2021/22 SEASON

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LA PHIL NOON TO MIDNIGHT 2022

PATTERSON / CARDEW
Saturday April 9th, 12:15pm  BP HALL

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CARDEW:  Paragraph 2 from The Great Learning

PATTERSON:  A Simple Opera

Jessica Basta, Jennifer Bewerse, Natalie Brejcha, Eric KM Clark, Daniel Corral, Corey Fogel, Morgan Gerstmar, James Klopfleisch, Heather Lockie, William Roper, Cassia Streb, Christine Tavolacci, Argenta Walther

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orange events

online video art installation

September 13th 2021

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orangeevents.art

*please note that this installation is designed for computer browsers and is not viewable on mobile devices. 

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We are happy to announce a project that has been brewing for us over the summer months. This project brought us a lot of fun and joy to assemble during such challenging times, and we're looking forward to sharing it with you all!

ORANGE EVENTS 
an online journey through Bengt af Klintberg's iconic fluxus event scores
 

In mid-2021, as the pandemic continued into its second year, we decided that we wanted to embark on a fluxus-themed journey with everyone in Southland Ensemble & invite some friends from around the world to participate with us. As a group, we have upheld the tradition of exploring some form of fluxus art annually (save for 2020), so this was an obvious and exciting choice for us.

Orange Event Number 20 (1963-66) by Bengt af Klintberg was one of the pieces we previously explored in our inaugural fluxus concert in 2015 at ArtShare LA.  Klintberg created a number of Orange Events (which in the fluxus tradition are Event Scores), many of which can be found in the Fluxus Workbook.

This time around, we thought it would be interesting and fun to invite artists near and far, as well as some young artists that we have worked with, to interpret the text scores however they like. There were no specific instructions or guidelines given to the participants, except the realization(s) had to be filmed.

It is interesting to note that although the full title is From Twenty-Five Orange Events, there are not twenty-five events (as far as our research could tell, including perusing a copy of Klintberg's The Cursive Scandinavian from 1967). Maybe we will find more in the future, and add them to this page.

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Our heartfelt thanks and love go out to all of our participating artists:

🍊Jennifer Bewerse
🍊Natalie, Marin & Tenney Brejcha
🍊Scott Cazan
🍊Carolyn Chen
🍊Eric KM Clark
🍊Morgan Gerstmar
🍊Devin, June & Roscoe Maxwell 
🍊Jahnesa Orozco-Garcia
🍊James Klopfleisch
🍊Matylda Miller
🍊Katie Porter
🍊William Roper
🍊Jonathan Stehney
🍊Cassia Streb
🍊Christine Tavolacci
🍊WILMA
🍊Oliver Wright
🍊Daniel Young

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August 25th-31st 2021

Interstice x Motor LA

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We're writing to share that our video realization of

Pigs, Pigs, Oh! Those Tasty Pigs
by William Roper 
performed by Jennifer Bewerse, Eric KM Clark,
James Klopfleisch & Cassia Streb

will be featured this week ahead at Interstice x Motor LA

NOW –Tuesday, August 31 | by appointment

Opening + Film Screening: Friday, August 27 | 8-10pm | get tickets

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 2020/21 SEASON

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MUSIC OF WILLIAM ROPER
YouTube releases

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July 9th 2021

Hello friends,

Happy Friday! We're so excited to share the final video in our series of solos by William Roper with you all:
 

Inari-sama Whispers to Kitsune 
by William Roper 
performed by Jennifer Bewerse

 

program note from the score:
Inari Okami, is a Japanese deity of rice, tea, Sake, agriculture and industry. In short, a deity of fertility. Inari’s messengers are pure white foxes (Kitsune). Kitsune can take human form. Through Kitsune, humans know the thoughts of Inari. When Inari speaks to the Kitsune, we do not hear.

Once again, thank you to Middle Ear Project for filming this performance, and to Human Resources LA for the use of their space.

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June 30th 2021

Hello friends,

Warmest wishes to you all as we weather the summer heat together! We're here in your inbox to share the next video in our series of solos by William Roper:
 

ピカドン (Pikadon)/Shock Cocoon 
by William Roper 
performed by Christine Tavolacci
 

Program notes for ピカドン :
ピカドン - Pika Don, "flash - boom,"describes exploding atomic bombs dropped over Japan. Some people escaped death by being in places protecting them from Pika Don, called "shock cocoons." Some survivors became "ant-walkers," aimlessly following others around, encountering "alligator people," whose skin was burned so as to resemble reptiles.

Thanks to Middle Ear Project for filming this performance, and to Human Resources LA for the use of their space.

