in 1970. His recent film\, Ralph Bunche:  An American Odyssey (2001)\, documents the life and historic achievements of Dr. Ralph Johnson Bunche (1903-1971) the legendary African American Nobel prize-winning\, scholar turned statesman who contributed to international diplomacy\, decolonization\, peacekeeping\, and human rights in pre-civil rights America. His film From these Roots (1974) provides an in-depth study of the Harlem Renaissance. \n  \n\nThe Color of Pomegranates (1969) 78 minutes \nWriter/Director: Sergei Paradjanov\nEditors: Sergei Parajanov\, M. Ponomarenko\, S. Yutkevich\nCinematographer: Suren Shakhbazyan\nCourtesy Parajanov-Vartanov Institute. \nSergei Paradjanov (1924 – 1990)was a Soviet film director of Armenian descent who made a substantial contribution to Soviet cinematography through Ukrainian\, Armenian and Georgian cinema. He pioneered his own cinematic style by stepping outside socialist realism\, which was the only sanctioned art style within the USSR. His filmmaking and controversial lifestyle meant he was persecuted with his films regularly banned by Soviet authorities between 1965 and 1973.  \nThe Color of Pomegranates is based\, in part\, on the life and poetry of the eighteenth-century Armenian poet\, Sayat Nova (‘The King of Song’). Sergei Parajanov writes\, directs\, edits\, choreographs\, designs and creates every aspect of the film. It remains a masterpiece of cinema on account of being devoid of dialogue or camera movement and for its alluring imagery. The film was not seen internationally until 1977 due to Soviet censorship. It was screened at the Festival of Arts\, Shiraz-Persepolis in 1976 and subsequently smuggled to Paris where it was received to great acclaim. \n  \n\n  \n\nDayereh-ye Mina / The Cycle (1975) 101 minutes \nWriter/Director: Dariush Mehrjui \nDariush Mehrjui (1939 – 2023) was an Iranian filmmaker and a member of the Iranian Academy of the Arts. Mehrjui was a founding member of the Iranian New Wave movement of the early 1970s\, which also included directors Masoud Kimiai and Nasser Taqvai. His second film\, The Cow (1969)\, is considered to be the first film of this movement. Most of his films are inspired by literature and adapted from Iranian and foreign novels and plays. \nDayereh-ye Mina / The Cycle\, a harrowing tale of poverty and drug addiction in the slums in which people desperately sell their blood to survive\, is based on Gholam-Hossein Sa’dei’s short story “Garbage Dump.” Banned due to objections from the Iranian Medical Association\, The Cycle was shelved for three years before it was eventually shown at the Shiraz Arts Festival. The left saw the story of the poor selling contaminated blood for injection into new veins as a metaphor for the corruption of Pahlavis. For Mehrjui\, however\, this was more a candid investigation of a real problem\, and it eventually helped inspire the formation of the Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization. The casting of the popular filmfarsi star Forouzan was controversial\, but her fine performance proved the versatility of Iranian actors. \n\n\n\nMajor support for A Utopian Stage has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/a-utopian-stage-film-marathon/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Bowerbird-Main-Img-11.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240308T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240308T210000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240214T022830Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240309T183326Z UID:10001225-1709920800-1709931600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Moniro Ravanipour and Fatemeh Shams DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird and Philly Iranians\, a volunteer-led\, non-partisan\, multi-faith coalition of Iranians and allies in the greater Philadelphia area advocating for a free Iran\, are pleased to co-present an evening with Moniro Ravanipour and Fatemeh Shams in celebration of International Women’s Day. Join us for an event where Ravanipour and Shams\, two esteemed Iranian authors\, will share excerpts from their work and engage in discussions about the profound role of literature in offering unique perspectives on resilience and compassion through the lens of the Iranian identity\, especially amidst today’s challenging social landscape. This event aims to create a space that fosters unity and empathy while reflecting on the uncertainties facing the Iranian people. \n Please note the early start time. All proceeds from this event support Philly Iranians and their work. \n\nThis event is happening on the occasion of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition about the Shiraz Arts Festival on view at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \n\nABOUT THE SPEAKERS \nMoniro Ravanipour is an Iranian American internationally acclaimed\, innovative writer\, activist\, and poet currently living in Nevada. Ravanipour was among seventeen activists to face trial in Iran for their participation in the 2000 Berlin Conference\, where she was accused of taking part in “anti-Iran propaganda”. Copies of her current work have in fact been stripped from bookstores in Iran. Ravanipour is the author of many novels\, short stories and memoirs such as The Drowned\, Heart of Steel\, Gypsy by Fire\, These Crazy Nights\, and An Angel on Earth\, to name a few. With much of her writing fueled by her Iranian identity and imaginative mind\, her work ranges from children’s stories\, short stories\, novels\, and screenplays. Her short stories have been published in various anthologies\, including the PEN International Anthology of Contemporary Iranian Literature. With several of her works translated into multiple languages\, Ravanipour’s bestselling short fiction collections include Kanizu and Satan’s Stones. \nFatemeh Shams is a poet\, intersectional feminist activist\, and associate professor of Persian literature at the University of Pennsylvania. An internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet\, her work engages the fundamental struggles of her era: tyranny\, sexual violence\, bodily autonomy\, alienation\, forced displacement\, and loss of the mother tongue. Writing in a wide range of forms from classic styles to prose poetry\, Shams constantly moves beyond rigid boundaries of form and language to write about hunting memories of childhood and coming of age in her hometown and the experience of living in exile and her struggle for gender justice. Her literary honors and awards include Jaleh Esfahani Poetry Award in 2013\, Latifeh Yarshater Prize in 2016\, Poetry International Chapbook Prize in 2023 among others. