Shows
New Works Show!
New works for Virago by Clay Gonzalez, Estar Cohen and Madeline October Wildman.
Doors at 7pm. $10.
The Congregation, 9321 Rosa Parks, Detroit, MI
Guest Artist Recital at Wayne State University
Guest Recital at Wayne State University: Virago feat. Michael Malis and Dominic Bierenga.
Listening From Darkness consists of From Darkness We Awaken by Michael Malis and Listening for Bells by Harriet Steinke. Both works rely heavily on improvisation, and deep listening, and heart-first sonic explorations.
From Darkness We Awaken was born from improvisational sessions between Malis and Virago in January 2020. The first movement — “Ceremoniously, Like a Dance” — explores cascading, wide open horizons of resonance for the musicians to impose themselves onto. In the second movement, “With a Quiet Confidence,” that diffusiveness coalesces into claustrophobia. The music collapses onto itself, spiraling out a knotty and chaotic texture flowing from that single crystalline note. The pressurized environment reaches a breaking point, leaking like a balloon with a tiny hole poked in it. The release valve comes fully open when the piano leads the ensemble in a collectively improvised exhale. The piece then makes its final descent in the short third movement, “Returning,” which picks up where the first movement leaves off.
Listening for Bells was crafted over a three year collaboration period between Steinke and Virago. The work is a 40 minute exploration of minimalism at the intersection of composition and improvisation. Steinke utilizes the number four as a unifying element. At the macro level, there are four parts to the piece (A, B, C, and D). On the micro level, each part is made up of four cells containing phrases for the players to perform at the timing they choose. The four cells bear the same instructions as the four parts: play “most of the time,” “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “when you hear bells.” The result is a micro form that is a fractal of the whole.
7pm at Schaver Recital Hall. Free Admission.
https://events.wayne.edu/.../guest-artist-recital-virago.../
Strange Beautiful Music 2023
Virago joins with guests Michael Malis, Dominic Bierenga and Colin McCall for the closing set of Strange Beautiful Music 2023 at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Cube. Join us at the Cube for this dynamic program:
Listening for Bells by Harriet Steinke (premiered March 2022)
From Darkness We Awaken by Michael Malis (premiered August 2022)
From the Strange Beautiful Music event page:
“Now in its 16th iteration, Strange Beautiful Music is a marathon concert envisioned by New Music Detroit taking place over 3 days in 3 unique locations. Upholding values of musical experimentation among lesser-known artists from contemporary classical, experimental, jazz, and everything unusual from the city of Detroit and beyond.”
From Darkness We Awaken
Reserve a free ticket!
This concert will be the premiere and album release of From Darkness We Awaken by Michael Malis. We first met to discuss this collaboration in January of 2020, and over the past three years the work has grown into a beautiful and unique sonic world, featuring Michael on a prepared piano. Michael will also premeire his solo piano work, Hold Tightly Your Vision of How Things Could Be, and Virago will join Michael on a new ensemble version of his Imperfect Intervals, which will feature visuals by Zara Teicher.
The concert will take place inside the Detroit Film Theater at the DIA. Proof of vax or negative test required; masks required.
Tuning to the Open Air
Soundwalk registration here
Virago collaborates with composer Akari Komura. Akari’s work, Tuning to the Open Air, invites Virago and audience members to attune to their environment while walking, deeply listening, and imagining.
The event will conclude with an open dialogue for participants to share their listening experiences.
Accessibility information: Light to moderate walking. The route can be adjusted with advance notice. Please contact the organizer, Akari Komura (akarikomura96@gmail.com), if you have any accessibility concerns or other questions.
Sound, Paper, and Process
Virago curates Audio/Visual at the 2022 Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. Join us at Trinosophes for an evening of weaving together improvisation, live paper-making, and chamber music repertoire.
Sponsored by the Maxine and Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art
ARTISTS | Viano String Quartet, Virago, Alan Hankers, Megan Heeres
Listening for Bells & Imperfect Intervals
Listening for Bells is a 30 to 40-minute exploration of minimalism at the intersection of composition and improvisation. The piece was commissioned by and written for Virago by Harriet Steinke. In this work, Steinke plays into the number four: on a macro level there are four parts to the piece, and on a micro level each part is made up of four cells containing phrases for each player to perform at the timing they choose. The instructions pertain to the frequency of the events. They are the same for the parts and the cells: “most of the time”, “sometimes,” “rarely”, and “when you hear bells.” To bring this ambiguous score to life, Virago digs into their roots as chamber musicians and improvisers to create a new version of the piece each time it is played. The result is a journey of peaks and valleys, waxing and waning, rising and falling, ebbing and flowing. You are invited to join the players on this ride.
Virago is joined by friends Michael Malis on piano and Dominic Bierenga on bass clarinet for this performance.
Imperfect Intervals by Michael Malis is a meditation on self-acceptance. Emergent sonic structures reveal themselves, like a river carving out its own path. Released by 1473 Records in July 2021 and recorded during a mad two weeks in October/November 2020, the nine pieces on the record are documents of an improvisational process that prioritizes resonance, generous listening, and imperfection.
$10 at the door
Image by Sofia Carbonara
Listening for Bells & Imperfect Intervals
Listening for Bells is a 30 to 40-minute exploration of minimalism at the intersection of composition and improvisation. The piece was commissioned by and written for Virago by Harriet Steinke. In this work, Steinke plays into the number four: on a macro level there are four parts to the piece, and on a micro level each part is made up of four cells containing phrases for each player to perform at the timing they choose. The instructions pertain to the frequency of the events. They are the same for the parts and the cells: “most of the time”, “sometimes,” “rarely”, and “when you hear bells.” To bring this ambiguous score to life, Virago digs into their roots as chamber musicians and improvisers to create a new version of the piece each time it is played. The result is a journey of peaks and valleys, waxing and waning, rising and falling, ebbing and flowing. You are invited to join the players on this ride.
