2024-2025 Season
Seattle Modern Orchestra returns for its fifteenth season with five concerts of vibrant, cutting-edge music from the 20th and 21st centuries. The ensemble will present world premieres of new music by CHARI and Wayne Horvitz, explore new venues through performances at the Egyptian Theatre on Capitol Hill and at Seattle Opera’s Tagney Jones Hall, and present historical works by luminaries Kaija Saariaho and Tristan Murail. SMO partners with the Seattle International Film Festival and Access Contemporary Music on an evening of Silent Film shorts with new music, and expand their work at University of Washington (celebrating Joël-François Durand’s milestone birthday with six new tribute commissions by Jeff Bowen, Eric Flesher, Jérémy Jolley, Ryan Hare, Byron Au Yong, and Yigit Kolat, alongside new student work) and at the Cornish College of the Arts in an evening curated by long-time core member and Cornish Faculty member Marcin Pączkowski. Celebrated soprano Maria Männistö has crafted the season closer, featuring music by Maija Hynninen, including a new version of her …sicut aurora procedit for voice, violin solo (Eric Rynes) and electronics.
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Conductive Structures
October 17, 2024 7:30 pm The Royal Room 5000 Rainier Ave S., Seattle WA 98118
SMO partners with Earshot Jazz and Seattle icon Wayne Horvitz as part of a multi-night festival at The Royal Room celebrating the innovations and musical philosophies of three mid-century African American musical conceptualists. What’s Going On: Conduction, Improvisation, and the Culture of Structure features conduction techniques pioneered by Lawrence “Butch” Morris, a string quintet by … Continue reading “Conductive Structures”
POSTPONED: Sound of Silent Film with SIFF and Access Contemporary Music
February 7, 2025 8:00 pm SIFF Cinema Egyptian 805 E Pine St, Seattle WA 98122
CONCERT POSTPONED: Due to the indefinite closure of SIFF Egyptian after a catastrophic flood in November, SMO and Access Contemporary Music have decided to postpone this concert to a future season. We are committed to bringing you an evening of adventurous music and new silent film, and want to do so in a way … Continue reading “POSTPONED: Sound of Silent Film with SIFF and Access Contemporary Music”
Electroacoustic Environments
February 13, 2025 8:00 pm Raisbeck Auditorium at Cornish College of the Arts 2017 Boren Ave., Seattle WA 98121
Longtime SMO electronic musician and Cornish College of the Arts faculty member Marcin Pączkowski curates this concert of immersive electroacoustic music. The program reflects and interrogates the darkness of the season, with live and electronic sound diffused throughout Raisbeck Auditorium‘s state of the art Meyer Sound acoustic constellation of speakers. Tristan Murail’s classic spectral work … Continue reading “Electroacoustic Environments”
University of Washington Residency
March 12, 2025 7:30 pm Meany Studio Theater at Meany Hall 4140 George Washington Lane Northeast, Seattle WA 98105
70th Birthday Concert for UW Professor of Composition Joël-François Durand and new student works SMO returns to the University of Washington School of Music for their third annual residency. In addition to an open reading of works by undergraduate composers early in the week, the concert features new works by UW graduate student composers. … Continue reading “University of Washington Residency”
The Dawn Arises: Music of Finnish Women
June 6, 2025 8:00 pm Tagney Jones Hall 363 Mercer St, Seattle WA 98109
SMO’s renowned soprano Maria Männistö curates a concert of music celebrating the return of the summer’s light and the artistry of Finnish women. Guest composer Maija Hynninen’s new arrangement of . . . sicut aurora procedit features Männistö and violinist Eric Rynes, and the pair also perform Lotta Wennäkoski’s stunningly virtuosic Valo joka. Hear music … Continue reading “The Dawn Arises: Music of Finnish Women”