by Mike Telin
Since its founding, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) has engaged the Northeast Ohio community by championing the creation and performance of new music. One of the ways it does that is through its annual Re:Sound Festival of New and Experimental Music.
Judging from the stellar lineup of musicians the organizers have assembled, the 2022 edition of Re:Sound — which runs from June 9 through June 12 — promises to once again deliver a musically adventurous experience.
“More than ever the phrase ‘new music’ is becoming a broad umbrella term that encapsulates all kinds of styles. So we wanted this year’s festival to reflect that as best as we could.” CUSP’s managing director Stephen Haluska (above) said during a recent Zoom call.
This year, in addition to concerts, the festival will include workshops. “We’re trying to involve more of the community and this is a great way to do that,” Haluska said. “The artists will be talking about everything from electronics to jazz to elements of improvisation.” View the digital program book here.
RE:Sound 2022 will kick off on Thursday, June 9 at 7:30 pm at the Bop Stop with New York City-based Warp Trio and Cleveland-based Robin Blake Sound Experiment. “They are both really fun and will certainly get the party started,” Haluska said. Following the performance, a Drone Improv afterparty at Terrestrial Brewery will feature both local musicians and RE:Sound artists.
Friday, June 10 begins at 5:00 pm with a Warp Trio workshop at The Music Settlement in Ohio City. At 8:00 pm at the Bop Stop, New York City-based Eunbi Kin will perform selections from her forthcoming album It Feels Like. Also on the program is Slow Spin, aka Zeerak Ahmed. She’s involved in not just music performance but also visual and sound art,” Haluska said. “She’ll be mixing elements of ambient electronic music with South-Asian classical vocals.”
Saturday, June 11 begins at 2:00 pm with a workshop presented by Montreal-based Émilie Fortin at The Music Settlement at Ohio City. “She’ll talk about electro-acoustic trumpet techniques and improvisation,” Haluska noted. At 4:00 pm at Tremont’s Kaiser Gallery, featured artists will be harpist Danielle Kuntz and the DechoVoche duo —Jacob Swanson (sax) and Katherine Petersen (voice).
“It’s wonderful that Jacob has all of these regular collaborators, and this is another one of his great ensembles,” Haluska said. “They recently added an additional piece by Ruby Fulton — I love her work. And Danielle is an active commissioner of new works for harp that push the boundaries of the instrument. Kaiser Gallery is fantastic. They have a cocktail bar in the gallery and their mixologist will be designing a signature cocktail for the event that will be inspired by the music.”
At 9:00 pm the music will move down the street to CODA with Elephant Ornament, Émilie Fortin, and Nick Zoulek. “Elephant Ornament (Graham Rosen) is based in Cleveland,” Haluska noted. “He’s very active as a musician as well as a live audio engineer. He’ll also be running a lot of the live sound during the Festival. Émilie’s set will be an all electro-acoustic piece — trumpet and tape with live processing. And Nick — he’s played the festival in the past — is a great performer/composer who always does interesting things.”
The Festival will conclude on Sunday, June 12 at Bop Stop with New York City-based PinkNoise. Their setlist will feature Géard Grisey’s Vortex Temporum, arranged for chamber ensemble, as well as Jessie Cox’s Black as a Hack for Cyborgification.
“We’ve kept everything in specific neighborhoods — Gordon Square, Hingetown, and Tremont,” Haluska said. “We hope people, whether they’re from out of town or local, will be able to hang out and enjoy themselves.
View the digital program book here. Purchase tickets and Festival passes here.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com June 6, 2022.
Click here for a printable copy of this article
