Nonsequitur

Nonsequitur welcomes our newest cohort of community curators for the 2025 NonSeq concert series: Noel Brass, Jr., Chloe Harris, Chris Icasiano, and Ha-Yang Kim. All of them have participated in many shows at the Chapel over the years, and we are delighted to have them join us to determine the next year of our programming. Each curator will be responsible for putting together three events in the coming year, for a total of twelve performances featuring local and visiting artists. To kick off the new concert season, they will be performing solo sets in a special Curators Concert at the Chapel on Friday, March 7.

Much gratitude for our outgoing 2024 curators – Beth Fleenor, Connie Fu, Kole Galbraith, and Naeim Rahmani – all of whom did a stellar job. It was a pleasure to work with them, and we look forward to their continued involvement in performing and organizing shows at the Chapel in the future.

[This series was originally called SOUNDbox. Pardon our re-branding in the wake of a Cease & Desist notice from the San Francisco Symphony, which has a trademark on the name.]

Nonsequitur is pleased to start off 2022 with the introduction of NonSeq, a new artist-led curator series aimed at positively stimulating the local music scene with visionary and generative live performances. 

For NonSeq, Nonsequitur co-founder and Director Steve Peters hands over curation of our concerts to a team of four celebrated local artists who will take over programming of twelve events in 2022. Pianist Marina Albero, polymath/writer and Seattle Star founder Omar Willey, guitarist Carlos Snaider, and flautist Leanna Keith will each curate three concerts apiece in the coming year. All of them have a unique presence in the Seattle creative community, and bring a wealth of collective knowledge and experience to the project.

NonSeq aims to center the artistry of a rising tide of musical experimentalism in the region and beyond, emphasizing the need for new, disruptive voices, greater representation of the array of creative musical endeavors in our cultural institutions, and an expansive vision for artistic embeddedness in our society. These concerts will reflect a wide range of musical ideas from experimental musicians near and far, and will allow audiences the opportunity to dialogue with the performers through curator-facilitated Q&A’s.

Among others, NonSeq is thrilled to present diverse voices like Dakota Camacho, indigenous multi-disciplinary artist/researcher; Elisa Thorn, experimental harpist, composer, and vocalist; as well as a return visit by Cornish graduate, composer and guitarist Tristan Gianola. We’ll post info in Upcoming Concerts as more artists and dates are confirmed.

NonSeq performances will occur once monthly beginning in January, with an added “Curators’ Concert” on January 29 featuring Albero, Willey, Snaider, and Keith along with new Nonsequitur board member Heather Bentley, kicking off the year with an evening of solo and group improvisation, celebrating the diversity of musical values and shared commitment to listening and spontaneous creation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is, of course, casting a large and looming shadow on all of our grand plans. We intend to abide by any new mandates or restrictions from government or public health agencies. While we are hoping for the best, we know that these events may be canceled at any time due to the constantly evolving situation. It is always a good idea to check this web site and the Wayward Music site for updated info regarding cancellations.

Read a nice article about NonSeq by Thomas May in the Seattle Times.

Originally scheduled for March 2020, the 35th annual Seattle Improvised Music Festival rises from the ashes of COVID-19 in the form of a streaming video festival. Two video programs will be presented, on September 27 at 5 PM, and October 4 at 7 PM (Pacific Time).

SIMF curators Haley Freedlund, Chris Icasiano, and Steve Peters  have invited four esteemed visiting artists – clarinetist Ben Goldberg (Berkeley), New York saxophonists Joe McPhee and Sam Newsome, pianist Dana Reason (Corvallis) – to perform featured solo sets, and a small but mighty sampling of Seattle artists representing several generations and a wide range of musical activity.

The first night is presented as part of Baltimore’s venerable High Zero Festival (Sept. 24 – 27), with each program co-curated by a presenter in a different city: Elastic Arts (Chicago, 9/24), High Mayhem (Santa Fe, 9/25), High Zero (Baltimore, 9/26), and SIMF (9/27). We are thrilled to have been invited to participate in this innovative response to current conditions and to be associated with these respected organizations and artists, and we urge you to check out the other nights. Additionally, SIMF will present a separate video program a week later (Oct. 4). See the full festival schedule for streaming links and artist line-up for each event.

Presented by Nonsequitur, with generous assistance from 4Culture and the Raynier Institute & Foundation. We are especially grateful to the Royal Room for providing a venue in which to record our video programs.