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/moniro-ravanipour-and-fatemeh-shams/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Bowerbird-Main-Img-16.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240214T193000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240214T213000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231127T182321Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240219T152101Z UID:10001211-1707939000-1707946200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Alash Ensemble 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.* \n\n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/alash-ensemble-2024/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Bowerbird-Main-Img-54.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240210T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240210T200000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240108T170958Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240821T153554Z UID:10001218-1707589800-1707595200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Xenakis: Persepolis DESCRIPTION:In 1971\, the Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001) was commissioned to create a piece for the opening day of the fifth edition of the Shiraz Arts Festival. The event commemorated the 2500th anniversary of the founding of the Persian Empire and took place at the ruins of Persepolis\, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (~550 – 330 BCE)\, situated about 45 miles northeast of the modern city of Shiraz. Xenakis created a site-specific\, open-air spectacle called “Polytope de Persepolis”. The original performance included a 55-minute long 8-track electroacoustic composition distributed over 59 speakers\, two laser beams\, army searchlights\, a choreography of 150 children carrying torches and several large bonfires on the surrounding hills facing the ruins. \nFor this event we have collaborated with the LA-based listening non-profit BLACK HOLE to present a special new rendering of “Persepolis”. This event\, under the sound direction of Micah Silver\, offers a rare chance to hear Xenakis’ original source audio material in a multi-speaker arrangement specifically devised for the Asian Arts Initiative Theater. \n\nLISTENING SESSIONS \nApproximate 60 min run time. Limited space available. Advanced tickets required. \nSaturday\, February 10th @ 6:30 pm: Buy Tickets\nSaturday\, February 10th @ 8:00 pm: Buy Tickets \n\nThis event is part of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \nPictured above: Iannis Xenakis in preparations for the premiere of “Persepolis” music and light spectacle\, at the ancient ruins of Persepolis\, 1971. (World Premiere\, festival commission for the opening event); Courtesy Les Amis de Xenakis / Archaeology of the Final Decade Archives \n\nA NOTE ABOUT THIS PROJECT \nAs is true with much of Xenakis’ “Polytopes”\, this ritualistic\, site-dependant and intersensory performance fully resists documentation\, substantive “re-presentation” or interpretation. In spite of this\, and with almost nobody alive having experienced it directly\, it remains an influential work of art\, more legend than anything else. \nThis is not unique to this work or Xenakis\, but is a common problem with audio works that can’t be distributed easily as stereo media products by the record industry since the 1950s. For pieces like this\, how can we extend the research invested in these practices into the present without confusing them with more familiar tropes? How can we share the insights into music\, listening\, and composing with those looking to account for and build on this history? \nIn the case of “Persepolis”\, much can be learned from listening with and imagining through the fragmented partiality carried by the audio components of the work\, even absent the torchbearers\, lasers\, and tens of loudspeakers in an ancient ruin. This is especially true in the context of this exhibition\, where visitors are given tools to imagine its context of creation. \nBLACK HOLE takes as its point of departure that “listeners are the performers” – to emphasize that audio is not a carrier for a real or an original but a vehicle for our own projections and imagination\, to reflect on the way our attention is structured in time and space by this technology. Audio is a technology of representation not recreation. \nIn presenting a new rendering of audio from the work “Persepolis” we invite the audience to imagine the expanded possibilities of what audio can do – how it can alter a landscape and engage in the feelings and tactics of history\, myth\, and the pressures of the present. \n  \n\n\n\nMajor support for A Utopian Stage has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. Presented in collaboration with Asian Arts Initiative. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/xenakis-persepolis-a-utopian-stage/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-A-Utopian-Stage-XENAKIS-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240209T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240209T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20240108T162934Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240326T005249Z UID:10001215-1707508800-1707516000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Traditional Music from Korea and Iran DESCRIPTION:Inspired by the Shiraz Arts Festiva’s curatorial vision\, “Traditional Music from Korea and Iran” brings togethers two duos: Jung-Hee Oh\, a Korean music artist of “Gayageum Byeong-chang” (Solo zither performance with song) with Song Eun Shin\, who performs the 25 String Gayageum; and Mehrnam Rastegari\, a Persian master of the Kamancheh (an Iranian bowed string instrument\, with Jalal Kimia\, who performs the Iranian percussion instruments Daf and Tombak.   