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Program for Saturday 2/7/26


Ursula Kwong-Brown, Where The I Comes From (2016, rev. 2026)
for cello, piano, voice and electronics. Text by Josh Bell.

Anne Boyd, 
Goldfish Through Summer Rain (1978)
 
for flute and piano​

George Crumb, Vox Balaenae (1971)
for amplified flute, cello and piano 

*** INTERMISSION***
​​
Ursula Kwong-Brown, Requiem for the Living (World Premiere)
for cello, piano, voice and electronics
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The Performers
Jessie Nucho, Flute
Evan Kahn, Cello
Margaret Halbig, Piano
Ursula Kwong-Brown, Voice & Electronics

Program Notes
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Where the I Comes From was composed in the aftermath of the 2016, at a time when it seemed like America was being torn apart (although we could not have even imagined then what was to come 10 years later).  It sets an apocalyptic poem by Josh Bell which describes the propensity for violence hidden inside each of us, the seeds of jealousy, narcissism and hatred that we all harbor, whether we admit it or not. The hope is that by acknowledging our darkest impulses, we can ultimately find a path to greater kindness and compassion.

Where the I Comes From

Our days often ended and began
with the sound of voices raised
in song. Even after we murdered
our friends and neighbors. Even
after we brought the attention
of our knives to the neighbors of
our neighbors, until at last
the neighborhoods fell silent
and the cities quiet and the city’s
city, the country then and next
the country, until finally the moon,
as if its own reflection, looked
upon an Earth that we had emptied
nearly back to Eden. Even then,
in that silence that seemed almost
a silence, sadly we were not
alone. All we ever wanted was
to be alone, to visit no one, to be
visited by nothing. But even after
we’d traveled to the nearby planets
and relieved them of their voices,
even after – and we all knew
this was coming – we fell amongst
each other, brother and sister,
until only I survived, still I heard it,
the universe subtracted of its skin
and hair, and yet the sound
of a voice, like someone singing
in the hold of a sinking ship,
unbidden and irrelevant, a fathom
and a fathom deep, but never fading.

- Josh Bell from Alamo Theory, Copper Canyon Press 2016


Requiem for the Living
In Requiem for the Living, Ursula Kwong-Brown draws inspiration from her own grief to reconsider the nature of ritual, memorial, and memory, constructing a highly personal reconceptualization of the traditional Requiem form, combining Latin text with vocoder harmonies and analog synthesizer riffs from a 1982 Roland Juno.

Ursula Kwong-Brown  is a composer, sound designer and arts technologist, originally from NYC but recently located to Los Angeles.  Described as “atmospheric and accomplished” by The New York Times, her work has been performed in the United States, Europe, and Asia in diverse venues including Carnegie Hall, le Poisson Rouge, Miller Theatre, the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.  Honors include ASCAP and NACUSA awards, a Berkeley Symphony Composer Fellowship and grants from Chamber Music America and the Sloan Foundation. Ursula received her B.A. in Music & Biology from Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Music Composition & New Media from the University of California, In 2024, she became co-Artistic Director of the Bay Area based new music ensemble Ninth Planet. Her scores are published by Ursa Minor Music

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Goldfish Through Summer Rain was inspired by a poem by the Korean poet K.S. Kim:

A Summer Hue


After the rain
The blue sky came upon the pond,
So did the summer morning
And so did the sheet of summer sahde,
And there the goldlfish wrote their summer verse. 

Translation by Don'o Kim, 1978.


