The Lab: May, 2026

Next month promises to be a very busy one at The Lab. The very first event of the month will take place on May 1, which, as was published yesterday, already has to account for three overlapping events. My guess is that regular readers know by now that The Lab is located in the Mission at 2948 16th Street. This is particularly convenient for those using public transportation, since it is a short walk to the corner of 16th Street and Mission Street. Busses stop at that corner for both north-south and east-west travel, and downstairs there is a station for the BART line running under Mission Street. Doors open half an hour in advance of the performance; and specific information for each event (including the one conflicting with May 1), provides a hyperlink to the Web page that accounts for both background material and hyperlinks for ticket purchases as follows:

Friday, May 1, 8 p.m.: The Apmonia Quartet will perform a full evening of microtonally inflected works drawing on visual language, graphic notation, and improvisation. The earliest work on the program will be Three Pieces for String Quartet, composed by Morton Feldman in 1956. The most recent  was composed in 2021 by Chiyoko Szlavnic, whose “Gradients of Detail” draws on a score consisting of minimal graphical line-based notation. Another unconventional use of visual notation will be Anthony Braxton's “Composition No. 17,” composed in 1971. The remaining work on the program will be “Minor,” composed by Tony Conrad in 1995, taking a minimalist approach to just intonation. The members of the quartet are Modney and Sabrina Salamone on violins, Julian Seney on viola, and Tyler J. Borden on cello.

Saturday, May 9, 8:30 p.m.: This will be a two-set program. Cécile Schott composes and performs under the name Colleen. Her compositions draw upon a variety of resources, including music boxes, pocket synthesizers, and baroque stringed instruments. The other set will be taken by the collaborative duo of Sally Decker and Briana Marela. Their performance includes voice, text, and improvisational textural soundscapes. Their debut album Small Tremble in Slow Motion was released on Surface World in 2022.

Peter Evans playing his flugelhorn (from the Web page for his performance at The Lab)

Sunday, May 10, 8:30 p.m.: One set will be entitled Being & Becoming, a performance by trumpeter, composer, and improviser Peter Evans, leading a quartet whose repertoire ranges from jazz and experimental music to contemporary concert music and beyond. The other set will be taken by the Heavy Arts Ensemble, a septet, all of whose members play percussion. Three of them, Joel Reber, David Alvarez, and Tommy Wong, also play reed instruments, Chili Corder is a cellist, and Justin Esposito plays double bass. The remaining member of the group, Diego Munguia, alternates between reeds and a modular synthesizer.

Friday, May 15, 8:30 p.m.: The entire evening will be a duo performance entitled Seeing if Forgetting. Henry Solomon will alternate between baritone saxophone and bass clarinet, while Elori Saxl will accompany with a diversity of analog synthesizers. They describe their repertoire has drawing upon “equal parts from American jazz abstraction, New York classical minimalism, and contemporary pop’s sense of harmony, form, and hooks.”

Saturday, May 23, 8 p.m.: This program has been given the following minimal description: “keyon gaskin performs ‘uncty: a mid life ex(pectancy/istential) performance,’ an experimental sound and movement in-process solo.”