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June 23rd 2021

Hello friends,

Warm wishes to you all! We are extremely happy to share our final three videos of solo works by William Roper.  

The first we would like to share is:
 

Bridge to the Four Islands
by William Roper 
performed by Cassia Streb

This particular solo was also featured in the Infrequent Seams Streamfest that took place this past week, featuring performances from experimental artists worldwide.

Thanks to Middle Ear Project for filming this performance, and to Human Resources LA for the use of their space.

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January 3rd 2021

Hello friends!

Happy New Year! We hope that you all have had a restful holiday season. As we venture into 2021, we're happy to share that our performance of William Roper's Pigs, Pigs, Oh! Those Tasty Pigs is featured in this month's Music For Your Inbox, an innovative digital project produced by Southland members Cassia Streb and Jennifer Bewerse. 

This performance will only be viewable to those who have subscribed for the month of January. The deadline to sign up is January 10th. For more information about this month's feature, and to subscribe:
 

click here

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December 21st 2020

Hello friends!

Happy Solstice, the shortest day of the year! We hope that this email finds you all in good health and ready to celebrate the new year ahead. We're writing to share the third video in our series of solo performances of works by William Roper:
 

MY HEAD IS ALWAYS DOWN FOR I NO LONGER LOOK FOR YOU
by William Roper (2005)
performed by Eric KM Clark

Thanks to Middle Ear Project for filming this performance, and to Human Resources LA for the use of their space.

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November 24th 2020

Hello friends!

We hope this email finds you in good spirits. We're writing to share the second video in our series of solo performances of works by William Roper:
 

Procyon Lotor - überall hänge ich meinen hut ist haus (2008)
performed by James Klopfleisch

Thanks to Middle Ear Project for filming this performance, and to Human Resources LA for the use of their space.

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November 9th 2020
We're also very excited to share with you a series of three solo performances of works by William Roper  filmed by Middle Ear Project  at Human Resources. We hope that you will enjoy them as we look forward to a time where we will be able to perform a concert of Roper's ensemble works in the future. We'll be sharing the remaining two videos along with some of our favorite past performances in weeks to come.

Here is the first: Vespertilio Murinus - Lied Der Nab, performed by Jonathan Stehney

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Sequenza21 Podcast Interview
November 9th 2020

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Hello! We hope that this email finds you all healthy, safe, and in good spirits. We are excited to share that we've recently been featured in Sequenza 21's podcast series. 

take a listen here

We discuss how we formed back in 2013, some of our most memorable performances, and play selected recordings from the past several years.

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 2019/20 SEASON

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KOAN Quartet EP Release
Bandcamp, July 1st 2020
 

We are very excited to announce that Koan Quartet, comprised of a subset from members of Southland Ensemble, today releases their debut digital EP with the premiere commercial recording of Johanna Beyer’s String Quartet IV. An important experimental composer of the 1930’s, Beyer worked closely with Henry Cowell, Percy Grainger and Ruth Crawford, and wrote the first known work scored for electronic instruments by a female composer (Music of the Spheres, 1938). Johanna Beyer died of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 1944 and her work would have been completely forgotten were it not for the work of many composers, performers, and, notably, Frog Peak, a composers’ collective, who made her scores available through research and volunteer score copying.

There is no record of String Quartet IV having been performed within Beyer’s lifetime. It is composed in a very intimate, almost post-romantic style which differs from some of the other works in her collection. Koan Quartet brings years of experience presenting thoughtful and meticulously-researched performances of rarely heard works to their interpretation of Beyer’s String Quartet IV. 

Available on Bandcamp for $4.

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MUSIC OF ALVIN SINGLETON

Saturday February 29th 2020, 8pm @AUTOMATA

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An exploration of the diverse, chamber and solo works of Atlanta based composer
Alvin Singleton

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Helga (2003)
Et Nunc (1980)

Be Natural (1974)

Somehow We Can (1994)

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    with special guest performer Natalie Brejcha

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cohorts concert

FREY / FELDMAN
KOAN Quartet + Katie Porter

February 15th 2020, 8pm @Human Resources

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JÜRG FREY: QUINTET (1998)

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MORTON FELDMAN: Clarinet and String Quartet (1983)

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satellite concert

OTHER FORESTS
music of Carolyn Chen

Tuesday December 17th 2019, 8pm @Tuesdays at Monk Space

 

Southland Ensemble and Tuesdays at Monk Space present works by Carolyn Chen for string quartet, bass flute, speakers, and singers — exploring nature and how we invent it. 

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FLUXUS: BEN PATTERSON

Saturday November 16th 2019, 8pm @AUTOMATA

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We begin our 7th season with our annual FLUXUS concert.