Iranian traditional music held a central role in the Shiraz Arts Festival’s programming. Prior to the festival\, large\, high-profile\, live performances of Iranian traditional music were rare – with performances primarily confined to private homes and small gatherings.   The inaugural 1967 festival showcased Iranian master musicians in multiple concerts at the picturesque Hafezieh (a memorial garden in Shiraz\, Iran\, housing the tomb of Hafez\, a 14th-century Persian poet).  By the following year\, Iranian music was also being featured alongside music from other cultures.  Programs such as “Traditional Music from India & Iran” or “Traditional Music from Morocco & Iran” invited audiences to hear connections and interplay between musical styles and instrumentations in ways that are still rare today. \n\nThis event is part of A UTOPIAN STAGE\, an exhibition at Asian Arts Initiative from February 9 to March 30\, 2024. \nPlease join us for the opening reception of “A Utopian Stage” before this concert (February 9th at 6pm). \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nMs. Jung-Hee Oh is a Korean traditional music artist in ‘Gayageum Byeong-chang’ (singing with self-accompaniment of the Gayageum instrument) and ‘Pansori’ (a traditional story-telling performed by a solo vocalist). Ms. Oh is recognized as a Korean government cultural ministry’s intangible cultural property No. 23 in Gayageum with song and ‘Sanjo.’ She had performances in numerous significant musical events and was featured as the main guest in many Korean Cultural events in prominent institutions. She received her master’s degree in Korean music from Chung-Ang University in Seoul Korea. She currently serves as the music director of the music band G-Hwaja and performing artist based in NY & NJ metropolitan area. \nSong Eun Shin has established her reputation for her outstanding performance and detailed expressions of the unique musical language. In addition\, she has been a pioneer in spreading across the world the sound of Gayageum\, traditional Korean string instrument. She started to play Gayageum when she was 10 years old. She graduated from Korean National Traditional Arts High School and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Chung-Ang University with top honors. She won Seoul Gayageum Competition and has continued to advance her career through great concerts and performances\, including Shanghai Expo\, the G20 Summit\, and Hong Kong national holiday events. \nMehrnam Rastegari is a well-established Iranian music and film score composer\, singer\, violinist\, and master Kamancheh player. She has performed in concerts in more than ten countries\, including the United States\, Germany\, Switzerland\, France\, Finland\, Iran\, and Kazakhstan\, and music festivals such as the WOMEX World Music Expo\, Tampere\, Finland\, and the Fajr International Music Festival\, Tehran\, Iran. Mehrnam’s main instrument is the Kamancheh\, for which she has been recognized by some of the best Kamancheh performers and instructors globally\, who certified her as a master Kamancheh player. She was a guest speaker at the TEDx event Oasis: Existence in Nothingness. Additionally\, she composed the score for multiple award-winning films\, including Dispirited\, for which she won the Best Original Score Award at the Melbourne City Independent Film Awards (MCIFA)\, A Poetess\, presented at the Cannes Film Festival 2022\, and the Rotten\, nominated for the original score in Japan Kadoma Festival. \nJalal Kimia\, a talented Persian Percussionist\, was born and raised in Iran. He embarked on his musical journey by learning the famous Iranian frame drum\, Daf\, at an early age\, guided by Meysam Afshin and Behzad Mahjoobi. Later\, he felt compelled to learn the other main Persian percussion instrument\, Tombak\, and continued his training under Master Dariush Eshaghi and later continued his training with Master Pejman Hadadi\, further developing his skills as a percussionist. \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\nMajor support for A Utopian Stage has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia.. Presented in collaboration with Asian Arts Initiative\, Fire Museum Presents and Philly Iranians URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/traditional-music-from-korea-and-iran-a-utopian-stage/ LOCATION:Asian Arts Initiative\, 1219 Vine Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19107\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Bowerbird-A-Utopian-Stage-TRADITIONAL-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240121T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240121T160000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230817T165438Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240821T153514Z UID:10001199-1705845600-1705852800@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Bartok's Monster DESCRIPTION:The 7pm performance of “Bartok’s Monster” has been sold out. A 2pm performance has been added. \nInspired by Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in Two Movements\, by Jay Kirk \nThe “insightful and vibrant” (The New York Times) Daedalus Quartet returns to our stage with Bartok’s Monster\, a collaboration with Dan Rothenberg\, Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director of Pig Iron Theatre Company\, and Sebastienne Mundheim\, Founder/Artistic Director of White Box Theatre. A musical investigation into a missing string quartet\, this world premiere program by Penn’s exceptional quartet-in-residence takes inspiration from Penn English professor Jay Kirk’s Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in 2 Movements\, a book Gideon Lewis-Kraus described as “a vividly funny Gothic picaresque…and a dark\, self-consuming act of memoiristic alchemy.” \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nPraised by The New Yorker as “a fresh and vital young participant in what is a golden age of American string quartets\,” the Daedalus Quartet has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles. Since winning the top prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2001\, the Daedalus Quartet has impressed critics and listeners alike with the security\, technical finish\, interpretive unity\, and sheer gusto of its performances. The New York Times has praised the Daedalus Quartet’s “insightful and vibrant” Haydn\, the “impressive intensity” of