Extradition Series Archive of Events
The Extradition Series 2018 Fall Concert will take place on Saturday, October 20, 2018, featuring five intimate works of 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, performed by a cast of outstanding regional musicians.
> Cornelius Cardew, “The Tiger’s Mind (Nightpiece)” (1967): Originally written to be performed by the ensemble AMM, “The Tiger’s Mind (Nightpiece)” takes the form of a one-paragraph drama. Musicians play the roles of six characters: The Tiger, Amy, The Tree, The Wind, The Mind, and The Circle. Musical interactions are based on actions and hints in the text and in an accompanying guidance document that discusses the characters’ personality traits. The piece will be performed by Brandon Conway (guitar), Lee Elderton (clarinet), Lorna Krier (piano), Catherine Lee (oboe d’amore), John C. Savage (flute), and Shao Way Wu (double bass).
> Jürg Frey, “Un Champ de Tendresse Parseme d’Adieux (4)” (2011): In this piece, performers drop dry leaves and tiny pebbles onto a sounding floor, their actions following a canon form and notations indicating density and choice of object. Later in the piece, wind-like, whistled glissandi fill out the mood of the title, which translates as “A field of tenderness strewn with farewells.” It will be performed by Matthew Neil Andrews, Loren Chasse, Matt Hannafin, Branic Howard, Juniana Lanning, and Melanie Voytovich (dry leaves, pebbles, whistling).
> Ryoko Akama, “Tada No” (2013/14): This series of 18 miniature text and graphic scores was originally written in “hidden” places (on leaves, rock walls, tree branches, flower pots, etc.) in and around Huddersfield, a large market town in West Yorkshire, England. Designed to be discovered and performed by passersby, each comprises a single, simple sound action, such as “Look up at clouds and sing ‘Ahh.’” The scores will be performed by Barbara Ford, Gina James, Margaret McNeal, Bonnie Singer, Stephanie Lavon Trotter, and Marion Van Namen (voices).
> Daniel Brandes, “Other Echoes Inhabit the Garden” (2013): A tenor saxophonist, “searching in the tenuous space between sounding and non-sounding,” plays a set of phrases created by the composer, each hovering between melody and single tones. The player’s sound, captured by a microphone, opens and closes an audio gate, behind which is a recording of a poet slowly writing and reciting a poem, word by word. When the saxophonist plays, the poetry is revealed; when he does not, it is not. The piece will be performed by John C. Savage (tenor sax) and Claudia F. Savage (recorded poetry).
> G. Douglas Barrett, “A Few Silence” (2008): “A Few Silence” is a work in which the site of performance becomes the subject of its own documentation. For the first five minutes, players create their own personal scores by listening to the room and writing short descriptions of each ambient sound they hear, along with the time it occurs. For the following five minutes, players perform the scores they created, using various instruments and objects. The piece will be performed by Matthew Neil Andrews, Loren Chasse, Matt Hannafin, Branic Howard, Juniana Lanning, and Melanie Voytovich (sounds).
Saturday, October 20, 2019
Leaven Community
5431 NE 20th Ave., PDX
Doors 7pm, music 7:30pm
Tickets at door: $10–$20
The Extradition Series presents concerts and recitals of 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, exploring purity, space, sound, and silence. Extradition is curated and directed by Matt Hannafin and presented by the Creative Music Guild.
The Extradition Series 2018 Summer Concert will take place on Saturday, July 21, at Leaven Community, PDX, featuring five intimate solo, duo, and quartet settings of pieces concerned with the direct influence of environment, inspiration, and materials on musical creation.
> Manfred Werder, 20094 : Based in a short extract from poet Francis Ponge’s “L’opinion changée quant aux fleurs” (A changed opinion on the subject of flowers), this text score concerns itself with the conditions under which music blossoms. It will be performed by Matt Carlson (piano), Brandon Conway (guitar), Evan Spacht (trombone), and Reed Wallsmith (alto saxophone).
> Kristin Bolstad, Silence Come Closer Wait Expect (2014): Comprising just twenty words, this piece focuses on the interaction between a performer and both the concept and reality of silence. It will be performed by Branic Howard (sound).
> James Saunders, Surfaces (2010/2011): Part of the composer’s ongoing project the sonic properties of materials, this piece explores the way in which various elementary actions elicit sounds from a variety of surfaces. Performers may choose among 41 separate actions, presented on small notecards. The piece will be performed by Loren Chasse and Matt Hannafin (surfaces, objects).
