MUSIC FOR LUNCH
Pianist Nancy Jang serves up a slew of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and a Chopin Ballade. In addition, Jang offers two sections of Olivier Messiaen's landmark 20th-century piano work, Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant Jesus. Sherman-Clay Piano & Organ, 1624 Fourth Ave, 622-7580, 12:15 pm, free.
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Violinist Cho-Liang Lin does double duty and picks up the conductor's baton for Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and Gordon Chin's Formosa Seasons. Tchaikovsky's lush Serenade for Strings rounds out the program. Also Fri May 14 at 1 pm and Sat May 15 at 8 pm. Benaroya Hall, Third Ave and Union St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $16-$55.
WALLY SHOUP TRIO
New York bassist Reuben Radding rejoins alto sax firebrand Wally Shoup and ferocious drummer Bob Rees for an evening of free improvisation. These three tore it up at the Seattle Asian Art Museum awhile back, so I'm looking forward to this reunion. Ear-bending alto saxophonist Gregory Reynolds opens with a solo set. Polestar Music Gallery, 1412 18th Ave at E Union St, 329-4224, 8 pm, $10.
FRIDAY MAY 14
RONNEE FULLERTON
A solo concert of music for viola da gamba (think fretted cello) from the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Italy, France, Germany, and England by Bassano, Hume, de Machy, Schenck, Telemann, and Abel. Bethany Lutheran Church, 7400 Woodlawn Ave NE, 325-7066, 8 pm, $10/$12.
SATURDAY MAY 15
SEATTLE NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
SNME tackles Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, as well as The Blood Concerti, a set of three concertos by Northwest composer Forrest Pierce. St. Ignatius Chapel, Seattle University Campus, 296-6000, 7:30 pm, free-will donation.
SUNDAY MAY 16
TIN HAT TRIO
Tin Hat Trio's mournful violins, rattling guitars, and sighing accordion transplant the high lonesome sound of Appalachia to the bleached-bones deserts of the Southwest. Avant electric harpist Zeena Parkins augments this unusual outfit. Tractor Tavern, 5213 Ballard Ave NW, 547-6763, 8 pm, $12.
MONDAY MAY 17
QUAKE
New music chamber group performs music by Beethoven, Peter Schickele (AKA P.D.Q. Bach), Alfred Reed, and John Thow. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third Ave and Union St, 292-2787, 7:30 pm, $10/$20.
WEDNESDAY MAY 19
COMPOSERS' WORKSHOP
UW student composers present their works. Note the mostly standard-issue titles--Michael Chinen's thisthis for guitar, and Brian Cobb's two pieces, scattered for amplified flute and dust--reflect the strange persistence of lowercase titles traceable to e. e. cummings and academic American electroacoustic music of the early 1970s. Greg Bowers redeems his dully titled brass sextet Symmetries with a wisecrack designation for the work's third movement: "Disco-ax Art Veganza!" Wyatt Fletcher presents Wrought, an electroacoustic work for "ambisonically-encoded" sound. With cheap satellite speakers flooding the home-theater market, ambisonics never took off, but I'm glad people are still plugging away at the format. Douglas Niemela's decimal-pointed studies for two violas (e.g., etude 18.2) connote Xenakis and Varèse. I draw a blank on Ben Houge's Variations on _____. Brechemin Auditorium in the Music Building, UW campus, 685-8384, 7:30 pm, free.
