THURSDAY OCTOBER 20
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Once again, it's "Mainly Mozart" time at the Symphony, but I'm more interested in the two Beethoven pieces on the program, the annunciatory Symphony No. 1 and the seldom-heard Violin Romance No. 2 in F, op. 50. Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 with soloist Viviane Hagner and the overture to La Clemenzia di Tito round out the program. Also Sat Oct 22 at 8 pm. Benaroya Hall, Third Ave and Union St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $15–$62.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 21
NATE WOOLEY
After Miles Davis, where should an improvising trumpeter go? To the inside of the instrument. Like Axel Dörner and Greg Kelley, Wooley transforms what textbooks call "extended techniques"—buzzing, pinhole embouchure, unusual mutes, huffing into the mouthpiece, etc.—into the basic materials of his music. A compelling maker of unusual sounds and an attentive user of silence, Wooley shares the bill with electronicist Lyn Goeringer, who uses a theremin to control her laptop. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave at E Union St, 322-1533, 8 pm, $5–$15 sliding scale donation.
DENNIS REA
No one in the late 1990s did more for adventurous music in Seattle than Dennis Rea. As co-organizer of the long-running Other Sounds series, the Tentacle magazine, and the Seattle Improvised Music Festival, Rea made a home for touring musicians, reclusive eccentrics, promising newcomers, and veteran locals. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of his arrival in Seattle, Rea performs with a panoply of his ongoing projects, including the jazz-rock quintet Iron Kim Style and the hypnotic amplified thumb pianos of Tempered Steel, a trio with Frank Junk (Utterance Tongue) and Ffej. The Rendezvous, 2320 Second Ave, 441-5823, 10 pm, $5.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 23
LIZ O'DONOGHUE
This soprano, heard often with the Esoterics, steps out solo to sing cabaret songs by Kurt Weill, Seattle composer Linda Waterfall's settings of Walt Whitman, and Romantic-era poems set by Josh LaMar. With pianist Kevin Johnson. Queen Anne Christian Church, 1316 Third Ave W, 282-8062, 3 pm, $5 donation.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 25
DX ARTS
The UW's Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media presents electroacoustic music and digital video by a slew of masters, disciples, and students. Best bets for this packed program are Richard Karpen's Life Study #3 and Out of Breath by Paul Koonce, whose Hothouse remains one of the classics of 1990s electronic music. Meany Theater, UW Campus, 543-4880, 7:30 pm, $5/$10.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 26
TOBIAS DELIUS 4TET
Earshot's nod to the thriving Dutch out-jazz scene. This Amsterdam-based quartet features the lithe drummer Han Bennink, whose ability to spontaneously find new surfaces for his drumsticks beguiles the eyes and ears. ConWorks, 500 Boren Ave N, 547-9787, 8 pm, $14–$16.
LE VIDE
More earbusting experimentalism at the Re-bar with neo-proggers Girth, the Sea Donkeys (described as "shantycore"), and Matt Shoemaker, whose subtle electronic tones and layered field recordings at the Rendezvous late last year ranked among my favorite gigs of 2004. Re-bar, 1114 E Howell at Boren, 233-9873,9 pm, $3.