The Rotunda

Bowerbird is pleased to present a special screening of John Cage Meets Sun Ra: The Complete Concert at The Rotunda. Recorded 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. From Pitchfork: "John Cage…

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…

Bowerbird is pleased to present the Music of Moondog performed by the Arcana New Music Ensemble. Louis 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…

Bowerbird is pleased to present David Grubbs and Eli Winter playing electric guitar duets at The Rotunda. ABOUT THE ARTISTS David Grubbs is Professor of Music at Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY. At Brooklyn College he also teaches in the MFA programs in Performance and Interactive Media Arts (PIMA) and Creative Writing. He…

Photo: Katharina Hauke Bowerbird is pleased to present Berlin-based British music maker Kaffe Matthews at The Rotunda with opening set by Spectral Forces.   ABOUT THE ARTIST Kaffe 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…

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…

Bowerbird is pleased to present a portrait concert of composer Sarah Hennies performed by the Arcana New Music Ensemble with the composer. PROGRAM Passing, a short film Monologue, for solo trumpet Tessa Ellis, trumpet Settle, for two players on one vibraphone Sarah Hennies and Andy Thierauf, vibraphone Abscission, for violin, cello, and guitar Carlos Santiago,…

Bowerbird is pleased to present two solo performances by Natacha Diels and Levi Lu at The Rotunda.   ABOUT THE ARTISTS Natacha 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…

Bowerbird is pleased to present The Lepidopterans: Tom Boram (Synthesizer, Sitar), Jason Willett (Electronics), and Toshi Makihara (Percussion), at The Rotunda with an opening set by Anne Ishii.   ABOUT THE ARTISTS Tom Boram and Jason Willett have been playing together for almost 25 years as 'Leprechaun Catering." The Baltimore-based duo makes improvised music from…

Bowerbird is pleased to present interdisciplinary artist eddy kwon and the Philadelphia-based trio Totally Automatic at The Rotunda. ABOUT THE ARTIST eddy kwon (b. 1989) is violinist/violist and interdisciplinary artist based in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY). Her practice connects composition, performance, improvisation, dance, and ceremony to explore transformation & transgression, ritual practice as a tool to…

Bowerbird is pleased to present the Berlin-based trio Sawt Out at the Rotunda with an opening set by Philadelphia-based musician Julius Masri. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Since its foundation in 2015 the Berlin-based trio Sawt Out has shaped and refined its profile as a prominent improvisational unit. With their unusual acoustic instrumentation of trumpet and two…

Bowerbird is pleased to present Ensemble Terrain (Theo Bleckmann*, Jodie Landau, Ashley Bathgate, and Jacob Cooper) performing selections from Jacob Cooper's acclaimed album "Terrain" (Amsterdam Records, 2020).  "Terrain" displays Cooper’s passion for kinetic collaboration. He worked intensively with three poets who created original text for each work, and developed the music alongside vocalists Theo Bleckmann…

Bowerbird is pleased to present Matt Davis' Aerial Photograph at The Rotunda. The ensemble will perform Davis' recent compositional suite, The Sway of Rivers, exploring the elusive nature of time: how it is inconsistently felt, marked, and expressed in sound. ABOUT THE ARTISTS Established in 2002, Matt Davis’ Aerial Photograph is a “wildly imaginative” (Jazziz…

Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia's Bismuth Quartet in a special concert featuring compositions by quartet members Carlos Santiago and Veronica Jurkiewicz. For this performance the Bismuth Quartet welcomes special guests Tom Kraines and Matt Engle. PROGRAM Carlos Santiago: Arc for string quartet Veronica Jurkiewicz: Chora for string quartet Arc/Chora sonically explores being alone and…

Bowerbird is pleased to present a rare performance by George Stavis, an American banjo player perhaps best known for his 1969 album Labyrinths , an album considered a landmark in the development of improvisational banjo performance. Opening the evening will be Elkhorn, the Philadelphia based guitar duo Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner, who are celbrating…