2025-2026 Season
Seattle Modern Orchestra returns for its sixteenth season with four concerts of vibrant, cutting-edge music from the 20th and 21st centuries. The ensemble will present world premieres of new music by Caroline Louise Miller, Jérémy Jolley, and Arun Chandra, and continue our work mentoring the next generation of musical artists in immersive residencies at the University of Washington and Cornish College of the Arts at Seattle University. Season highlights include pianist Cristina Valdés in György Ligeti’s virtuosic and densely-layered Piano Concerto, a growable graphic score created by Sarah Pyle and the Flicker Duo, William Dougherty’s moving collage the new normal, and George Crumb’s classic Vox Balanae. Sarah Kolat curates a two-night event at Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center with historical and original music commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Avant-Garde classic book The Guests Go In to Supper. With text scores by and tributes to John Cage, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Charles Amirkhanian, and Robert Ashley, these evenings feature Kolat’s dramatic recitation alongside dancer James Kirby Rogers and SMO musicians.
Order a subscription to the entire SMO season – four concerts for one price!
-
Among the Trees: Sonic Ecology in the Anthropocene
October 18, 2025 8:00 pm Chapel Performance Space 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, Seattle Washington 98103
SMO flutist Sarah Pyle curates an evening of environmental music in which the audience and musicians collectively explore how we are shaped by and shape the natural world. Meadows (2025), a growable graphic score led by Flicker Duo (Sarah Pyle, flute & Janna Webbon, violin), encourages at-home ecosystem restoration, while Caroline Miller’s territories::refrains invites human … Continue reading “Among the Trees: Sonic Ecology in the Anthropocene”
-
Relational Spaces: Immersive Sound @ Raisbeck Auditorium
March 12, 2026 8:00 pm Raisbeck Auditorium at Cornish College of the Arts 2017 Boren Ave., Seattle WA 98121
SMO returns to Raisbeck Auditorium for an evening of immersive music that explores the interrelated elements of time, spatialized sound, and performer/composer agency. The program includes the world premiere of founding director Jérémy Jolley’s (contro-)clessidra I-V; a series of layered bespoke duos crafted over more than a decade for SMO’s musicians. Focusing on the qualities … Continue reading “Relational Spaces: Immersive Sound @ Raisbeck Auditorium”
-
Entangled Sounds: University of Washington Residency, Feat. Cristina Valdés, Ligeti Piano Concerto
April 8, 2026 7:30 pm Meany Hall—Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater 4040 George Washington Lane Northeast, Seattle WA 98195
György Ligeti describes his piano concerto as encompassing music that embodies “frozen time, as an object in imaginary space that exists simultaneously in all its moments.” This dazzling, multi-layered work features SMO’s tour-de-force pianist Cristina Valdés. SMO presents the concerto alongside recent works for sinfonietta by UW faculty composers. Seattle newcomer and recently appointed UW composition … Continue reading “Entangled Sounds: University of Washington Residency, Feat. Cristina Valdés, Ligeti Piano Concerto”
-
The Guests Go in to Supper: Celebrating the American Avant-Garde, 40th Anniversary Concert
May 1, 2026 8:00 pm Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center 1716 2nd Ave N, Seattle Washington 98109
Sarah Kolat, Curator SMO celebrates The Guests Go In to Supper (1986), a seminal work featuring text scores and ideas from luminaries of the late 20th-century American Avant-Garde: John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Charles Amirkhanian, and Robert Ashley. The two-night interactive and multi-media program takes place at the newly-renovated Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center. … Continue reading “The Guests Go in to Supper: Celebrating the American Avant-Garde, 40th Anniversary Concert”
-
The Guests Go in to Supper: SMO’s “Sweet 16” Avant-Garde Prom
May 2, 2026 6:00 pm Whim W’Him Contemporary Dance Center 1716 2nd Ave N, Seattle Washington 98109
Sarah Kolat, Curator SMO celebrates The Guests Go In to Supper (1986), a seminal work featuring text scores and ideas from luminaries of the late 20th-century American Avant-Garde: John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Yoko Ono, Charles Amirkhanian, and Robert Ashley, and the group’s 16th season. The two-night interactive and multi-media program takes place at the newly-renovated … Continue reading “The Guests Go in to Supper: SMO’s “Sweet 16” Avant-Garde Prom”