Center for New Music: September 2016

Things will get very busy very quickly this month at the Center for New Music (C4NM). That means starting tonight with Kyle Adam Blair’s first public performance of Bruno Ruviaro’s “Pós-Tudos,” and running through to the end of the month with two concerts given by the Friction Quartet. Here is a basic summary of what will be happening between those milestones:

Wednesday, September 7, 6 p.m.: Tom Bickley will lead a workshop on Deep Listening, an approach to making music that originated with Pauline Oliveros. The workshop will be structured around preparing compositions by Oliveros, David Samas, and Bickley himself for performance. General admission will be $15, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Thursday, September 8, 6 p.m.: This is a special event for the opening of this month’s exhibit in the Window Gallery, Music in Clay. The exhibit will present the invented instruments of Susan Rawcliffe. At 7 p.m. Rawcliffe will give a talk about her instruments and demonstrate her performance on some of them. This event is free and open to the general public.

Friday, September 9, 8 p.m.: Acoustic Habitats is a program structured around the use of visual scores. The performance will feature Gino Robair’s I, Norton, whose “score” is a collection of materials in the form of a kit that can be given its own unique assembly for each performance, which may involve any number of people. In addition Anna Halprin will curate a collection of dance scores created by herself and others with similar interests. General admission will be $10 with an $8 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Saturday, September 10, noon: Following up on Friday evening, there will be two Acoustic Habitats performances. The first will be by the Cornelius Cardew Choir at noon, for which audience participation will be encouraged. The second performance will be given by the Analogous Ensemble and will begin at 2 p.m. Both performances are free and will take place at the Tenderloin National Forrest, located at 501 Ellis Street.

Saturday, September 10, 8 p.m. Acoustic Habitats will conclude with a concert by the Rova saxophone quartet based on visual scores. General admission will be $10 with an $8 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Thursday, September 15, 8 p.m.: Cellist Hannah Addario-Berry and violinist Gloria Justen will share an evening of new music for solo strings. Addario-Berry will perform selections from her Scordatura album. Justen will perform a selection of her own compositions, including one for “violalin,” a five-stringed instrument that includes string tuned for both viola and violin. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Saturday, September 17, 8 p.m.: The next Play or Die Series concert will consist of three sets of improvisations. It will open with the trio of Larry Ochs, Darren Johnston, and Robair. They will be followed by the duo of cellist Crystal Pascucci and Mark Clifford on vibraphone. For the final set these five performers with be joined by vocalist Aurora Josephson to perform a structured improvisation by Ochs created for the occasion. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Sunday, September 18, 7 p.m.: Cellist Helen Newby will present a program entitled Dialogues, which explores the interaction between the cello and other instruments, objects, and spaces. There will be premiere performances of works by David Bird, Danny Clay, and Adam Hirsch. Other composers will be Cat Lamb, Malin Bång, and Thomas Meadowcroft. General admission will be $12 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Monday, September 19, 8 p.m.: Zachary Watkins will curate a performance by the SPILL duo entitled Timbre and Motion Studies. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Tuesday, September 20, 8 p.m.: Kyle Bruckmann will curate a two-set evening featuring pianist, composer, and improviser Georg Graewe. Graewe will perform solo in the first set. For the second set he will be joined by Rova saxophonist Jon Raskin. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

Wednesday, September 21, 7:30 p.m.: Zachary Watkins will curate a visit by Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet and Tomas Fujiwara on drums. They will perform as a duo for the opening set. This will be followed by a new book of quintets, for which they will be joined by Ben Goldberg on clarinet, Pascucci on cello, and Lisa Mezzacappa on bass.

Thursday, September 22, 8 p.m.: Meerenai Shim will curate a release party for two new Aerocade Music CDs featuring the A/B Duo and Post-Haste Reed Duo, respectively. General admission will be $15 with a $10 rate for C4NM members. Tickets will be available only at the door.

C4NM is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street.