by Max Newman
For lovers of Cleveland’s contemporary music scene, there is perhaps no group more acutely on the cutting edge than the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project. The genre-blending organization, founded in 2017 and under the stewardship of Stephan Haluska (pictured, left) since 2021, has provided ample space for Cleveland’s new music artists to strut their stuff for the better part of a decade.
Now, as part of their 2025-26 run, they are continuing these groundbreaking traditions. On September 26 at 8pm, the project will play host to synthesist and composer Matthew Ryals, as well as the local piano, harp, and electronic trio of Harper/Haluska/Oicherman (featuring CUSP’s own director), for an evening of sonic mobility and spontaneity. I spoke with Haluska about the upcoming performance, as well as the past, present, and future of CUSP.
“I’ve known him for a long time,” said Haluska of headliner Matthew Ryals, whose fully improvised recording “Exalge” was released earlier this month. When Haluska learned that his friend’s tour would be stopping in Northeast Ohio, the lightbulb went off in his head. “Matthew studied classical guitar at CIM and has since moved to New York, but we’ve always kept in touch. He reached out to me about coming through Ohio, and of course I jumped at this opportunity. He’s someone who I’ve wanted to work with before, but we haven’t really had the opportunity until now.” [Read more…]
“Creativity is the expression of life, so for me the question is why on earth would you not be creative? Why on earth would you not want to grow?” flutist, composer, improviser, author, teacher, and inventor Robert Dick said during a recent telephone interview. A leader in contemporary flute music, he has redefined the instrument’s musical possibilities. 
For Matthew Jones, the best part about performing is doing it with your longtime friends. Luckily, the vocalist was recently able to do just that when he recorded a concert in person with hornist Van Parker, percussionist Mell Csicsila, and composer/pianist Buck McDaniel. The four are frequent collaborators who know each other well both on- and off-stage.
While living halfway across the country from each other due to the pandemic, vocalist Nina Dante and flutist Dalia Chin of the Dante + Chin Duo began sharing their dreams as a way to stay connected. “My dreams mean a lot to me — they feel like dialogues that our top-side self gets to have with our subconscious self, and I take them really seriously,” Dante said in a recent interview. That intersection of dreams and reality inspired Which of my forms, the Duo’s new work composed for the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s 2021 Re:Sound Festival.
After taking a year off, the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (CUSP) is gearing up for its return with Re:Sound 2021, an innovative, online music festival that will premiere on June 3. Faced with an influx of pandemic-fueled virtual concerts, “we decided to take a season to reconnect and think about what we wanted to do,” artistic director Sophie Benn said in a recent interview. She added that finally putting on an event again “feels amazing.”