MATT JORGENSEN+451
Looking for excellent jazz at a bargain price? Here you go. Drummer Matt Jorgensen and his 451 group do a college date with Phil Sparks on bass, Mark Taylor, and Ryan Burns (filling for Marc Seales) on Fender Rhodes. HUB North Den, UW Campus, 543-1447, 8 pm, $2/$4.
ECHO
This jaw-dropping fusion of dance, large-scale video projection, and cutting-edge sound knocked me out at On the Boards' recent Northwest New Works festival. Of course, I'm a sucker for any clean, cold Euro-art that simmers with colossal stippled graphics. Luke Allen, a Seattle composer to watch, created the stunning score--a deft catalog of the radical filtering, ratcheting rasps, and digital spikes made possible by DSP software. Also Fri-Sun May 2-4 at 8 pm. ConWorks, 500 Boren Ave N, 295-0306, 8 pm, $10/$15.
FRIDAY MAY 2
NICHOLAS ISHERWOOD
Bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood visits Seattle and treats us to a recital of contemporary vocal music. Lots of heavyweights on the program: Durand's She or Not, Kurtag's Hoelderlin Gesange, Bussotti's Fragments for Solo Bass Voice, Scelsi's Wo Ma, Cage's Three Songs for Voice and Closed Piano, Berio's daunting Sequenza III, and Kagel's Phonophonie. I know that there's a cadre of new-music nuts who peruse my column and maybe go to a gig once every six months. Get off your ass and go to this gig--who knows when this repertory will be heard again! Brechemin Auditorium, UW Campus, 685-8384, 8 pm, $8/$10.
SATURDAY MAY 3
NORTHWEST CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
For the final concert of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra's season, Ralf Gothóni conducts and solos in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major. They've booked the marvelous soprano Harolyn Blackwell for Benjamin Britten's Les Illuminations. Hommage to Benjamin Britten by Arvo Pärt and The Fiddlers by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara round out the program. Also Sun May 4 at 2:30 pm. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third Ave & Union St, 343-0445, 8 pm, $25/$30.
NOGGIN
In celebration of their 10th anniversary, Noggin have embarked on a West Coast tour. The duo of Michael Griffen (violin) and Eric Ostrowski (guitar and violin) serve up two sets: The first is all-acoustic with dueling violins, and for the second they promise "full-volume intense, electric scree." The Artie Smudges Trio will open, performing "smooth noise" for cello, clarinet, violin, and circuit-bent (i.e., re-wired) electronic devices. Polestar Music Gallery, 1412 18th Ave at E Union St, 329-4224, 8 pm, $7.
SUNDAY MAY 4
OPUS 7
This resplendent vocal ensemble has put together an intriguing program of music by American composers Howard Hanson, Randall Thompson, Michael E. Young, and Bern Herbolsheimer, who set Verdi's Italian Ave Regina text. Also featured are works from Opus 7's Fourth Annual Student Composition Competition, as well as pieces by St. Mark's compline maestro Peter Hallock and the late Robert Starer, whose book Rhythmic Training is a treasure. St. James Cathedral, 804 Ninth Ave, 782-2899, 8 pm, $17.
