SEATTLE SCHOOL
This quartet of composer-performers sallies forth into a spectacle of strangely scored works, including Folding and Foiling for one vocalist and three electronic manipulators; Competition and Distraction for three karaoke vocalists, tape, and one person firing paintballs at them; Chains for a four-person chain ensemble; Sunday/Monday for instrumentalist and shortwave radio; Study for Air Guitar for one clothed or unclothed guitarist; and Music for Clothing for one performer. Your brainy date will love it. Polestar Music Gallery, 1412 18th Ave at E Union St, 329-4224, 8 pm, $6.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 21
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Back when I had a real job, one of my favorite pleasures was extending Friday afternoon's three-martini lunch into a 10-martini bacchanal. More afternoon concerts like this one would have saved my liver a lot of extra ache. For those of who can't loaf on Fridays and catch this afternoon performance of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1, and Bernstein's flashy Kaddish symphony, there's the regular Thursday-evening concert Nov 20 at 7:30 pm. Benaroya Hall, Third Ave and Union St, 215-4747, 1 pm, $12-$80.
COMPOSERS' WORKSHOP
UW student composers present their works, most of them with innocuous titles: Fernando Martin-Pastor's Hovering for flute, clarinet, and piano; Doug Niemela's Blue Ridge for digital tape; and two slabs of "computer-realized sound," Joshua Parmenter's Cross-Tide and Noel Paul's Extension. With a lofty and portentous title like Undulating Quantum Jitters and Pernicious Infinities, let's hope Jonathan Haek's marimba piece delivers the cosmic goods. Brechemin Auditorium in the Music Building, UW campus, 543-4880, 7:30 pm, free.
BNSF
This "noise barrage" trio, also known as Burlington Northern Santa Fe, fashions an immersive environment of digital video, sound, found objects, and live performance. They're spending the previous 24 hours inside Polestar, which is certain to warp their minds further. Polestar Music Gallery, 1412 18th Ave at E Union St, 329-4224, 8 pm, $6.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22
WALLY SHOUP & BRENT ARNOLD
Two-thirds of Project W, alto saxophonist Wally Shoup and cellist Brent Arnold, team up for "a scintillating batch of Beatle covers, difference tones, sonic fisticuffs, and other spontaneous delights." If you missed Shoup's riveting appearance at the Seattle Asian Art Museum recently, here's another chance to catch one of our burg's most impassioned improvisers. Wall of Sound, 315 E Pine St, 441-9880, 7 pm, free.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 23
NORTHWEST CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Ralf Gothóni conducts this fine ensemble in Haydn's short and seldom-heard Symphony No. 1, along with a gem by Benjamin Britten, his Serenade for Tenor, Horns, and Strings. Also on the program is Mahler's arrangement (whose music didn't he meddle with?) of Schubert's string quartet, Death and the Maiden. Also Fri Nov 21 at 8 pm. Recital Hall at Benaroya, Third Ave & Union St, 343-0445, 2:30 pm, $20-$32.
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26
FLOYD STANDIFER GROUP
Trumpeter Standifer and his group serve up well-stewed, savory bop standards. If you're lucky, he'll croon a tune, too. New Orleans Restaurant, 114 First Ave S, 622-2563, 8 pm, free.