> Matt Carlson, untitled (2018): Commissioned by oboist Catherine Lee, this duo for oboe d’amore and live electronics will be performed by Catherine Lee (oboe d’amore) and Matt Carlson (electronics).
> Matt Hannafin, Honor Roll (2017): Presented as short lines of text about six New York School painters, this piece asks a solo performer to transform a central theme of each painter’s oeuvre into music, weaving them into a coherent statement. It will be performed by Reed Wallsmith (alto saxophone).
>>> Plus Extradition Off-Site: The off-site component for our summer concert will be an as-yet-untitled sound walk by Portland sound artist Juniana Lanning. It will be available as a digital download within a four-week window around the concert date.
Saturday, July 21
Leaven Community
5431 NE 20th Ave., PDX
Doors 7pm, music 7:30pm
The Extradition Series presents quarterly concerts of 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, exploring purity, space, and a natural unfolding of sound and silence. Extradition is curated and directed by Matt Hannafin and presented by the Creative Music Guild.
The Extradition Series 2018 Spring Concert will take place on Saturday, April 21 at Leaven Community, PDX, featuring five works of extraordinary experimental composition:
> Richard Glover, “An Imperfect Harmony” (2013): A simple, deeply resonant composition exploring microtonal harmonies on the double bass. The piece will be performed by Andre St. James (double-bass).
> Catherine Lamb, “Nodes, Various” (2009/10): Using a defined frequency set, this open-ended piece asks a group of musicians to explore the tonalities of saw-wave oscillations and their low overtones. The piece will be performed by Matt Carlson, Derek Ecklund, Ben Glas, Branic Howard, Juniana Lanning, and Evan Spacht (electronics).
> Mark So, “a tepid atmosphere (bedroom near the sky)” (2007): Part of a series of pieces based on the poetry of John Ashbery, “a tepid atmosphere” combines field recordings, electronics, and other instruments to slowly shift the listener’s perspective within what seems like a static sound environment. The piece will be performed by Matthew Andrews (vibraphone), Brandon Conway (guitar), Mike Gamble (guitar), Matt Hannafin (percussion), and Branic Howard (electronics + field recordings).
> Jurg Frey, “Floating Categories” (2015): Scored “for reader, listener, player alone, maybe performer(s),” this sparse dreamscape mixes words and phrases, short melodic fragments, and grids of colored dots, challenging performers to translate images and feelings into aural and visual content. The piece will be performed solo by Loren Chasse (sound + light) with pre-recorded melodic fragments by Matt Carlson (piano), Douglas Detrick (trumpet), Matt Hannafin (melodica), and Jacob Mitas (violin).
> Michael Pisaro, “Entre-Moments” (2005/6): Combining separate pieces for piano, instrumental trio, and group electronics, “Entre-Moments” is concerned with projecting a sparse amount of musical material across long durations. This performance will be the world premiere of the combined piece, performed by Matt Carlson (piano), Lee Elderton (clarinet), Catherine Lee (English horn), Andre St. James (double bass), and Derek Ecklund, Ben Glas, Branic Howard, Juniana Lanning, and Evan Spacht (sine tones).
> Ben Glas, “Self Composure #2 (Memory Sequence)” (2018): Part of our participatory “Extradition Off-Site” series, this new sound meditation by Portland composer/performer Ben Glas is designed to be performed by anyone, musician or non-musician, outside of the concert setting, at the time and place of their choosing. The score will be available as a Facebook event within a four-week window around the concert date. (Check www.facebook.com/TheExtraditionSeries)
https://www.facebook.com/events/595558927450162/
WINTER CONCERT – SATURDAY, JANUARY 20
> Markus Trunk, “Slightly Ajar” – performed by Loren Chasse, Branic Howard, Juniana Lanning, Catherine Lee, and Rebecca Olason (sound + light)
> Patrick Farmer, “Camera Silenta: Two Eggs in a Cup to Stand in for Reality” – performed by Loren Chasse, Matt Hannafin, Branic Howard, and Juniana Lanning (field recordings + resonant objects)
> Hanna Hartman, “Message from the Lighthouse” – performed by Matt Hannafin (percussion)
> Alvin Lucier, “Carbon Copies” – performed by Matt Carlson (piano + field recording), Loren Chasse (percussion + field recording), and Lee Elderton (saxophone + field recording)
> Stefan Thut, “Five and Three Boxes” – performed by Lee Elderton (clarinet), Branic Howard (recordings + boxes), Catherine Lee (oboe), Gina Lunde (soprano), and Rebecca Olason (horn).
