WEST
OAKLAND
SOUND
SERIES
UPCOMING
SUN MAR 8 - REBECCA LAWRENCE (berlin) / OAKLAND REDUCTIONIST ORCHESTRA
SUN MAR 15 - BEN GOLDBERG GROUP / FILMS BY DAVID MICHALAK, STEVE MOBIA, ARTHUR GANSON
SUN MAR 22 - FREMAKAJO(FRITH+ABE+KNUDSEN+GLENN)/SOCIAL STUTTER(SCHENK+GARABEDIAN+KNUDSEN+WRIGHT)
SUN MAR 29 - LEVITATOR TRIO (CLIFFORD+SHOKRAI+NORDESON) / "TWO SISTERS" BY MAX ABNER
a weekly new music and experimental sound series every sunday
presented by new performance traditions and sfSound
dresher ensemble studio :: 2201 poplar street, oakland california
ample parking! please park perpendicular when past the trees on poplar
$10-$25 sliding scale (cash & venmo accepted at door - order advance here)
concerts start promptly at 7:15
:: late arrivals follow instructions on door to get buzzed in ::
MARCH 8 2026 7:15pm
Berlin-based double bassist REBECCA LAWRENCE performs Imaginary Light, a program of contemporary works for solo double bass. Through extended techniques and alternative tunings, the sonic compass of the double bass is exposed, expanded and illuminated. Known for her collaborative work as a contemporary and early music double bassist in Europe and the USA, Rebecca is a member of berlin-based EnsembleKollektiv as well as a frequent guest with ensembles such as Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, ensemble mosaik, the Basel Sinfonietta and Matter of Facts Studio. She combines her interest in contemporary and baroque music with individual projects involving improvisation on early instruments.
Jacob Druckman: Valentine (1969)
Håkon Thelin: Amarcord (2003)
Haukur Þór Harðarson: new work (2026)
Rebecca Saunders: Fury (2005)
The OAKLAND REDUCTIONIST ORCHESTRA is a supergroup of Bay Area musicians with a predilection for lowercase, fricative, and reductionist improvisation that often sounds more electronic than acoustic, the ensemble comes out of a rich tradition of "American reductionist" music that blossomed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Musicians: tom djll, trumpet; ron heglin, tuba; monica scott, cello; matt ingalls, clarinets; lisa mezzacappa, bass; kyle bruckmann, oboe, english horn; kevin ck lo, flute, violin, piano; kevin corcoran, percussion; kanoko nishi-smith, koto; john ingle, saxophones; jacob felix heule, percussion; diane grubbe, flutes; danishta rivero, voice; cody putman, bassoon; chris cooper, guitar, electronics; cheryl e leonard, natural-object instruments; brendan lai-tong, trombone.
MARCH 15 2026 7:15pm
BEN GOLDBERG + DILLON VADO + TIM BULKLEY
FILMS BY DAVID MICHALAK, STEVE MOBIA, ARTHUR GANSON
Clarinetist BEN GOLDBERG joins DILLON VADO (vibraphone) and TIM BULKLEY (drums) in a set of trio improvisations. Sound knowledge and awareness from planet Neptone. The practice of remembering what you can't forget. Come have a listen; you won't believe your ears. Or else, you will believe your ears but there might be something else you don't believe. Or maybe nothing at all.
EYE-FULL FILMS presents a set of experimental films by DAVID MICHALAK, STEVE MOBIA, and ARTHUR GANSON, including the premiere showing of Michalak's Still Movin'.
PROGRAM
DAVID MICHALAK - Life Is a Serious Business (1983, color, B+W, 8 min.)
George Kuchar in dual roles as Instructor and hopeless nebbish attempts to instruct himself out discouragement. The dialogue has been appropriated from a “How to Overcome
Discouragement” instructional record. Music by Dean Santomieri
ARTHUR GANSON - Machines (various shorts 1978-2004, color, B+W, 6 min)
STEVE MOBIA – Nudge (2012, color, 8min.)
a pinball percussion piece that features the sounds of vintage pinball machines, scored by Steve and performed by members of the Composers Orchestra.
DAVID MICHALAK - Still Movin’ (2025, color, 6 min)
Nature’s beautiful abstractions present themselves through a car window. World premiere! Soundtrack by Dr. Bob
DAVID MICHALAK - The Secret Opera (2025, color, B+W, 13 min.)
Grum, an opera singer played by Bob Marsh searches for the key to love & art attempting to perform in spite of aphonia, inner demons and a ghost that has been haunting and dooming
performances in the decaying Opera House. Soundtrack by Dr. Bob.
DAVID MICHALAK - Regenbogen (1998, color, 4 min.)
an animated rainbow, soundtrack by Reel Change
plus a surprise film!
MARCH 22 2026 7:15pm
FRED FRITH (bass/viola) has been a dauntless explorer, improviser, and collaborator in the half-century since he made that breakthrough. From leaving Henry Cow to start Art Bears, from leaving England to enlist in a hyperactive New York improvisational circuit that led him to join Naked City and launch his own Massacre, Frith has situated his extended techniques and handmade instruments in dozens of different contexts. A longtime teacher at California’s Mills College, he brings another new band, FREMAKAJO. He has tapped intertwining Bay Area circles to build this quartet, with curious and playful drummer JORDAN GLENN joining exploratory saxophonist KASEY KNUDSEN and stylistically globetrotting accordionist MARIÉ ABE.
SOCIAL STUTTER, a saxophone quartet led by composer/altoist BETH SCHENCK, blurs the line between strictly written chamber music and soaring free jazz. Solos emerge from the natural order of intricately written lines that, although begin simply in structure, twist and distort themselves into surprisingly complex shapes and forms. Unlike traditional saxophone quartets, most compositions call for two altos, tenor, and bari, which leads itself to denser harmonic territory and a uniquely homogenous sound. Masters of texture and nuance, the quartet has a keen awareness of how to support and push one another's creative boundaries. Social Stutter is comprised of some of the Bay Area's most unique voices: KASEY KNUDSEN, RAFFI GARABEDIAN, CORY WRIGHT and BETH SCHENCK.
