Center for New Music
55 Taylor St SF
Click for Venue page

Wet Invention:
an evening exploring aquatic sound
with instrument inventors Cheryl E. Leonard, Krys Bobrowski, Brenda Huchinson, David Samas and Tom Nunn
Co-presented by Thingamajigs and Soundwave
In partnership with the Window Gallery at the Center for New Music

Cheryl E. Leonard performs music for amplified water, natural-object instruments, and field recordings of caves, rivers, and oceans from around the world.

Gliss Glass Solo
Krystyna Bobrowski

Gliss Glass is an original instrument consisting of a series of custom glass vessels of various sizes, filled with water, interconnected by a system of tubes and valves. Though much larger than a wineglass, the instrument is played in much the same way, by running a wet finger or hand around the rim. The glass vessels may be lightly amplified to pick up subtle squeaks, sloshes and scrapes.

Vorticella is comprised of four women, Krystyna Bobrowski, Erin Espeland, Brenda Hutchinson and Karen Stackpole, improvising on a variety of conventional and homemade instruments as well as found objects. Instruments include French horn, kelp horns, percussion (a vast collection of gongs, metal bits, wooden bits, exotic sound makers, and everyday household objects), cello, paint can banjo, voice and the Long Tube (9 1/2 foot bionic tube).

Symphony at Sea, by David Samas
Through an unusual orchestra of invented instruments, we will journey with the audience away from the familiar shore out into the sea which is both calm and wild. An extremely dynamic composition for improvisors, this work includes ecstatic poetry and comical songs, ranging from traditional indigenous spirit tunes and the melodies of whales, to the stormy noise of the imagined monsters. The players dressed in loud hawaiian shirts feature 3 large new inventions: a large scatch painting made from sand, shells and beach trash; a beach umbrella laden with coastal chimes; and the cantramast, a huge muti-stringed instrument made from a ships mast and a pirate chest. This performance will also feature a new sonic suit made of sea trash called the Kracken.

The Shorekestra:
David Samas, composer, inventor, voice, ideophones
Tom Nunn, inventor, skatch painting, plates, waterphones
Doug Carroll, contra mast, field recordings
Ron Heglin, Shells, voice and Trombone
Peter Bonos, shells, chimes, trumpet
Ian Saxton, percussion

Cost: $10/8 members

Audio samples in which musicians at this event play:

Videos featuring musicians playing at this event