Bowerbird

... The music of Gavin Bryars falls under no category. It is mongrel, full of sensuality and wit and is deeply moving. He allows you to witness new wonders in the sounds around you by approaching them from a completely new angle. With a third ear maybe... Michael Ondaatj Arcana performs Gavin Bryars medieval inspired…

Bowerbird is excited to present a rare evening of all contemporary music for brass ensemble featuring musicians from the Arcana New Music Ensemble. The program encompasses a wide variety of compositional voices from the last sixty years, including Lois V. Vierk's thorny Jagged Mesa, Michael Nyman's very un-Cagein For John Cage, and more recent works…

WEATHER UPDATE: CONCERT IS HAPPENING AS PLANNED.   Bowerbird is pleased to present the the extraordinary vocal ensemble Ekmeles performing Madrigals and Animals, a program celebrating the ongoing history of madrigals - the complex multi-part songs born during the Renaissance period known for their creative text setting (including imitating animals calls).  Karola Obermüller’s mass:distance:time relates directly to this…

The music of the Canadian composer Claude Vivier (1948-1983) combines diverse influences–from the the cerebral constructions of the European avant-garde to exoticist borrowings from East Asia– into a haunting and inimitable artistic voice. Vivier's intense and colorful music mirrors his life as an eccentric and bon vivant who met a tragic death at the age…

Bowerbird is pleased to present the world premiere of Greg Brown’s Fall and Decline performed by Variant 6. The new work composed for voices and electronics is based on texts of Sadakichi Hartmann, Eprenius, Todd Hearon, Edward Gibbon, and Omar Khayyam. The composition contemplates the inevitable decline of all things natural and manmade. Variant 6…

Bowerbird is pleased to present color as time, an ensemble led by Philadelphia composer / performer Joshua Stamper that inhabits the blur between classical, jazz, folk, and experimental textures. Playing at the edges of the composed and the improvised, the music is inspired by Elliott Carter's and Olivier Messiaen's time-stretching compositional techniques, immersed in a…

Philadelphia favorites Alash return to 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…

Bowerbird is excited to present Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble performing Mystical Paths, a program of music with spiritual focuses as diverse as Sufism, silence, cooking, and humor. Taylor Brook’s Motorman Sextet anchors the program, as an expressive setting of the most nostalgic episodes from David Ohle’s cult novel Motorman. Forrest Pierce’s Tighten to Nothing explores the composer’s…

Bowerbird is pleased to present an evening of screened and live audio visual shorts including the Philadelphia premiere of Phill Niblock’s newly mastered 1966 film The Magic Sun - an experimental work featuring Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra that was produced using a unique negative process and ultra-tight close-ups on the moving hands and mouths of…

Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia based piano virtuoso David Hughes performing a "Schubertiade" - a program that explores the music and spirit of Franz Schubert alongside work by contemporary composers inspired by his music. Victor Hugo famously wrote that "forty is the old age of youth, fifty the youth of old age." This program,…

This event was originally scheduled for Feb 26 but has been rescheduled for March 11. Rightfully renowned as a composer, vocalist, choreographer, and stage director, Meredith Monk’s underseen films present their own inventive reflections on the cataclysms of history. Quarry began as a live multimedia opera in 1976 featuring a black and white short film…

Philadelphia favorites Alash return to 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…

This year, Alash was scheduled to perform at The Rotunda on April 2nd but had to instead cancel the rest of their tour and return home. While they cannot perform in concert right now, Alash will present a throat-singing demonstration with Q & A, from their homes in Tuva! This will be a fun way…

AN ARCHIVE OF THIS PROGRAM IS AVAILABLE UNTIL JULY 7, 2021.  Use the registration/ticket button to get the video url.   CONCERT PROGRAM Rzewski: Shtick (1990) Aaron Stewart, saxophone Rzewski: Sixteen Sneakers (2012) Hannah Nicholas, viola Rzewski performs Rzewski Rare archival footage of Frederic Rzewski at the piano Rzewski: Coming Together (1971) *world premiere music video* Moor…