The Creative Music Guild’s Extradition Series will present its fall 2017 concert on Saturday, October 21, dedicated to composer Pauline Oliveros (1932–2016) as we approach the one-year anniversary of her passing. The concert will feature seven intimate works of 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, performed by a cast of outstanding regional musicians:
~ Antoine Beuger, “Cantor Quartets” (2003): A 15-page score, with each page containing four lines of seven notes each, “Cantor Quartets” is performed as a round, with four performers entering sequentially as the performer before them finishes a line – meaning each page begins as a solo, them becomes a duo, trio, and finally quartet. The ensemble is free to play as many pages as they choose, in any order. The piece will be performed by Lee Elderton (clarinet), Mike Gamble (eBow guitar), Andre St. James (bass), and Evan Spacht (trombone).
~ Christopher Hobbs, “Two Compositions, 21 May 1969 (No. 2)”: One of the many “performance rites” devised by Cornelius Cardew’s Scratch Orchestra, this text-based composition gives almost no indication of how the music should or will sound. Instead, it provides a simple structure of visual cues that signal performers to play “for a short time.” In the resulting spaciousness, the music appears as blooms in a desert – short, bright moments that are all the more remarkable for their rarity and contrast with the stillness all around. The piece will be performed by Sage Fisher (harp), Mike Gamble (nylon-string guitar), Gina James (voice), Dana Reason (piano), Andre St. James (double bass), Alyssa Reed-Stuewe (voice), Bonnie Singer (voice), and Marion Van Namen (voice).
~ Pauline Oliveros, “Two for T” (date unknown): Another intimate duet, in which each player is asked to combine directions provided by the composer into a new, individual score. In performance, the challenge involves reconciling the sometimes competing imperatives of these individual scores to create a harmonious whole. The piece will be performed by Catherine Lee (oboe d’amore) and Matt Hannafin (percussion).
~ Gordon Mumma, “7/5 a Pauline Oliveros” (1978) and Tom Johnson, “Chain II / Chain III” (1967): Gordon Mumma’s piece is a small gem, taking less than two minutes to perform. Tom Johnson’s pieces are flow charts for creating spontaneous music. For this performance, pianist Dana Reason will play the pieces sequentially, using the notes and chords of the Mumma composition as raw material for navigating Johnson’s structures – essentially creating a deconstruction and reorientation of Mumma’s etude.
~ Daniel Brandes, “A Dwelling Place for You” (2014): A simple, intimate work scored for two singers, who are asked to immerse themselves in the experience of singing to and with each other, accompanying themselves with the sound of natural objects – dry leaves, water, pebbles, etc. The piece will be performed by Blanca Stacey Villalobos and Lara Pacheco (voices, objects).
~ Dana Reason, “Folded Subjects: Olive Rose” (2017): Composed for the recent “Still Listening” tribute exhibit honoring Pauline Oliveros, “Folded Subject: Olive Rose” asks performers to reinterpret a piece of written music by folding the pages in various ways and actualizing a number of simple directions, revealing alternate paths into the music. The piece will be performed by Lee Elderton (soprano sax), Mike Gamble (guitar), Catherine Lee (oboe), Andre St. James (double bass), and Evan Spacht (trombone).
The Extradition Series is a quarterly concert series presenting composed and improvised New Music and works from the 20th-century experimental tradition. The series is directed by Matt Hannafin and presented by the Creative Music Guild.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Doors open at 7pm, music starts at 7:30pm
Leaven Community Center, 5431 NE 20th Ave @ Killingsworth, Portland, OR
Admission $5 – $15 sliding scale (door sales only)
The Extradition Series 2017 Summer Concert will take place on Saturday, July 22, at Leaven Community Center in NE Portland. The concert will include seven intimate works of mostly 21st-century experimental music, performed by a cast of outstanding regional musicians:
> Samuel Vriezen, “The Weather Riots” (2002): Written for two or more high-pitched instruments, this piece by Dutch composer Vriezen allows each performer to construct his or her own score from the same set of parts, selecting among melodic fragments that can be combined in many ways. The piece will be performed by Lee Elderton (clarinet), Catherine Lee (oboe), and Matt Carlson (piano).