This year we highlight an array of the whimsical, exuberant work of Ben Patterson, one of the founders of Fluxus.

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 2018/19 SEASON

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SOUTHLAND ENSEMBLE x DOG STAR 15

LAND IMAGES
Friday June 14th, 8pm  Automata Arts

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A concert of text and graphic scores that directly engage with nature and earthly environments. Featuring the following compositions:

 

Kathryn Koopman - For the Beauty of the Earth 
Jack Langdon - Land Images 
Heather Lockie - 4 Dryads 
Christian Wolff - selections from Prose Collection - 

                 Sticks, Stones, Groundspace or Large Groundspace

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This concert is presented alongside the Dog Star Orchestra’s 15th annual festival of experimental music. We are thrilled to have many members of the Dog Star Orchestra join us for our performance of Wolff's iconic prose scores. 

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www.dogstarorchestra.com

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LA PHIL NOON TO MIDNIGHT 2019

ANTHONY BRAXTON : GHOST TRANCE MUSIC
Saturday June 1st, 10:15pm  BP HALL

 

Composition No. 23A

Composition No. 40

Composition No. 228

Composition No. 245

 

with special guests:

Joshua Gerowitz

Andrew Munsey

Stephanie Richards

William Roper

David Tranchina

Argenta Walther

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Southland Ensemble is thrilled to share a continued exploration of selections from Anthony Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music (first interpreted by the ensemble in 2017) as a part of this year’s Noon to Midnight. Conceived as a music that develops ritualistically over time, Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music uses a mixture of traditional and graphic notation interspersed with improvisation. Ghost Trance Music as a whole consists of individual numbered compositions that can be layered or performed individually. For this performance we will be using Composition No. 228 as a ‘foundation’ on which the other compositions are layered and built upon.

 

Anthony Braxton is recognized as one of the most important musicians, educators, and creative thinkers of the past 50 years, highly esteemed in the creative music community for the revolutionary quality of his work and for the mentorship and inspiration he has provided to generations of younger musicians. Drawing upon a disparate mix of influences from John Coltrane to Karlheinz Stockhausen to Native American music, Braxton has created a unique musical system that celebrates the concept of global creativity and our shared humanity. His work examines core principles of improvisation, structural navigation and ritual engagement—innovation, spirituality and intellectual investigation.

 

www.tricentricfoundation.org

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BALLAD OF THE STAR-EATER:MUSIC
THE MUSIC OF JOHANNA BEYER

Saturday April 6th, 8pm

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Southland Ensemble presents a concert honoring the work of pioneering turn-of-the-century composer Johanna Beyer:

String Quartet IV
String Quartet #2
Have Faith
Movement for Double Bass and Piano
Music of the Spheres
Movement for String Quartet
Ballad of the Star-Eater
Percussion Op. 14
The Federal Music Project

with special guests:
Stephanie Aston, Argenta Walther & Brian Walsh

Johanna Beyer (1888-1944) was a German-American composer and pianist. She died of Lou Gehrig's disease and the majority of her work would have been forgotten were it not for the endeavors of composers and performers, notably Frog Peak, who brought her music back to life, as it were, through research and volunteer score copying.

Many of Beyer's works were never performed in her lifetime. Several of these works, including String Quartet IV and Movement for String Quartet are possible premieres, as there is little documentation of the performance of her work.

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NEW EXPERIMENTAL WORKS
Saturday February 9th, 8pm
Southland Ensemble presents a concert premiering experimental compositions generated by our first ever Call for Scores. 

 

Erika Bell : Saint-Girons
Christine Burke : AT A STEADY CONSISTENT RATE
Jorge Delgado Leyva : Dialogos
Nicole DeMaio : Book of Hours
John Eagle : Something about my Punctuation
Nomi Epstein : all are above us 
Ben Zucker : Neither/N/Nor/N

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FLUXUS : LIGHT
Saturday November 10th, 8pm

 

Southland Ensemble opens our sixth season with our annual fluxus event, featuring George Brecht’s Candle Piece for Radios among other classic event scores. Including pieces by Robert Bozzi (1966), George Brecht (1959), Henning Christiansen (1964), Ken Friedman (1965), Alison Knowles (1965), Takehisa Kosugi, Larry Miller (1970), Yoko Ono (1955), Tomas Schmit and Robert Watts (1970). 

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 2017/18 SEASON

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BYZANTINE RITES

6-2-2018 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

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“Southland Ensemble concludes its 2017/18 season with the premiere of a new work by LA-based composer Laura Steenberge:

Byzantine Rites is a new collection of pieces in which chant-inspired musical textures accompany actions performed with household objects. The title speaks in part to the borrowing of fragments of medieval Byzantine chants to form the musical materials, and in part to the use of Byzantine to refer to unnecessarily complicated procedures.

