Center for New Music: September, 2021

Since there is only one San Francisco performance this week on the BayImproviser Calendar and that offering is one of two to be presented this month at the Center for New Music (C4NM), it seemed more appropriate to focus on the latter. Both concerts will be streamed via the C4NM YouTube channel, and it is hard to tell from the event pages whether or not audiences will be admitted to the C4NM performance space. If so, then those wishing to attend should know that the space is located at 55 Taylor Street, half a block north of the Golden Gate Theater, which is where Golden Gate Avenue meets Market Street. All tickets and donations may be processed in advance through the C4NM Events page. Specifics are as follows with hyperlinks for the respective event pages, each of which has a “Buy Tickets Online” hyperlink:

Saturday, September 11, 8 p.m.: This will be the latest performance in The Chromelodia Project, curated by Chris Brown. According to my records, Brown brought the last installment in this project to C4NM in mid-October of  2019. The project’s name refers to Harry Partch’s Chromelodeon, a keyboard he used to support the musicians playing in his 43-tone tuning. The program will consist entirely of a single song cycle, Occhio, composed by Brown and setting poetry by Erika Dagnino. Brown will play piano, presumably tuned according to Partch’s gamut, as well as computer (which will probably be more flexible in providing microtonal intonation). The vocalist will be Teresa Wong, who will also play cello. The remaining performer will be Kyle Bruckmann, who is also experienced in microtonal intonation, playing both oboe and electronics. Registration will be handled by Eventbrite, which will then arrange to send the URL for the streamed performance.

Thursday, September 23, 7 p.m.: This will be the rescheduling of a jam session that had previously been scheduled for August 28. The performers will be trumpeter Darren Johnston, saxophonist Larry Ochs, and two sonorous electronics masters: Madalyn Merkey and Tim Perkis. General admission will be $10, purchased through the hyperlink on the event page. The URL for the performance will then be sent by electronic mail to all ticket holders. [added 9/9, 1 p.m.:

Thursday, September 30, 7 p.m.: This concert will mark the world premiere of the New Arts Collaboration (NAC). To that end a Web page has been created to raise funds for not only the expenses of this concert but also those for a Piano and Multimedia Concert, which will be presented by Old First Concerts this coming November 7. The C4NM program will feature works by living composers, instrumentalists and artists from minorities including woman artists and BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) artists. The program will be hosted by pianists Eunmi Ko and Ting Luo. Other participating performers will include Kathleen Supove (pianist), Vicky Chow (pianist), Nicholas Phillips (pianist), Chia Jui (Erhu), and Wioleta Kaminska (multimedia). Composer to be featured will include Emily Koh, Chen Yi, Li Yuan-Qing, Jean Ahn, and Reena Esmail. Registration will be handled by Eventbrite, which will then arrange to send the URL for the streamed performance. All donations will benefit NAC.]