their Beethoven\, their “luminous” Berg\, and the “riveting focus” of their Dutilleux. The Washington Post in turn has acclaimed their performance of Mendelssohn for its “rockets of blistering virtuosity\,” while the Houston Chronicle has described the “silvery beauty” of their Schubert and the “magic that hushed the audience” when they played Ravel\, the Boston Globe the “finesse and fury” of their Shostakovich\, the Toronto Globe and Mail the “thrilling revelation” of their Hindemith\, and the Cincinnati Enquirer the “tremendous emotional power” of their Brahms. \nJay Kirk is the author of Avoid the Day: A New Nonfiction in 2 Movements (Harper Perennial)\, which Helen Macdonald (H is for Hawk) said “truly seems to push nonfiction memoir as far as it can go without it collapsing into a singularity and I am at a loss for words. You are just going to have to read it.” His first book\, Kingdom Under Glass\, was picked by the Washington Post as one of the “Best Nonfiction Books of 2010.” His work has appeared in Harper’s\, GQ\, and The New York Times Magazine\, and has been widely anthologized in the Best American series. He is a recipient of a 2017 Whiting Writing Award\, a 2005 Pew Fellowship in the Arts\, and a finalist for the 2013 National Magazine Award for his story “Burning Man.” He is the founder and faculty adviser for Penn’s experimental nonfiction journal\, Xfic. \n\nBartok’s Monster is a co-presentation with Penn Live Arts and the Pig Iron School. \n\nSupport for Bartok’s Monster has been provided by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation and the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/bartoks-monster/ LOCATION:Annenberg Center\, Harold Prince Theater\, 3680 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-48.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240113T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240113T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20221128T215536Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240115T185522Z UID:10001181-1705176000-1705183200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:John Cage: Sonatas and Interludes DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a two night residency featuring pianist Adam Tendler. On the second evening Adam Tendler will be performing “Sonatas and Interludes”\, John Cage’s groundbreaking cycle for prepared piano. 2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the the work composed shortly after Cage’s introduction to Indian philosophy and the teachings of art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy\, both of which became major influences on the composer’s later work. Significantly more complex than his other works for prepared piano\, Sonatas and Interludes is generally recognized as one of Cage’s most important compositions. The cycle consists of sixteen sonatas (thirteen of which are cast in binary form\, the remaining three in ternary form) and four more freely structured interludes. \n  \nPROGRAM \nJohn Cage: Sonatas and Interludes  \n  \nABOUT THE ARTIST\nA recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists\, “currently the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)\, a “remarkable and insightful musician” (LA Times)\, and “relentlessly adventurous pianist” (Washington Post) “joyfully rocking out at his keyboard” (New York Times)\, Adam Tendler is an internationally recognized interpreter of living\, modern and classical composers. A pioneer of DIY culture in concert music who has commissioned and premiered major works by Christian Wolff and Devonté Hynes alike\, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty United States as part of a grassroots tour he called America 88×50\, which became the subject of his memoir\, 88×50\, a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award nominee. He has gone on to become one of classical and contemporary music’s most recognized and celebrated artists\, active as a soloist\, recording artist\, composer\, speaker and educator. He has curated and performed series for the Broad Museum and Little Island\, and in 2022 alone\, appeared as soloist at BAM and Carnegie Hall\, and with the LA Philharmonic. Tendler recently released an album of Liszt’s Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses on the Steinway Label\, Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records\, and published his second book\, tidepools. In 2022 he will premiere 16 newly commissioned works by composers including Laurie Anderson\, Nico Muhly\, Missy Mazzoli\, Christopher Cerrone\, Timo Andres and Pamela Z as part of a project called Inheritances. Adam Tendler is a Yamaha Artist. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/john-cage-sonatas-and-interludes/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/TendlerCage.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240112T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240112T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20221128T220554Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240115T185314Z UID:10001182-1705089600-1705096800@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Wolff: Fantail + Schumann: Carnaval DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a two night residency featuring pianist Adam Tendler. On the first evening Adam Tendler will perform the Philadelphia premiere of FANTAIL\, a new work by iconic American composer Christian Wolff. Commissioned by the pianist\, FANTAIL is a 22 movement\, unofficial response to Robert Schumann’s Carnaval\, and like Schumann’s legendary set\, a tour of Wolff’s musical laboratory and universe. Tendler will intersperse Wolff’s FANTAIL with Schumann’s Carnaval in a mash-up that puts both complete works\, and their composers\, in a fresh dialogue – reframing\, blurring\, even challenging our notions of what is classical and what is contemporary. \nPROGRAM \nRobert Schumann: Carnaval Op. 9 (1834-35)\nChristian Wolff: FANTAIL (22 pieces for a pianist) (2020) \nABOUT THE ARTIST\nA recipient of the Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists\, “currently the hottest pianist on the American contemporary classical scene” (Minneapolis Star Tribune)\, a “remarkable and insightful musician” (LA Times)\, and “relentlessly adventurous