​

Anne Boyd is one of Australia’s most distinguished composers and music educators. Her undergraduate studies were in the Department of Music at the University of Sydney, where Peter Sculthorpe was her earliest and most influential composition teacher.
The award of a Commonwealth Scholarship enabled her to undertake a PhD in composition at the University of York (1969-72), where her supervisors were Wilfrid Mellers and Bernard Rands. In 1990, Boyd became the first Australian (and the first woman) to be appointed Professor of Music at the University of Sydney. Before this, she was the Foundation Head of the Department of Music at the University of Hong Kong (1981–90) and taught at the University of Sussex (1972–77).
The hallmarks of her musical style are its transparency, gentleness and delicacy, attributes which reflect her long involvement with Asian traditions, especially those of Japan and Indonesia. 
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Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale)
    Vocalise (…for the beginning of time)
    Variations on Sea-Time
        Sea Theme
        Archeozoic (Var. I)
        Proterozoic (Var. II)
        Paleozoic (Var. III)
        Mesozoic (Var. IV)
        Cenozoic (Var. V)
    Sea-Nocturne (…for the end of time)


Composed in 1971, George Crumb's 'Vox Balaenae' ('The Voice of the Whale') for 'electric' (amplified) flute, cello, and piano was inspired by recordings of whale song and considers, in typically theatrical manner, man's relationship to nature. Crumb invites the performers to play wearing black half masks under blue lighting.
​

George Henry Crumb Jr. (24 October 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an American composer of avant-garde contemporary classical music. Early in his life he rejected the widespread modernist usage of serialism, developing a highly personal musical language which "range[s] in mood from peaceful to nightmarish".[1] Crumb's compositions are known for pushing the limits of technical prowess by way of frequent use of extended techniques. The unusual timbres he employs evoke a surrealist atmosphere which portray emotions of considerable intensity with vast and sometimes haunting soundscapes.[2] His few large-scale works include Echoes of Time and the River (1967), which won the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for Music, and Star-Child (1977), which won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition; however, his output consists of mostly music for chamber ensembles or solo instrumentalists. Among his best known compositions are Black Angels (1970), a striking commentary on the Vietnam War for electric string quartet; Ancient Voices of Children (1970) for a mixed chamber ensemble; and Vox Balaenae (1971), a musical evocation of the humpback whale, for electric flute, electric cello, and amplified piano.

The Performers
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San Francisco-based flutist Jessie Nucho is passionate about sharing both traditional and contemporary music as a chamber musician, soloist, and educator. She performs regularly with the new music ensembles After Everything and Ninth Planet, where she also serves as Co-Artistic Director. She is a founding member of Siroko Duo, a flute duo dedicated to commissioning and presenting new works in creative spaces. As a soloist, Jessie has performed at San Francisco’s Center for New Music, the Berkeley Arts Festival, the Hot Air Music Festival, and the Legion of Honor. Jessie holds an MM from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Tim Day. Previous instructors include Alberto Almarza and Jeanne Baxtresser at Carnegie Mellon University.

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Pianist Margaret Halbig is in high demand as a collaborative artist in both the instrumental and vocal fields. She is currently Associate Chair of the Voice Department and Principal Vocal Coach at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she also frequently collaborates with faculty and student instrumentalists. During the summer, Halbig is Collaborative Piano Coordinator of Interlochen Arts Camp where she coordinates vocal, instrumental, and dance pianists, collaborates on faculty recitals, teaches both solo and collaborative piano, as well as plays with students in competitions, master classes, and lessons.An advocate of new and contemporary music, Halbig is the pianist for Ninth Planet, a San Francisco-based new music collective where she also serves on the board. In 2020, Halbig became the primary pianist for Ensemble For These Times, a group that focuses on 20th and 21st century music that resonates with today yet speaks to tomorrow. She is also a member of Frequency 49, a wind and piano sextet, which performs all over the Bay Area. Halbig earned her D.M.A. from the University of California Santa Barbara under the tutelage of Robert Koenig and also holds performance degrees from the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory and University of Evansville, Indiana.