> Giacinto Scelsi, “Ko Tha” (1967): For this solo work, the guitar is treated as a percussion instrument, played with a series of complex rhythms and ringing tones. This performance will feature guitarist Doug Theriault on electric guitars, a break from tradition for this typically acoustic piece.
> Nomi Epstein, “Combine, Juxtapose, Delayed Overlap” (2013): A work for four or more instruments of any variety, each of them limited to three sounds apiece. The title conveys the piece’s entire structure, with musicians playing their sounds either in harmony, following directly one after the other, or overlapping the last seconds of the musician that precedes them. The order of players shifts continually, creating interest from a limited palate. The piece will be performed by Matt Carlson (electronics), Loren Chasse (percussion), Lee Elderton (soprano sax), Matt Hannafin (percussion), Branic Howard (electronics), and Reed Wallsmith (alto sax).
> Taylor Brook, “Alluvium” (2016): A piece for oboe and pre-recorded sound, based on the concept of microtonal drift, which occurs when modulating to different keys in an extended just-intonation context, causing the tonic to gradually drift away from equal temperament. Over the course of the piece, the tape part plays a series of precisely tuned microtonal modulations that gradually drifts the harmony from an E-flat tonal center to a D tonal center, spiraling through unfamiliar harmonic territory all along the way. The piece will be performed by oboist Catherine Lee, for whom it was written.
> Branic Howard, untitled (2017): A work for oboe and electronics, commissioned and performed by Catherine Lee. More details to come.
> Anastassis Philippakopoulos, “Onissia” (2002) and “Song No. 2” from “Two Piano Pieces 2006–2008”: Two simple, spacious solo works by Greek Wandelweiser composer Philippakopoulos, played sequentially by Jonathan Sielaff (bass clarinet) and Matt Carlson (piano).
The Extradition Series is a quarterly concert series presenting composed and improvised New Music and works from the 20th-century experimental tradition. The series is directed by Matt Hannafin and presented by the Creative Music Guild.
Saturday, July 22, 2017
Doors open at 7pm, music starts at 7:30pm
Leaven Community Center, 5431 NE 20th Ave @ Killingsworth, Portland, OR
Admission $5 – $15 sliding scale
http://www.facebook.com/TheExtraditionSeries
https://youtube.com/c/TheExtraditionSeries
The Extradition Series 2017 spring concert will take place Saturday, April 22, at Leaven Community Center in NE Portland, featuring six remarkable works of 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, performed by an extraordinary group of regional musicians:
– Toshi Ichiyanagi, “The Field” (1966): A large ensemble will tackle the extreme subtlety of Ichiyanagi’s graphic score, which asks interpreters to assign musical meaning to 17 shapes and patterns spread across a blank field, taking into account considerations of distance, area, and density. The piece will be presented by Matt Carlson (piano), Loren Chasse (percussion), Christi Denton (electronics), John Gross (tenor sax), Matt Hannafin (percussion), Branic Howard (electronics and percussion), Jesse Mejía (electronics), Andre St. James (double bass), Evan Spacht (trombone), and Reed Wallsmith (alto sax).
– John Cage, “Song No. 85” (1970) and “Branches” (1976): Masterful vocalist Michael Stirling will perform the microtonal “Song No. 85” from Cage’s “Songbooks” in simultaneous performance with “Branches,” realized by Loren Chasse, Matt Hannafin, and Branic Howard on seeds, grasses, pine cones, bamboo, amplified cacti, and other natural materials.
– Takehisa Kosugi, “Plus/Minus” (1987): Kosugi’s score consists of 120 plus signs, minus signs, and vertical lines, all arranged in a grid and presented without instructions of any kind. The work will be realized by electronics players Matt Carlson, Christi Denton, Branic Howard, and Jesse Mejía.
– Alvin Lucier, “Wind Shadows” (1994): In this work, two pure wave oscillators play a continuous drone, their close tuning producing a slow pattern of acoustical beats that spin across the performance space. Against this drone, the trombonist sweeps unison and near-unison tones slowly across the spinning waves, alternately calming and agitating the oscillators’ beating patterns. The work will be performed by trombonist Evan Spacht.
– G. Douglas Barrett, “Two Voices” (2008): This graphic score consists of 27 pairs of horizontal lines, some of equal length and some of different lengths. Two performers are instructed to perform “a sustained tone, sound, action, or noise” that corresponds to the length of their individual lines. The music is to be “soft, concentrated, for its own sake.” The work will be performed by John Gross (tenor sax) and Reed Wallsmith (alto sax).
The Extradition Series is a quarterly concert series presenting composed and improvised New Music and works from the 20th-century experimental tradition. The series is directed by Matt Hannafin and presented by the Creative Music Guild.
Doors open at 7pm, music starts at 7:30pm
Check out more on the Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/402250876834466/
The 2017 Extradition Series winter concert will take place on Saturday, January 21, featuring five works of new and experimental music:
– Eva-Maria Houben, “la solennité des silences” – An open, spacious ensemble piece by German composer Houben, a mainstay of the Wandelweiser group. The texture of each section is determined in the moment by the ensemble members, each of whom follows a series of simple rules to determine when to add their voice. Between each section is silence. The ensemble for this performance will include Lee Elderton (Bb clarinet), Sage Fisher (harp), Mike Gamble (nylon-string guitar), Catherine Lee (oboe), Dana Reason (piano), Andre St. James (double bass), John C. Savage (flute), and Jonathan Sielaff (bass clarinet).
– Vanessa Tomlinson, “Still and Moving Paper” – Scored for a large sheet of paper, pencils, three books, and reading voice, this solo work by Australian percussionist/composer Tomlinson honors the decline of the physical act of writing and the loss of the book as a totemic object, as society moves further and further along the digital path. The piece will be performed by writer and percussionist Matt Hannafin.
– Dana Reason, Title TBD – A new work by Corvallis-based Canadian composer/pianist Dana Reason. Title and instrumentation to be announced.
– Daniel Brandes, “A Dwelling Place for You” – This simple, intimate work by Canadian composer Brandes is scored for two singers, who are asked to immerse themselves in the experience of singing to and with each other. The score, in narrative form, describes a musical/spiritual practice that the two performers are invited to explore, both through their voices and through manipulation of found natural objects (dry leaves, stones, water, etc.). The piece will be performed by Blanca Stacey Villalobos and Tawni Squire.
– Jurg Frey, “Glafsered I / II / IV” – A family of three related works by Swiss Wandelweiser composer Jurg Frey. “Glafsered I” is scored for two percussionists playing crotales and tuned flagstones, “Glafsered II” is for piano and bass clarinet, and “Glafsered IV” employs bass clarinet and percussion. The works will be performed by Dana Reason (piano), Jonathan Sielaff (bass clarinet), and Loren Chasse and Matt Hannafin (percussion).
Music does not exist in a vacuum. In acknowledgment of the U.S. presidential inauguration scheduled to occur one day prior to this event, Extradition wishes to dedicate this concert to the continuing struggle to end discrimination and hate and build a more just, equitable, and pluralistic society.
The Extradition Series is a quarterly concert series presenting composed and improvised New Music and works from the 20th-century experimental tradition. The series is directed by Matt Hannafin and presented in collaboration with the Creative Music Guild.
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See our YouTube channel for audio of select past Extradition performances: www.youtube.com/channel/
Fall concert, featuring works by Michael Pisaro, Antoine Beuger, Audra Wolowiec with Jesse Mejía, and Derek Ecklund
Saturday, October 22, 2016
Doors 7pm, music 7:30pm
$5–15 sliding scale
Leaven Community Center
5431 NE 20th Ave
– Michael Pisaro, “Six Stones” – A dense, multilayered composition mixing stone percussion and an electronic soundscape, featuring Loren Chasse and Matt Hannafin (percussion) and Branic Howard (percussion & electronics)
– Audra Wolowiec and Jesse Mejía, “semaphore” – The world premiere of a new choral work exploring vocal sounds and poetic subtraction from an original text, performed by Jesse Mejía and CHOIR
– Antoine Beuger, “Three Drops of Rain / East Wind / Ocean” – A spacious duo work for two instruments, one playing sustained sound, the other decaying sound, performed by Doug Theriault (guitar & electronics) and Pauline Theriault (piano)
– Derek Ecklund, “A Dip in the Columbia” – An electronic work built from field recordings made along the length of the Columbia River, performed by the composer (synthesizer, field recordings & processing)
– Tim Westcott, “A Land of Falling Waters” – A sound environment presented pre-concert and during the intermission, featuring processed and re-purposed field recordings from throughout the Cascadia bio-region.
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1234145979991065/
The Extradition Series is a quarterly concert series presenting composed and improvised New Music and works from the 20th-century experimental tradition. The series is directed by Matt Hannafin and presented in collaboration with the Creative Music Guild.