pianist” (Washington Post) “joyfully rocking out at his keyboard” (New York Times)\, Adam Tendler is an internationally recognized interpreter of living\, modern and classical composers. A pioneer of DIY culture in concert music who has commissioned and premiered major works by Christian Wolff and Devonté Hynes alike\, at age 23 Tendler performed solo recitals in all fifty United States as part of a grassroots tour he called America 88×50\, which became the subject of his memoir\, 88×50\, a Kirkus Indie Book of the Month and Lambda Literary Award nominee. He has gone on to become one of classical and contemporary music’s most recognized and celebrated artists\, active as a soloist\, recording artist\, composer\, speaker and educator. He has curated and performed series for the Broad Museum and Little Island\, and in 2022 alone\, appeared as soloist at BAM and Carnegie Hall\, and with the LA Philharmonic. Tendler recently released an album of Liszt’s Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses on the Steinway Label\, Robert Palmer: Piano Music on New World Records\, and published his second book\, tidepools. In 2022 he will premiere 16 newly commissioned works by composers including Laurie Anderson\, Nico Muhly\, Missy Mazzoli\, Christopher Cerrone\, Timo Andres and Pamela Z as part of a project called Inheritances. Adam Tendler is a Yamaha Artist. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/wolff-fantail-schumann-carnaval/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Bowerbird-Main-Img-14.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231215T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231215T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230828T163956Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231220T181507Z UID:10001202-1702670400-1702677600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:The Music of Sarah Hennies DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present a portrait concert of composer Sarah Hennies performed by the Arcana New Music Ensemble with the composer. \n\nPROGRAM \nPassing\, a short film \nMonologue\, for solo trumpet\nTessa Ellis\, trumpet \nSettle\, for two players on one vibraphone\nSarah Hennies and Andy Thierauf\, vibraphone \nAbscission\, for violin\, cello\, and guitar\nCarlos Santiago\, violin; Erin Busch\, cello; Jonathan Pfeffer\, guitar \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nSarah Hennies is a composer based in upstate New York whose work engages with affective and sociopolitical issues such as queer and trans identity\, love\, and intimacy by means of psychoacoustics and an expanded field of percussion. Forced to build their own set-ups\, percussionists are\, for Hennies\, the only instrumentalists with the freedom to define themselves. A formally trained percussionist\, Hennies’s penchant for the abnormal has yielded maladroit performances of multitudinous cheap\, thrifted bells as well as ultra-minimalist poundings of woodblock and vibraphone. Hennies has composed acoustic music for ensembles and performers including Bearthoven\, Claire Chase\, Nate Wooley\, and Yarn/Wire\, while her recorded output has been released by Blume\, No Rent Records\, Astral Spirits\, and Black Truffle\, among other labels. Hennies is currently a visiting assistant professor of music at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson\, New York. \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. \n\n\n\n URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/sarah-hennies-with-arcana/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-41.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231209T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231209T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230810T151537Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231211T152028Z UID:10001198-1702152000-1702159200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Satoko Fujii + Kappa Maki DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present Japanese musicians Satoko Fujii and Kappa Maki performing at University Lutheran. The duo consists of piano and trumpet performing an improvised set. Jesse Kudler will open the evening with an improvisation on the church’s organ. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nCritics and fans alike hail pianist and composer Satoko Fujii as one of the most original voices in jazz today. She’s “a virtuoso piano improviser\, an original composer and a band-leader who gets the best collaborators to deliver\,” says John Fordham in The Guardian. In concert and on more than 80 albums as a leader or co-leader\, the globe-trotting Japanese native synthesizes jazz\, contemporary classical\, avant-rock\, and Japanese folk music into an innovative music instantly recognizable as hers alone. \nJapanese trumpeter and composer Kappa Maki is internationally recognized for a unique musical vocabulary that blends extended techniques with jazz lyricism. This unpredictable virtuoso’s seemingly limitless creativity led François Couture in All Music Guide to declare that “… we can officially say there are two Kappa Makis: The one playing angular jazz-rock or ferocious free improv…and the one writing simple melodies of stunning beauty…How the two of them live in the same body and breathe through the same trumpet might remain a mystery.” \nJesse Kudler is a musician\, composer\, performer\, and sound artist using improvisation\, collaboration\, and site-specificity to examine authorship\, intention\, agency\, ambiguous affects\, and modes and practices of listening. He works with guitar\, electronics\, recordings\, keyboards\, synthesizers\, radios\, tapes\, movement\, and text. \n\n  \n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/satoko-fujii-kappa-maki/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-37.