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California-based cellist Evan Kahn has been praised as “a cellist deserved of serious listening” for bringing his “electrifying … nuanced and colorful” style to all of his collaborations, from concerti to chamber music to contemporary performances. He has commissioned and premiered over 60 works by composers from around the world, including his father’s Cello Concerto.
Evan holds principal positions in New Century Chamber Orchestra, Opera San Jose, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. Dedicated to the orchestral craft, he has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, LA Opera, San Francisco Symphony, and was previously principal cellist of the San Francisco Opera. In April/May 2018, he served as Artist-in-Residence with Performance Today at NPR, sharing some of his favorite works for cello and his philosophies on music and life. In February 2019, he was named Musical America’s New Artist of the Month. He is a resident cellist for a number of Bay Area collectives, including Ninth Planet, After Everything, and the Farallon Quintet.
Evan attended Aspen Music Festival on a fellowship for four summers, where he studied with Darrett Adkins and played co-principal in the Aspen Academy of Conducting Orchestra, the Aspen Philharmonic as an Orchestral Leadership Fellow, and as a fellow in the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble. Other summers were spent playing chamber music at the Taos School of Music, as resident cellist at the Cactus Pear Music Festival in San Antonio, and the New York String Orchestra Seminar, where he served as principal cellist.
Evan received a Master’s in Chamber Music at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, studying with Jennifer Culp. He graduated with college and university honors from Carnegie Mellon University, studying with David Premo. Before college, he took lessons in Los Angeles with John Walz, Timothy Loo, and Karen Patch. Other important mentors include Paul Hersh, Thomas Loewenheim, Amos Yang, Mark Kosower, Robert DeMaine, and Bonnie Hampton.
In addition to performing and teaching, Evan enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons and watching British television. He plays on a cello by Italian luthier Carlo Carletti, c. 1900, and a bow made for cellist Lynn Harrell by archetier Paul Martin Siefried.

UPCOMING CONCERTS


SUMMER CONCERT: 7:30PM SATURDAY, JUNE 13th 2026
Featuring works by Coles Reyes & Emma Logan

All concerts are at Little Mission Studio in San Francisco

PAST CONCERTS

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Sunday, February 2, 2025 // 3:00 pm
Morrison Hall, UC Berkeley

The Performers
Jessie Nucho, Flutes
Sophie Huet, Clarinets
Kevin Rogers, Violin
Evan Kahn, Cello
Margaret Halbig, Piano

The Program
Eda Er, Always Welcome; Never Invited ​(World Premiere)
Paul Novak, entwining
Kaija Saariaho, Light and Matter
Olivier Messiaen, selections from Quartet for the End of Time 
Adrian Wong, Glass Flowers
Ursula Kwong-Brown, Awakenings

Program Notes


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Saturday, November 2, 2024 // 7:30 pm
Little Mission Studio
445 Hampshire Street, San Francisco, CA
Macabre meets whimsical on the Day of the Dead in our season opener. Featuring Natasha Bogojevich's The Ephemeral Orphanage, Nicole Lizée's Music for Body-Without-Organs, Eda Er's I took a train to mars, and the premiere of a new version of Ursula Kwong-Brown's Sunrise, unique animations will bring enhance the experience. We'll also present additional audiovisual works by guest artist Eda Er for a fun evening not to be missed.

Featuring:
​Eda Er, vocals
Jessie Nucho, flutes
Sophie Huet, clarinets
Kevin Rogers, violin
Griffin Seuter, cello
Margaret Halbig, piano
Elizabeth Hall and Divesh Karamchandani, percussion
Giacomo Fiore, electric guitar

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Sunday, June 24, 2024 // 7:00 pm
Center for New Music
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA
​
​Join us for a glass of wine and an evening of improvised music, featuring Pauline Oliveros' "Four Meditations for Orchestra," Giacomo Fiore's "Morning," and Carl Testa's live processing environment Sway.