Virago is joined by friends Michael Malis on piano and Dominic Bierenga on bass clarinet for this performance.
Imperfect Intervals by Michael Malis is a meditation on self-acceptance. Emergent sonic structures reveal themselves, like a river carving out its own path. Released by 1473 Records in July 2021 and recorded during a mad two weeks in October/November 2020, the nine pieces on the record are documents of an improvisational process that prioritizes resonance, generous listening, and imperfection.
$10 at the door
Image by Sofia Carbonara
UMS Presents: The Infinite Detail of This Place and Time
UMS presents Virago and the A.W.E. Society as part of Parable Path A2Ypsi. Free event. Join us for a meditation on what can be seen when we slow down to look and listen carefully, even in the midst of rapidly changing and crumbling social structures.
The Infinite Detail of This Place and Time
The Infinite Detail of this Place & Time is a site-specific improvisation that connects the ecology of the north campus woods with the psychic ecology present in the books within the Duderstadt library. Audience members will be guided on a contemplative craft within the borderlands between ecology, found text and their own emergent creativity. This activity will result in audience generated assemblages that will be projected using a microscope camera at an immersive scale. These projections, and Bridget’s manipulation of them, will serve as a score for improvised sounds by Virago.
This project is supported by ArtsEngine at the University of Michigan.
The A.W.E. Society (Area Wilds Exploration Society) is a platform for the experiential and collaborative eco-art projects of Bridget F. Quinn. A.W.E. Society events invite participants and collaborators to play within the borderlands between the city and nature, between the psyche and the environment. Realms that are not distinct, but instead are completely interwoven.
The Infinite Detail of This Place and Time
This installment of Infinite Detail takes place at the Mattheai Botanical Gardens as part of the Small Artist Reception. This installation based performance is in collaboration with the A.W.E. Society.
The A.W.E. Society (Area Wilds Exploration Society) is a platform for the experiential and collaborative eco-art projects of Bridget F. Quinn. A.W.E. Society events invite participants and collaborators to play within the borderlands between the city and nature, between the psyche and the environment. Realms that are not distinct, but instead are completely interwoven.
The Infinite Detail of This Place and Time
Join Virago and the A.W.E. Society for an evening of close listening and looking. Sonic improvisations will respond to immersive live video projections of the tiny-often unseen details of the world around us, and a contemplative audience participation session will bring together the concrete and the imagined realms. Banjo, the amateur therapy dog will be there for more than human comfort.
Warm beverages and beer/wine will be available with a suggested donation.
Sliding scale admission $5-10
This event is partially supported by ArtsEngine at the University of Michigan.
About the A.W.E Society and Bridget F. Quinn:
The A.W.E. Society (Area Wilds Exploration Society) is a platform for the experiential and collaborative eco-art projects of Bridget Quinn. A.W.E. Society events invite participants and collaborators to play within the borderlands between the city and nature, between the psyche and the environment. Realms that are not distinct, but instead are completely interwoven.
awe-society.com/
K. Oss Gallery Concert
Join artist Lynne Avadenka for the closing reception of her solo exhibition "Intimations" with a very special music performance by an ensemble Virago, on Saturday, November 23 from 7-8:30PM. The event is free and open to the public.
Virago with Ana Gomulka
Ana Gomulka is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist, and pianist from Ypsilanti. Her music is a reflection of both real and fictional experiences, involving lyricism often left open to the listener’s interpretation. Vocal expression and improvisation is her favorite part of solo performance, especially when covering rare songs from her favorite musicians. Earlier this year, she wrote and released Opal Soul, an independent album of soulful, fusion songs with her band, Honey Monsoon.
Girls Rock Detroit
Virago visited Girls Rock Detroit to give a performance and run a Brave Performance Workshop.
![Virago @ Third Place [Music Fest]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5e73abb243ca14188296a12c/1586065402667-H4H6IE1J0Z0PPHDDZJ6D/60227530-2289111171416378-7355808273871667200-o+%281%29.jpg)
Virago @ Third Place [Music Fest]
House concert in Ann Arbor as part of the Third Place [Music Fest] 2019!
GrandStand Music Festival
GrandStand Music Festival melds the arts and human rights to form an event unlike anything you have experienced before. Music of the highest quality will enrich the city of Grand Rapids while providing a space for a cohesive effort amongst community members and organizations to take a stand against human trafficking.
When you purchase a ticket to GrandStand Music Festival and come support the work of world-class musicians while learning about this issue, you have already taken a step toward eradicating human trafficking. According to the 2018 Department of the State Trafficking in Persons Report, “the most effective community responses are those in which capacity for victim identification is increased.” GrandStand seeks to spark conversation to encourage a powerful response to this issue.
UMMA ArtsX Presents: Welcome Home
Step into a night of fashion and performance celebrating Collection Ensemble, a new feel to welcome you in UMMA’s historic entry.
Collection Ensemble, the new installation on display in our historic entry, Alumni Memorial Hall, is dramatically different than what preceded it. New arrangements, adjacencies, and juxtapositions of artworks, time periods, artists, and ideas in Collection Ensemble allow for many different stories at once, creating a welcoming space alive with new conversations and relationships.
Dance, music, and spoken word featured.
Novus New Music Women in Music Concert
As we head towards the culminating event of the Women in Music Campaign, Novus New Music, Inc. is excited to partner with a number of female artists in a concert featuring new music by female composers. Many thanks to those who have participated in our campaign spotlights so far!
Featured performers:
The Solidarity Project with Kakia Gkoudina and Kendra Wheeler
Grace Gelpi
Virago