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231202T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231202T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231009T153447Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231204T223252Z UID:10001208-1701547200-1701554400@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:The Music of Éliane Radigue DESCRIPTION:PRESALES HAVE ENDED. TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR. \nBowerbird is pleased to present Enrico M. and Nate Wooley performing The Music of Éliane Radigue for percussion and trumpet featuring OCCAM X and OCCAM XXVI plus the premiere of a new OCCAM River. \nTwo longstanding champions for the music of French composer Éliane Radigue will be performing a series of rare concerts in the United States between November 30th and December 3rd. Enrico M. is the only performer of Radigue’s percussion music\, the spectrally wild OCCAM XXVI for bowed cymbals. Although one of the last of Radigue’s chevaliers\, as she calls those who have collaborated on her solo music\, Enrico has been one of the most fervent and in-demand performers of her music\, collaborating with Wooley and others on larger pieces in Europe during the composer’s ninetieth birthday year. He will perform the US premiere of OCCAM XXVI at Blank Forms in Brooklyn\, NY on November 30th. \nNate Wooley has been performing Radigue’s music for a decade\, especially OCCAM X for trumpet and OCCAM RIVER III for trumpet and birbyne with Carol Robinson. Since 2014\, he has performed Radigue’s music dozens of times\, most recently curating a concert of her music at the Big Ears Festival in Tennessee. He is also the author and editor of an issue of his journal\, Sound American\, devoted to the chevaliers\, which came out in 2021 and featured ten interviews with some of Radigue’s closest partners in the making of OCCAM Ocean. He will perform OCCAM X for trumpet\, the first performance in New York in two years. \nTogether\, the duo will premiere a new OCCAM River for percussion and trumpet. \nPROGRAM \nOCCAM X (2014) – Éliane Radigue\nfor trumpet \nOCCAM XXVI (2018) – Éliane Radigue\nfor percussion \nOCCAM River – Éliane Radigue\nfor percussion and trumpet \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nEliane Radigue is renowned for her electronic music\, in particular\, with the ARP Synthesizer. Her compositions are defined by micro-events due to subtle overtone shifts that dance above a seemingly static tone. The result is profoundly moving. In 2005\, Radigue began composing for acoustic instruments\, first Naldjorlak\, her grand trio for two basset horns and cello\, now the ever-expanding Occam Ocean series. These new works have been featured in important festivals: Festival d’Automne / Paris\, Huddersfield Contemporary\, Angelica / Bologna\, CTM.12 Spectral / Berlin\, Crossing the Line / NY\, Sound and Music / London\, ISEA2010 Ruhr\, E-May / Vienna\, [K] HEUTE / Hamburg\, and Impact / Utrecht. \nEnrico M. is an Italian percussionist and sound researcher active in the field of experimental music\, sound intervention and performance; his practice explores the relations between sound\, space and body\, the vitality of materials and the morphology of surfaces\, with particular attention to the percussive acts and the modes of listening. Since 2007 Enrico Malatesta has been presenting his works with tours all over Europe\, Brazil\, South Korea\, Japan\, UK\, North America and Russia\, participating in festivals and special events in venues such as Pirelli Hangar Bicocca – Milano\, Berghain – Berlin\, MAM – Rio de Janeiro. \nNate Wooley made his debut as soloist with the New York Philharmonic at the opening series of their 2019 season. Considered one of the leading lights of the American movement to redefine the physical boundaries of the horn\, Wooley has been gathering international acclaim for his idiosyncratic trumpet language. He has performed with and played music by Anthony Braxton\, Eliane Radigue\, Annea Lockwood\, Ken Vandermark\, Evan Parker\, and Yoshi Wada. He has premiered works for trumpet by Christian Wolff\, Michael Pisaro\, Annea Lockwood\, Ash Fure\, Wadada Leo Smith\, Sarah Hennies\, Martin Arnold\, and Eva-Maria Houben. He is a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Fellow and is the 2023 composer-in-residence at Mills College in Oakland\, California. URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/the-music-of-eliane-radigue-2/ LOCATION:Icebox Project Space\, 1400 N. American St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19122\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Radigue_Wooley_Robinson.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231201T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231201T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230911T175756Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231202T192637Z UID:10001204-1701460800-1701468000@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Peter Evans and David Taylor DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present two brass virtuosos: Trumpeter Peter Evans and Trombonist David Taylor in a solo/solo/duo performance at University Lutheran. \n\nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nPeter Evans is a trumpet player and composer based in New York City since 2003. Evans is part of a broad\, hybridized scene of musical experimentation\, and his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. Peter is committed to the simultaneously self-determining and collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool\, and works with an ever-expanding group of musicians and composers in the creation of new music. His primary groups as a leader are the Peter Evans Ensemble and Being & Becoming (with Joel Ross\, Nick Jozwiak\, and Savannah Harris). Evans has been exploring solo trumpet music since 2002 and is widely recognized as a leading voice in the field\, having released several recordings over the past decade. He is a member of the cooperative groups Pulverize the Sound (with Mike Pride and Tim Dahl) and Rocket Science (with Evan Parker\, Craig Taborn\, and Sam Pluta) and is constantly experimenting and forming new configurations with like-minded players. As a composer\, he has been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)\, Wet Ink\, Yarn/Wire\, the Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival\, the Jerome Foundation’s Emerging Artist Program\, and the Doris Duke Foundation. Evans has presented and/or performed his works at major festivals worldwide and tours his own groups extensively. He has worked with some of the leading figures in contemporary music: John Zorn\, Peter Broetzmann\, Pauline Oliveros\, Brian Ferneyhough\, Kanye West\, George