Featuring:
Jessie Nucho, flutes
Brendan Lai-Tong, trombone and conch shell
Giacomo Fiore, electric guitars
​Eugene Theriault, double bass

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Saturday, May 18, 2024 // 7:30 pm
First Unitarian Universalist Church
1187 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 
​
Join us as we celebrate the rebirth and growth of spring and leave behind the harshness of winter in our spring concert, “Awakening.” We begin with some intense groove and crunch via Guillaume Connesson’s "Techno-Parade" and Viet Cuong’s "Lacquer and Grit". From there we share a brand new arrangement of devon osamu tipp’s "study of a bull 1991", inspired by Francis Bacon’s painting of the same name. With this sonic contemplation of dust, we are invited to acknowledge the heaviness of whatever weight we may be bearing this year. From here, we enter a gentler place with Angélica Negrón’s "La Isla Mágica", a lovely piece for solo bass and electronics that explores the composer’s relationship to two islands dear to her: Bali and Puerto Rico. Finally, we leave you with the peaceful sonorities of Patrick Burke’s "Awake" and together move to a position of hopeful imagining for the future.

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Saturday, October 14, 2023 // 7:30 pm
Noe Valley Ministry
1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
We’re excited to announce our season opener, “Snapshots,” featuring the music of 2023 Ettelson Award Winner Pascal Le Boeuf. Coming to San Francisco on Saturday, October 14 at 7:30 PM, the program also showcases Danny Clay’s “Turntable Drawing No. 16,” originally for solo electric guitar and now reimagined for larger ensemble with Giacomo Fiore as soloist. The program takes inspiration from retro audio tropes: from turntables in Shiva Feshareki’s “Zohra” and Danny Clay’s music to the 80s synth quality of Alex Temple’s genre-bending “This Changes Everything!” The delicately rhythmic groove of Gabriella Smith’s “Anthozoa” rounds out the evening for an edgy and upbeat show you will not want to miss!

EXPEDITION #8: Prospero's Island

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Saturday, March 25, 2023 // 7:30 pm
Herbst Theatre

401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102​
Beyond Shakespeare. At the bottom of the world. At the limits of love. The world premiere of Prospero's Island, a major new chamber opera by acclaimed creators Allen Shearer and Claudia Stevens, is set for March 25, 2023 at San Francisco's Herbst Theater. A production of Ninth Planet and InTandem, the opera, based on The Tempest, is about power, deception, terrible secrets and new beginnings. With stunning imagery and richly orchestrated music, Prospero's Island brings Shakespeare's great play to new life, its story transported to the Falkland Islands in the 1950's and action that takes place from dawn to dusk on one momentous day. Audiences will meet the all-powerful Prospero, reimagined as a war criminal with a dark past; paratrooper Andy and lovely Mandy as they fall in love (but is it magic or true?); teenage Caliban, as he tussles with the island's cheeky penguins; the comedy team of paratroopers Steffi and Trish; and the faithful Ariel, half bird and half woman, whose devotion to Prospero is put to the ultimate test. What will these newly imagined beings do when they learn the truth?

EXPEDITION #7: Home

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Program
Nico Muhly, How About Now 
Allison Loggins-Hull, Homeland
Gabriel José Bolaños Chamorro, nosotros hemos puesto los muertos (Ettelson Award 2022)
​
Jessie Montgomery, Duo for violin and cello 
Missy Mazzoli, Magic With Everyday Objects


Friday, November 4, 2022 // 7:30pm
Noe Valley Ministry

1021 Sanchez St, San Francisco
​Ninth Planet’s fourth season opens with a program examining our relationships to home and comfort, featuring the winning composition of the 2022 Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Composer’s Award nosotros hemos puesto los muertos by Gabriel José Bolaños, the composer’s anguished response to political violence in his home country Nicaragua. Paired with this is Allison Loggins-Hull’s Homeland, which asks what home means during domestic tragedy or violence, when the very concept of home has disintegrated. On the lighter side is friendship and the comfort of the everyday: Jessie Montgomery’s Duo for violin and cello is an ode to friendship, while Nico Muhly describes his piece How About Now as “​​a sort of thrown-together meal with close friends.” Missy Mazzoli’s Magic With Everyday Objects is about finding beauty and rapture in the midst of chaos, and about acknowledging the chaos that lies just beneath the surface of beauty.

