SEATTLE SYMPHONY
SSO conductor Gerard Schwarz leads the SSO and the Seattle Symphony Chorale in a fun program of Halloween favorites, including Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain (think of the massive demon from Fantasia), Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice (remember Mickey Mouse and the brooms?), Saint-Saëns' ur-goth Danse Macabre, and bits of Berlioz (the March to the Scaffold and Dream of Witches Sabbath from the Symphonie Fantastique). Tenor Vinson Cole sings Mephistopheles from Liszt's A Faust Symphony. Eeek! Benaroya Hall, Third and Union, 215-4747, 7:30 pm, $16-$75.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1
REGINA YEH
Pianist Regina Yeh presents an intriguing program of Ligeti, Messiaen, Schumann, Beethoven, and Mozart. Yeh plunges into two of Ligeti's dazzling :tudes, the bubbling Fanfares, and the wistfully wan En suspens. Also on the program: Regard des Anges from Messiaen's Vingt Regards Sur l' Enfant Jesus, Mozart's Sonata in E Flat, K. 282, Beethoven's Sonata in A Major, op. 101, and Schumann's Symphonic :tudes, op. 13. Brechemin Auditorium, UW campus, 685-8384, 7:30 pm, $8/$10.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 2
SEATTLE NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
This chamber group inaugurates its season with a concert titled "Music of Biology, Technology, and Theology." While connecting music to other intellectual endeavors can lead to trouble (despite a tangential relationship, music and mathematics have been tangling for over two millennia, usually to music's detriment), I suppose the two premieres by composers from Portland (Forrest Pierce) and Chicago (Stacy Garrop) make up for it. The SNME also tackles Messiaen's monumental Quartet for the End of Time--not new, but definitely great. Town Hall, Eighth and Seneca, 417-5000, 8 pm, $10-$20.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 3
ELVIN JONES
Celebrated for his legendary playing with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bud Powell, and many other jazz legends, Elvin Jones is one of the great drummers of all time. Period. Go hear him; he still thunders. Also Thurs Oct 31 through Sat Nov 2, sets at 8 and 10 pm. Jazz Alley, 2033 Sixth Ave, 441-9729, 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm, $17.50/$21.50.
AFTEREARS FESTIVAL I
Paralleling the Earshot Jazz Festival, the three-night AfterEars festival is designed, in the words of festival co-organizer Adam Diller, "to make the jazz audience aware that the tradition of improvisation lives and is being expanded." This night presents two duets--one with L.A. drummer Billy Mintz and Seattle saxophonist Adam Diller, the other with Vancouver, BC-based bassist Travis Baker and the marvelous violinist Tari Nelson-Zagar. Velocity MainSpace Theater, 915 E Pine, 325-8773, 10 pm, $6-$10 donation.
MONDAY NOVEMBER 4
AFTEREARS FESTIVAL II
The festival's second night features pianist Gust Burns, who has absorbed two Portland players into his quartet: guitarist Tom McNally and drummer Tim DuRoche. The Pig Bodine Big Band is an 11-piece ensemble that "performs compositions designed to facilitate focused group improvisation." Back in the day, we used to call those things "comprovisations," a clunky portmanteau word that has deservedly disappeared. Velocity MainSpace Theater, 915 E Pine, 325-8773, 10 pm, $6-$10 donation.
