SO PERCUSSION’S APRIL 29 PERFORMANCE at the Southern Theater was remarkable for the sonic palette the four-piece ensemble created using, (almost) exclusively, instruments struck by the human hand. Additionally, their program evoked a palpable sense of excitement for new music, as well as giving a virtuosic nod to the roots of these abstract soundscapes. The opening composition, Steve Reich’s Music for…

SIX YEARS AGO, MOVING MY STUDIO TO THE CORNER OF CHICAGO AND LAKE did not seem to portend a long running project space, if life! Almost immediately I had to cross police tape to get to my car, while officers searched for bullet casings. Drug dealing and prostitution furrowed around the corner and into the alley. Seeking to render these situations transparent, I cut through the building (inspired by…

WE AT THE UNIVERSITY KNEW HIM AS BIRDMAN. We knew nothing else about him. Homeless and probably one of the people de-institutionalized in the ‘80s, he had slipped through a tear in the safety net. His matted, reddish beard twisted like strands of coral, his skin yellowed from a tired liver, and his eyes, though ringed with red, were the color of a deep, uncluttered sea. One night he died sitting up, wedged…

WHAT COMPELS A CHOREOGRAPHER TO CREATE A PIECE FOR HIM OR HERSELF? What about doing so “accompanied” only by sound or music, lighting and the most minimalist staging? Such an endeavor requires adventurousness and supreme self-assurance to be sure, but there’s more to it than that. No small amounts of hubris and bravado also provide the impetus, as the solo is, more often than not, a showcase for…

WHEN YOU WATCH ANIMATED FILM, IT MAY BE THAT THE EYE-POPPING VISUALS first grab your attention, but the film’s soundtrack is working on you, too, whether you consciously attend to its influences or not. In fact, some of the best animated films spring precisely from that complex interplay between what is seen and what is heard, relying on a conversation between sound and image to tell the story. The…

IT MIGHT BE SAID (AND PROBABLY HAS BEEN) THAT MARRIAGE IS IMPROVISATION, full of high-risk creative work and in-the-moment decisions. Imagine a marriage in which both partners are improvising musicians. Wed for 30 years, pianist Ellen Lease and saxophonist Pat Moriarty share a life as parents, educators, composers, and performers. Since 1993, they have co-led the Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarty Quintet, known as…

MINNESOTA-BORN ARTIST CHERITH LUNDIN FUSES SUBTLE EXPLORATIONS of the banal with a profound formal intelligence and a soft, aesthetically refined touch. Adjusting the scale of her pieces according to that of each installation site, Lundin’s practice involves multiple media formats, but her primary focus continues to be painting and drawing, employed as a means of exploring dualities like the known…

THIS PAST DECEMBER I WENT TO SEE MINNESOTA DANCE THEATRE’S NUTCRACKER. The Nutcracker is a sentimental favorite; I don’t go expecting revelations. Melanie Verna was dancing the Sugarplum, and while I was looking forward to seeing her — Verna is an extraordinary dancer — I didn’t think she’d be at her best. Every time I’d seen Verna in a classical ballerina role in the past, she’d looked like a lesser…

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, I WAS AMONG 150 “Super-Empowered Hopeful Individuals” who, in about 25 minutes, generated 527 solutions to thriving in a world without oil. Woot! It was an “Epic Win,” said Jane McGonigal Ph.D., “an amazing gift to the world.” The charismatic game designer guided us in playing her online alternate-reality project, World Without Oil, during the College of Design conference “Disruptive…