InterMusic SF - SF Music Day

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Sunday, October 9, 20222 // 3:45pm
War Memorial Veterans Building
401 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102
​Celebrate Bay Area music in all its diversity at SF Music Day, with the return of the live, in-person version of the Bay Area’s free annual music festival in downtown San Francisco, presented by InterMusic SF. From chamber music to jazz, contemporary works to global sounds—SF Music Day showcases extraordinary musicians from across the Bay, with music that spans continents and centuries. Come for the artists you know and love, and stay to discover new talents, enjoy fresh takes on familiar repertoire, and bask in the wealth of creativity from the world-class composers and ensembles of our region.

The 15th SF Music Day features more than 25 ensembles performing short sets over eight hours on four stages in the ornate War Memorial Veterans Building. SF Music Day is presented annually by InterMusic SF, supporting the Bay Area music community since 1998. For up-to-date event COVID safety protocols, visit sfmusicday.com.

EXPEDITION #6: Discovery

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Program:
Allen Shearer, Eastbound Traveler (world premiere)
Ursula Kwong-Brown, In Transit 
Darian Donovan Thomas, We only want to fly because we're tethered to the earth (world premiere)
João Pedro Oliveira, Dark Energy
Eve Beglarian, From the Same Melancholy Fate

Friday, June 10, 2022 // 7:30pm
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco
1187 Franklin St, San Francisco, CA 94109
Ninth Planet closes its third season with a program of recent works by Ursula-Kwong Brown, João Pedro Oliveira, Allen Shearer, and Eve Beglarian, as well as a new commission by Darian Donovan Thomas. Each work on the program is about discovery: from voyage into the unknown, to the exploration of the dark energy that fills the universe, to the journeys of the thousands of people riding BART trains every day, to the universal tug of war that exists in each of us, simultaneously propelling us to fly and keeping us tethered to the earth.

IMAGE CREDIT: Graphic from score for "We only want to fly because we're tethered to the earth"
LIVESTREAM

EXPEDITION #5: Spirals & Echoes

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Program:
Selim Goncu, Widerklang (Ettelson Award 2020)
Jee Seo, Four Pieces
Daijana Wallace, Shades
Jack Frerer, Spiral Sequences (Ettelson Award 2019)
Saturday, March 19, 2022 // 7:30pm
Center for New Music
​
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Ninth Planet journeys through sonic shape and texture in a program featuring 2019 and 2020 winning compositions of the Suzanne and Lee Ettelson Award. Selim Göncü’s “Widerklang” for bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and cello (Ettelson 2020), presents a distorted, noisy, and quasi-improvisational sound world, exploring the connection between noise and pitch. Written for violin and viola, Jee Seo’s “Four Pieces” presents four self-portraits, each centered around one of four words: Sigh, Fever, Groove, and Song. Daijana Wallace’s “Shades,” for solo cello, is centered around a single note as the vehicle to explore a whole range of textures, from mystery, aggression, and heaviness to melodic, soft, and sultry. Ending the program is Jack Frerer’s “Spiral Sequences” for string quartet (Ettelson 2019). The first movement, fast and driven by spiraling fragments and sequences, presents an ever-tightening inward spiral that the slower second movement unravels.