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Joined by special guest Cody Putman.

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RUTH CRAWFORD / RUTH CRAWFORD SEEGER

4-7-2018 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

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Southland Ensemble presents the music of Ruth Crawford, the forward-thinking and ultra-modern composer and that of Ruth Crawford Seeger, the American folk music specialist and renowned children’s music educator. From her iconic, forward-thinking and ultra-modern String Quartet composed in 1931, to her collection and harmonic arrangement of hundreds of American children’s folk songs, Ruth Crawford Seeger was truly an American pioneer and inimitable creative force. 

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The program features the following compositions: 

String Quartet, Diaphonic Suite No. 1, Diaphonic Suite No. 4 and Three Songs (special arrangement by Jonathan Stehney). In addition, members of Southland Ensemble and special guests have arranged several folk songs contained in her collections Animal Folk Songs for Children and American Folk Songs for Children. 

with special guests:

Jessica Basta, Natalie Brejcha, Daniel Corral, Dustin Donahue, April Guthrie, David Perryman, Kathryn Pisaro, Joanna Wallfisch and Argenta Walther

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WADADA LEO SMITH

1-26-2018 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

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“Ankhrasmation is a musical language as opposed to a musical notation system. […] The first part, Ankh, comes from the Egyptian cross. Ras comes from the Ethiopian head, meaning the leader. And Mas comes from mother.” WLS

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Exploring WLS's notational style, Ankhrasmation, come experience our realization of his beautiful scores Pacifica and page 9 of Kosmic Music.

We will be joined for this performance by special guests Casey Butler, Corey Fogel, Josh Gerowitz, and Dave Tranchina.

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FLUXUS : CONSTRUCTION

12-9-2017 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

 

flux: to affect, or bring to a certain state by subjecting to, or treating with, a flux. "Fluxed into another world"

 

"humorous, monostructure, insignificant, unpretentious, unprofessional (anyone can do it)" - George Maciunas

 

a piano, hammer, nails, violins, radios, overtones and orange paint.

 

Southland Ensemble performs a conglomeration of event scores by Yoko Ono, György Ligeti, George Maciunas, Allison Knowles, Robert Bozzi, Philip Corner, Tomas Schmit and more.

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WERDER/FREY

10-29-2017 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

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für sich, klar und sachlick. einfach. /  to itself, clear and objective. simple.

-Manfred Werder,  stück 1998

 

String Quartet No. 3 – Jürg Frey

stück 1998 – Manfred Werder

60 Pieces of Sound – Jürg Frey

 

The music is silent, but not absent. It is not speechless, and it also does not move with virtuosity bordering on silence. The music gets its vitality and its radiance, not from gesture and figuration, but in quiet presence – everything is there: colours, sensations, shadows, durations. 

-Jürg Frey

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 2016/17 SEASON

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anthony braxton
GHOST TRANCE MUSIC
4-28-2017 ArtShare LA
Southland Ensemble presents an evening of Anthony Braxton's Ghost Trance Music. Written between 1995 - 2006, Braxton created over 100 of these compositions that serve as pathways between different notation systems and musical idioms. 

Composition No. 228
Composition No. 245
Composition No. 358

with special guests:
Corey Fogel, Chris Foss, Andrew Munsey, Leah Paul, Kathy Pisaro, Stephanie Richards, Dave Tranchina & Argenta Walther

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JACKSON MAC LOW

1-28-17 AUTOMATA ARTS, LOS ANGELES

Southland Ensemble presents the chance poetry of Jackson Mac Low. Mac Low’s dedication to systems of composition - which included chance, indeterminacy, and simultaneous performance - allowed him to create works of extreme openness. His poems represent a moment in poetry where truths of authorship were called into question and the very boundaries of music and poetry were pulled taut.

54th Light Poem: For Ian Tyson
the 5th biblical poem
Is That Wool Hat My Hat?
Young Turtle Asymmetries
Asymmetries
 

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MAURICIO KAGEL: REPERTOIRE

11-18-16 The Command Center

Southland Ensemble presents selections from Repertoire (1967-70), a collection of event scores by German-Argentine composer Mauricio Kagel. One of his most radical, anti-institutional works, Repertoire is a farcical deconstruction of object, sound, theatre and music all at once.
 

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John Cage 1975-77
10-23-16 Human Resources LA 
Telephones and Birds (not Birds, but Water)
Child of Tree
Branches
Cheap Imitation for violin solo
 

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