Lewis\, Anthony Braxton\, Mary Halvorson\, Ambrose Akinmusere\, Weasel Walter\, Ingrid Laubrock\, Jeff “Tain” Watts\, Tyshawn Sorey\, Jim Black\, Ikue Mori\, Steve Schick\, and performs with both the ICE and Wet Ink. As an interpreter of notated concert music Evans’ has performed works by Varese\, Xenakis\, Bach\, Stravinsky\, Elliott Carter\, Marcos Balter\, Agusta Read Thomas\, Roscoe Mitchell\, and many more. Peter Evans has been releasing recordings on his own label\, More is More\, since 2011. \nReceiving B.S. and M.S. degrees from The Julliard School of Music\, David Taylor started his playing career as a member of Leopold Stowkowski’s American Symphony Orchestra\, and with appearances with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez. Simultaneously\, he was a member of the Thad Jones Mel Lewis jazz band\, and recorded with groups ranging from Duke Ellington to The Rolling Stones. He has also recorded numerous solo CDs on the following labels: Koch\, New World\, ENJA\, DMP\, Tzadik\, CIMP\, PAU\, and TLB. Mr. His last releases on TLB are: And If All Were Dark\, and Atomic Bomb Blues. \nMr. Taylor performs recitals and concerti around the world: from Lincoln Center in NY to the Musikverein in Vienna and Suntory Hall in Japan. In addition to his own compositions\, he has been involved in dozens of commissioning projects for solo bass trombone collaborating with composers including Alan Hovhaness\, Charles Wuorinen\, George Perle\, Frederic Rzewski\, Lucia Dlugoszchewski\, Eric Ewazen\, Dave Liebman\, and Daniel Schnyder. He has appeared and recorded chamber music with Yo Yo Ma\, Itzhak Perlman\, and Wynton Marsalis and performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society\, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra\, Orpheus\, and the St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra. Throughout his career\, Taylor has appeared and recorded with major jazz and popular artists including Barbara Streisand\, Miles Davis\,JJ Johnson\, Quincy Jones\, Frank Sinatra\, and Aretha Franklin. Mr. Taylor has won the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Most Valuable Player Award for five consecutive years\, and has been awarded the NARAS Most Valuable Player Virtuoso Award\, an honor accorded no other bass trombonist. He has been a member of the bands of Gil Evans\, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis\, Jaco Pastorius\, Charles Mingus Big Band\, Joe Henderson\, George Russell\, Michelle Camillo\, Bob Mintzer\, Dave Matthews\, Dave Grusin\, Randy Brecker\, the Words Within Music Trio with Daniel Schnyder\, and Kenny Drew Jr.\, B3+\, Moppa Elliot’s Mostly Other People Do The Killing\, and The Sarah Weaver Ensemble. He has performed on numerous GRAMMY Award winning recordings.\nDavid Taylor is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music\, Mannes College\, and NYU. \n\n\n\n URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/peter-evans-and-david-taylor/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-43.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231129T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231129T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230828T170343Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231130T153732Z UID:10001203-1701288000-1701295200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Ligament DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the acclaimed new music duo LIGAMENT. Described as “perverse and nihilistic”\, Anika Kildegaard (voice) and Will Yager (double bass) perform as LIGAMENT\, an ensemble dedicated to commissioning new music and creating work for their unique instrumentation. LIGAMENT’s performances are a fusion of standard and non-standard elements; sometimes there are high heels and sometimes there are electric toothbrushes (and sometimes both). The duo is equally at home with extended techniques as with extra-musical elements. LIGAMENT is currently based in Baltimore and Philadelphia. \nPhoto by Tina Tallon \nPROGRAM \nKatherine Balch: Vidi l’angelo nel marmo \nLilac Atassi: Ya mo* \nBrett Carson: Pyrodictium Occultum+ \nPaul Novak: not of longing* \nKatherine Balch: Phrases \nLila Meretzky: All mute things speak today* \nRuby Fulton: and if not why not* \n*written for LIGAMENT\n+world premiere \nABOUT THE ARTIST \nLIGAMENT means business: they’ve been ensemble fellows at New Music on the Point and Cortona Sessions for New Music; have performed in concert series iHearIC\, Feed Me Weird Things\, and the University of Iowa Center for New Music; have been tapped as the collaborating ensemble for dance performances not I but that which works within me (Alyssa Gersony) and Struggle for Pleasure (Armando Duarte). They’ve been featured on the Kansas City Contemporary Music Festival and Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound\, and were the 2022 ensemble-in-residence for Washington DC’s District New Music Coalition. They have premiered many new works\, and have an upcoming album of pieces written expressly for the duo. \n  \n\n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/ligament-2/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-42.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231117T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231117T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20231009T162722Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231120T155132Z UID:10001207-1700251200-1700258400@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Natacha Diels and Levi Lu DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present two solo performances by Natacha Diels and Levi Lu at The Rotunda. \n  \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nNatacha Diels’ work combines choreographed movement\, improvisation\, video\, instrumental practice\, and cynical play to create worlds of curiosity and unease. Recent work includes Papillon and the Dancing Cranes\, for construction cranes and giant butterfly (Borealis Festival 2018); and forthcoming is a 6-part TV-style miniseries with the JACK quartet (TimeSpans Festival 2020) and a collaborative work for shadowed audience with Ensemble Pamplemousse (Darmstadt 2020). With a focus on collage\, collaboration\, and the ritual of life as art\, Natacha’s compositions have been described as “a fairy tale for a fractured world” (Music We Care About) and “the liveliest music of the evening” (LA Review of Books). \nQiujiang Levi Lu/卢秋江 (they/them) is a Beijing-born\, New Jersey-based performer\, experimental vocalist\, composer\, and certified foodie. As an improvising performer\, Lu utilizes custom-built feedback-driven electronic instruments\, voice\, and amplified muscle movements to perform in various settings. Other than performing\, Lu also writes for acoustic and electronic improvisers. Through using sound-canceling headphones and in-ear monitors\, Lu creates surreal listening environments for improvisers to explore human relationships\, audio-visual interactivity\, and the phenomenology of sound.