by Nicholas Stevens
For a case study in the inadequacy of words to capture experiences, consider the gulf between describing the Nakatani Gong Orchestra and hearing, seeing, and feeling it live. A “large-ensemble nomadic sound art project,” according to founder, director, instrument-builder, and performer Tatsuya Nakatani, the NGO enlists local volunteers to play seventeen variously sized gongs. A description of the event might dwell on the bows and beaters that fourteen Ohioans recently used to play the gongs in concert. It might catalog the exact sounds the group created from one moment to the next. However, the proper language for this experience is that of enchantment. [Read more…]
The second installment in the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s concert series featured two guest artists at Historic St. John’s in Ohio City on Saturday, February 2. Chicago-based violist Ammie Brod and Bowling Green-based flutist Kenneth Cox gave electronically augmented solo sets meditating on expanded ways to play their familiar instruments.
Ask about something musically outside the box, and Malina Rauschenfels has probably done it. Yes, she’s played a work for cello with two bows. Yes, she’s performed as a dancing violinist. And yes, of course she’s premiered an upside-down flute duet — her own composition.
A co-founder of Splinter Reeds, a San Francisco-based reed quintet, improviser and educator 
From the first time electric guitarist 