EXPEDITION #4: Everyone Became A Trail

Friday, October 1, 2021 // 8pm
Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, CA 94109​

Ninth Planet returns for its third season with a program exploring themes of realism and surrealism, featuring the world premiere of a commissioned work by Bay Area resident Assaf Shatil entitled "Everyone Became a Trail." A song cycle for the full Ninth Planet ensemble, "Everyone Became a Trail" is based on poems that Shatil wrote in response to life during the COVID-19 pandemic. This work reflects on the bewilderment, anxiety, and bittersweet beauty experienced during uncertain times of isolation and quarantine. The concert will also feature chamber works by inti figgis-vizueta, Yaz Lancaster, and Amy Beth Kirsten. Please join us for this evening of reflective and innovative artistry as we process together, through music, our experience of the last 18 months.
Program: 
Yaz Lancaster, Intangible Landscapes
inti figgis-vizueta, a bridge between starshine and clay
Amy Beth Kirsten, World Under Glass #2
Assaf Shatil, Everyone Became a Trail (world premiere)

This concert is supported in part by a grant from the InterMusic SF Musical Grant Program​. This concert is also made possible by the generous support of all our donors. Give to Ninth Planet today.

EXPEDITION #3: Tides

Saturday, June 26, 2021 // 7pm
YouTube Live Link

Here on the edge of North America, we are tuned to the cycles of the ocean. We are bound together by ebb and flow as they carve out the contours of our daily lives. So, at this time of flux and transition, we look to music to pull us back towards equilibrium. Tides is a livestream concert featuring six works performed by members of the Ninth Planet ensemble. Curated by new co-artistic director Jessie Nucho and composer Ursula Kwong-Brown, each piece explores the need for connection at a time when our lives are being shaped by forces beyond our control.  Featuring a world premiere collaboration with Japanese video artist and live painter Akiko Nakayama.
Program:
Ursula Kwong-Brown, Finding Bliss (world premiere)
Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Inchokkillissa
Shiva Feshareki, Zohra
Lila Meretzky, All mute things speak today
Yaz Lancaster, little song (world premiere)
Danny Erdberg/Ursula Kwong-Brown, Here Come the Warm Clouds (world premiere)

Admission: FREE FOR ALL. This concert is made possible by the generous support of all our donors. Give to Ninth Planet today.

EXPEDITION #2: On Being

Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020 // 7pm
YouTube Live Link

Ninth Planet returns digitally in a virtual program curated by ensemble flutist and artistic committee member Jessie Nucho. On Being is an exploration of the nature of our existence, from the intersection of the physical and spiritual to existence in the present moment. Featuring the music of Angelica Negrón, Jessie Cox, inti figgis-vizueta, and Darian Donovan Thomas.
Program:
Angelica Negrón, La Isla Mágica
Jessie Cox, Spiritus
inti figgis-vizueta, Form the Fabric
Darian Donovan Thomas, Fluid, "I. Fluid"

​Admission: FREE FOR ALL. This concert is made possible by the generous support of all our donors. Give to Ninth Planet today.

(CANCELLED) EXPEDITION #2: Spiral Sequences​

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This concert was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friday, Mar. 27, 2020 // 8pm
Old First Concerts, 1751 Sacramento Street, SF, CA 94109​


Ninth Planet performs the 2019 Ettelson Award-winning composition Spiral Sequences, and more!

Program:
Jack Frerer, Spiral Sequences
Viet Cuong, Naica
Daniel Godsil, Aeropittura
Andrew Norman, Mine, Mime, Meme
Nicole Lizée, Music for Body-Without Organs

EXPEDITION #1: Reflect, Respond

Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019 // 8pm
Osher Salon @ San Francisco Conservatory​ of Music

​
​Join Ninth Planet for our debut performance at the Osher Salon. Featuring works by Jenny Olivia Johnson, Eve Beglarian, Kaija Saariaho, Dan VanHassel, and Ursula Kwong-Brown.

​Admission: $20 General, $10 Students/Seniors/Persons with disabilities. Tickets available online or at the door.
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Program:
Dan VanHassel, Balance of Power
Kaija Saariaho, Cendres

Ursula Kwong-Brown, Unwinding III
Eve Beglarian, Play Like a Girl
Eve Beglarian, Until it Blazes
Jenny Olivia Johnson, Reflect Reflect Respond Respond
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