\nLu’s works have been performed at Festivals\, Conferences\, and Venues such as DiMenna Center\, IRCAM Forum\, SEAMUS conference\, HighZero Festival\, NIME conference\, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival\, Oberlin MMG\, Spencer Museum of Art\, Rhizome DC\, and NowNet Arts conference.\nLu currently works as a lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of Pennsylvania. \n\n\n  \n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/natacha-diels-and-levi-lu/ LOCATION:The Rotunda\, 4014 Walnut St\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Bowerbird-Main-Img-50.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231115T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231115T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230828T161355Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231114T200517Z UID:10001201-1700078400-1700085600@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:POSTPONED Exploratorium DESCRIPTION:DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES\, THIS PERFORMANCE WILL BE POSTPONED. STAY TUNED FOR A NEW DATE \n  \nBowerbird is pleased to present a concert of Gene Coleman’s album Exploratorium. Focused on his recent compositions based on models from auditory neuroscience the album includes Coleman’s 2nd string quartet\, three works for voices and electronics and a new work for a large ensemble titled “Across Time (Transonic Symphony #1)”. The program will also include the author Lance Olsen who will read from his novel “Dreamlives of Debris” which makes an appearance in Coleman’s music video work Vidrone. \nMembers of the Transonic Orchestra:\nNaoko Kikuchi (koto\, voice and shamisen)\nAdam Vidiksis (live electronics and neuro technologies)\nNick Millevoi (electric guitar)\nKinan Abou-afach (cello)\nShinjoo Cho (bandoneon)\nCarlos Santiago (violin)\nNina Fukuoka (sho) \nAlbum available here:\nhttps://www.falsewalls.co.uk/release/exploratorium/ \nhttps://falsewalls1.bandcamp.com/album/exploratorium  \n  \nABOUT THE ARTIST \nGene Coleman is a composer\, musician and video director\, who has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Central to his work is the inventive use of sound\, image and time\, and the desire to create experiences that expand our understanding of the world. Since 2001 he has explored the global transformation of culture and music’s relationship with video\, science and architecture. He began composing and performing both composed and improvised music in the late 1980s; founded the groups Ensemble Noamnesia\, Ensemble N_JP\, and Transonic Orchestra; was artistic director of the Transonic festival at the House of World Cultures (Berlin)\, Director of the American Composers Forum (Philadelphia)\, artistic director of the Public Art festival Site/Sound (Philadelphia) and a Creative Arts Fellow of the US Japan Friendship Commission. He has an extensive discography of both composed and improvised music\, including the False Walls CD Storobo Imp. with Uchihashi Kazuhisa (2004). Since 2016\, his works have explored the concepts of Neuro Music and audiovisual composition based on Neuroscience. Gene is a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and received the 2013 Berlin Prize for Music from the American Academy in Berlin.\nwww.genecolemancomposer.com \n  \nThis program is supported in part by URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/exploratorium/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Bowerbird-Main-Img-40.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231025T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231025T220000 DTSTAMP:20260627T062522 CREATED:20230718T171516Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231030T143932Z UID:10001195-1698264000-1698271200@www.bowerbird.org SUMMARY:Max Johnson Trio DESCRIPTION:Bowerbird is pleased to present the Max Johnson Trio at UniLu with opening set by Arcx Quartet. \nABOUT THE ARTISTS \nFresh off the release of their 2022 album “Orbit of Sound” and their tour across Europe\, virtuoso double bassist and composer Max Johnson presents his trio with Anna Webber (saxophone\, flute)\, and Michael Sarin (drumset). Between the three of them\, they have worked with artists such as Anthony Braxton\, Mary Halvorson\, John Zorn\, Dave Douglass\, Jen Shyu\, William Parker\, and this project highlights the individual sounds and experiences of these three unique voices\, traversing tightly knit grooving composed music to patient sprawling improvised textures\, blending their unique sounds to create something truly special. \n“Combining Johnson’s compositions with well balanced improvising\, the band explores broadly while maintaining a loose sense of groove… Then there are the experimental stretches — arid expanses that revel in silence and concentration before building back into Johnson’s compositional structure.” – Craig Matsumoto\, Memory Select\nwww.maxjohnsonmusic.com \nAlbum:\nhttps://maxjohnson.bandcamp.com/album/orbit-of-sound \n  \nArcx quartet guides listeners on an audio trip through hallucinogenic trancepts\, foldable shadows and metonymic nebulae\, skirting the boundaries of Arcx’s labyrinth collective sound-mind. Arcx quartet seek to find truths/untruths within ever-present interstitial spaces. \n  \n\n\n  URL:https://www.bowerbird.org/event/max-johnson-trio/ LOCATION:University Lutheran\, 3637 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.bowerbird.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Bowerbird-Main-Img-29.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR