About the series

Jack Straw Productions and WCF present a series of talks and performances of new music. The series is free to the public. Refreshments are served. Events are wheelchair and special needs accessible. Contact Jack Straw for arrangements at (206) 634-0919.

 

Begun in 1999, the series has offered over 115 free presentations of visiting and local composers and performers to the public.

 

2008 presenters

January 9 - Gust Burns

February 13 - Hope Wechkin

March 12 - Dennis Rea

 

past presenters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up Next

Anna Homler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BILL SMITH

Wednesday, May 14

@ 7:30pm

Jack Straw Productions 4261 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle map

FREE

 

Bill Smith, clarinetist and composer, studied at Juilliard, Mills College, the Paris Conservatory and the University of California. He is the recipient of many awards and honors including the Prix de Paris, the Prix de Rome, Guggenheim fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Smith’s first recordings were made in the 1940s with Dave Brubeck’s experimental Octet and ever since Smith has been creating exciting, daring music that elegantly crosses the “boundaries” between jazz and concert music.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Composer Spotlight

Hope Wechkin

ANNA HOMLER

Pharmacia Poetica

Wednesday, April 9 @ 7:30pm
Jack Straw Productions
4261 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle map FREE

 

Visual and sonic performance artist, Anna Homler, presents an informal history of her work, from her 1961 Cadillac shrine sound chamber, The Whale, to her performance persona Breadwoman, and her ongoing installation project, Pharmacia Poetica. She will discuss the importance of wearing bread, and how she discovered a melodic, phonetic language while driving in her car. Other topics include the recording project instigated by Steve Peters, partially funded by Jack Straw, involving many members of Seattle's rich improviser community. Part of the evening's presentation will be a birthday party for the Pharmacia Poetica, celebrating its 21st year of existence. Please join us for cupcakes!

 

Encompassing music, spoken word, and installation, intermedia artist Anna Homler's alternative languages extend the possibilities of meaning and communication. With a sensibility that is both ancient and post-modern, Homler makes words musical and music like words. Since 1982, she has collaborated in America with composers and musicians Steve Moshier, Davis Moss, Ethan James and Spastic Colon, and in Europe with the Voices of Kwahn, Steve Beresford, Peter Kowald, Richard Sanderson, Geert Waegeman, and Pavel Fajt. Homler has performed at well-known venues throughout the United States and Europe, including appearances at P.S. 122, the Kitchen, Dixon Place, and the Poetry Project at St. Mark's Church in New York; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (L.A.C.E.); Supraclub in Prague; Klarinsky in Bratislava, Slovakia; Ketty Do in Bologna, Italy; the Stadgarten and the Loft in Koln, Germany; and the Melkweg and Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. more

 

Supporters

Jack Straw ProductionsJack Straw Productions gratefully acknowledges The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, 4Culture King County Lodging Tax Fund, Washington State Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, PONCHO, ArtsFund, Seattle Foundation, and individual contributors for their support of Jack Straw Artist Programs.