MEMETERIA

Icon

Arts writing by Thomas May

July 9, 2026 • 8:03 am 0

Stuart Dempster at 90

photo: Danette Davis, courtesy of Earshot Jazz

The phenomenon known as Stuart Dempster – trail-blazing composer, trombonist, didjeriduist, Sound Gatherer, and mentor, a.k.a. Fusei (Voice of the Wind) – turned 90 on 7 July. To mark the occasion, the Wayward Music Series is hosting a celebration on 11 July at 4pm at the Chapel Performance Space (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. in Seattle).

From WMS:

Coming together to listen deeply; to move and to sound playfully, and to attend to a performance in tribute to beloved master musician and teacher, Stuart Dempster. (Please note that the celebration takes place over the course of several hours. No food or drink will be offered at the event, so please plan accordingly. Stuart requests that you bring no presents, just your presence!)

LISTENING TOGETHER (4 – 4:30 PM)
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center (4th floor)

Deep Listening session with Brian Pertl and Leila Ramagopal Pertl

PLAYING TOGETHER (5 – 6 PM)
Picnic shelter in Meridian Park, directly behind/west of Good Shepherd Center (weather permitting; if not, we’ll meet in the Chapel) Please note, no amplified sound permitted in the Meridian Park area.

MERIDIAN EVENT for Stuart Dempster on his ninetieth birthday
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center (4th floor)
(for best results, join us for Deep Listening in the Chapel before MERIDIAN EVENT!)

To celebrate Stu,
YOU ARE INVITED
To come together
To sing
To play
To dance
To listen
Spontaneously, improvisingly,

Or

Premeditatedly, composedly, choreographedly,
YOU ARE INVITED
In whatever mode you choose, to remember what he taught us:
YOU ARE INVITED
To always listen
To enjoy the silence
To play the silence
To leave space
To let your doing be transparent to what everyone else is doing
To direct your energy
To play with love
To listen deeply
To direct your energy and play with love towards a specific person or specific persons
To listen for the ending

TRANSITION (6:00 – 6:30 PM)
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center (4th floor)

Video installation by Robert Campbell and ROOM. Please enter and exit as you wish, move about the space comfortably.

ATTENDING TOGETHER (6:30 – 7 PM)
Chapel Performance Space at Good Shepherd Center (4th floor)

Poem, “Gold and Oak” reading by Brian Komei Dempster

livingROOM, with original ROOM performers Sheri Cohen, Stuart Dempster, Renko Ishida Dempster, John Dixon and Tonya Lockyer, plus guests Loren Dempster, Neal Kosaly-Meyer, David Knott, Margaret Paek, and Steve Peters.

All are invited to linger following the performance to continue the celebration!

Filed under: avant-garde, music news, , , , ,

March 14, 2025 • 7:16 pm Comments Off on RIP Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025)

RIP Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025)

“I am a religious Russian Orthodox person and I understand ‘religion’ in the literal meaning of the word, as ‘re-ligio’, that is to say the restoration of connections, the restoration of the ‘legato’ of life. There is no more serious task for music than this.”  – Sofia Gubaidulina

The great Sofia Gubaidulina has died at the age of 93. She passed away on 13 March at her home in Appen, Germany.

From her publisher, Boosey & Hawkes: “Sofia Gubaidulina, the grande dame of new music, has passed away on 13 March 2025, aged 93, at her home in Appen, near Hamburg in Germany. She was considered the most important Russian composer of the present day and a person who drew inspiration from a deep faith. Her interest in the world, in people and in the spiritual touched everyone who met and worked with her. In her work, she always focussed on the elementary, on human existence and the transformative power of music.

She is like a ‘flying hermit’, said conductor Simon Rattle, because she is always “in orbit and only occasionally visits terra firma. Now and then she comes to us on the earth and brings us light and then goes back into her orbit.” Conductor Andris Nelsons has noted that “Sofia Gubaidulina’s music – its intellect and its profound spirituality – is deeply touching. It really gets under your skin”.

According to NPR: “In a 2017 interview with the BBVA Foundation, Gubaidulina talked about the power of music in sweeping terms. ‘The art of music is consistent with the task of expanding the higher dimension of our lives,’ she said. A deeply religious artist, she once described her writing process as speaking with God.” She also said: “The art of music is capable of touching and approaching mysteries and laws existing in the cosmos and in the world.”


Filed under: Gubaidulina, music news, , , , ,

Archive

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.