Events

Friday 8/21

 Third Friday Series Presents: Adam Gabbert/Erik Sowa/Fred Jackson Jr. + Missing Piece with Louis Goldford

Doors 7 PM

Community music 7:15-7:45

Performance: 8 PM

The Migrations Trio

Adam Gabbert - electric nylon string guitar

Fred Jackson Jr. - saxophones, flute, percussion

Erik Sowa - drums, percussion

The Migrations Trio was first formed when Adam Gabbert, Fred Jackson Jr., and Erik Sowa arranged to perform at the Hungry Brain in 2022.  This group convened the following year for a recording session at Belaire Studio in Chicago.  During this session, the trio captured multiple improvised pieces which are included on Fred Jackson Jr.'s recent release, "Migrations".  Gabbert and Jackson Jr.'s improvised interactions include both melodic and dissonant qualities while also exploring spaciousness and soft dynamics.  Sowa provides a rhythmic foundation for the trio shifting between playing in time and non-metered percussive directions.

Missing Piece with Louis Goldford

Missing Piece is a south side Chicago-based musical ensemble who endeavor to commission new musical and artistic works, as well as collaborate with other musicians and organizations to provide transformative musical experiences through performances and educational programming. Through its multi-faceted work, the ensemble aims to inspire audiences to connect with their community, care for our environment, listen deeply to ourselves and others, and speak out against injustice. In a project-based approach, founders Dan Galat, violin, and Kelly Quesada, cello, often expand the ensemble to include other musicians and artists as collaborators. Missing Piece has commissioned and premiered over thirty new works, including standard notation, text and graphic scores, poetry, film, movement, and improvisation.

Louis Goldford is a composer of instrumental and mixed music based in Milwaukee. His works are characterized by processes of emergence and approximation, interwoven psychoanalytic and existential formal models, and traversals of abstract resonances and virtual spaces which, at times, have involved data sonification and experimental approaches to orchestration. Louis is the recipient of a Fromm Commission from Harvard University and a Salvatore Martirano Award. Louis was awarded the ACTOR Project Research-Creation Grant along with a cohort of music perception scholars in Montréal. In 2019, Louis completed his Cursus at IRCAM, supported by the Fulbright Commission in France. Louis has been a Laureate of the Voix Nouvelles of Fondation Royaumont and a Laureate and resident composer of the Cité internationale des arts in Paris. Recent performances include those by the Wavefield Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Linea, Wet Ink, the Talea Ensemble, Longleash, Yarn/Wire, Ensemble Pi, Fonema Consort, the JACK Quartet, and Ensemble Dal Niente, among others.

Tuesday 9/1

Mariachi Flor de Primavera Open Rehearsal 

7 PM - 9 PM FREE event

Our Open Rehearsal series supported by DCASE grant funding invites our community to observe musicians and ensembles in their rehearsal process.  On Tuesday 8/4, join us for an open rehearsal with Mariachi Flor de Primavera, an ensemble of young, talented musicians bringing the heart and soul of Mexico to the Windy City since 2023.

Saturday 9/12 

Eardrum Series Presents: An Evening with Ben LaMar Gay & Special Guest

Doors at 7:30 Show at 8 PM

[What is Eardrum?]

BMC’s Eardrum series focuses on bringing improvised music to the south side. The series aims to feature diverse artists and types of improvisation and to celebrate Chicago’s rich culture of creative and experimental scenes.  Supported by the Neighborhood Access Program grant through Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

Ben LaMar Gay:

When one who seeks adventure  stares at the sky to daydream about “¡FreshNuss!”, cumulus clouds join to form the face of one person and one person only: Ben LaMar Gay.  Gay is originally from Louise, su madre , but was raised on the southside of Chicago. An explorer of many mediums who has been called a "visionary musician" by the New York Times, Gay has found a form of creative expression that begins with improvisation and expands beyond the limits of any single genre. Gay channels a radical array of sound, color, and space through the universal language of folklore; but despite the widely attributed genius of his work, his artistic approach and general demeanor are characterized by an endearing humbleness and warm humanity. 

Thursday 9/17 Community Songwriting Workshop 7-8 PM free event

Our monthly songwriting workshop is a beginner-friendly opportunity to develop self expression skills through songwriting.  Whether you’ve written songs before, or have never tried it, this hour is for you. Our music therapist facilitates music and writing exercises designed to inspire you and give you songwriting tools, and the floor is opened up to participants interested in workshopping their song ideas with others.  Join us to start a new creative hobby, bring community and support to your songwriting practice, or to try something new.  Free event provided by grant funding through DCASE.

Friday 9/18

 Third Friday Series Presents: Mabel Kwan + Ayako Kato

Doors 7 PM

Community music 7:15-7:45

Performance: 8 PM

Ayako Kato is a 2023 United States Artist Fellow, and has been making and performing dances since 1998, advocating the principles of fūryū, Japanese for “wind flow,” being as it is. She is a contemporary experimental choreographer/dancer/improviser originally from Yokohama, Japan whose company Ayako Kato/Art Union Humanscape has been in deep collaboration with over 100 musicians and composers, presenting in Europe, Asia, and the US. She published her book Art of Being through Emptiness through Casino Luxembourg- Forum d’art contemporain. She holds an MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. ayakokatodance.com

Mabel Kwan is fascinated by sounds, contradictions, and our perception of what is familiar or strange. She is recognized for her work in experimental, classical, and improvised music. With a style that is detached and objective but highly personal and spirited, she brings a quiet intensity to her live performances. Mabel plays with Ensemble Dal Niente, STOMACHS, Honestly Same, Em Spel, the Jason Roebke Quartet, the Christopher Dammann Sextet, and Kwan/Pauly/Shaw trio on keys, accordion, and synth. Mabel is a 2017 3Arts Awardee, 2018 High Concept Labs Artist, and 2020 City of Chicago Esteemed Artist. mabelkwan.site

Pianist Mabel Kwan and dancer and choreographer Ayako Kato continue their exploration of and inquiry into the cyclical nature of humanity, the world we currently live in, and the transformative relationships between people, the land, and nature. This iteration is inspired by the theory of quantum entanglement, and is perceived through the lens of J. S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier– an idealized realization of composition and spontaneity.