6/27/26 – Ebb and Flow

Our clarinetist Ford and music technologist/composer Brian Ellis are presenting a site-specific pop-up on June 27th 8PM at the 2nd Street Dock performed from canoes, tracing the flow of the Gowanus Canal from the Flushing Tunnel to the 2nd Street Boathouse. This opening pop-up titled Ebb and Flow is a limited seat event that is the first of smaller pop-up experiences bringing people together for on the water musical journeys. Iva will present a short set for the opening night.

On August 8th, Unheard-of presents a new premiere for the ensemble, electronics, and video by David Bird, composer, producer, and multimedia artist praised for his “inventive, mind-expanding electroacoustic soundscapes” (An Earful). Unheard-of is joined by special guest band Ginita y La Orquesta Esa for a closing set of latin Jazz tunes from the group’s latest self-titled album!

Unheard-of Ensemble kicks off their annual Collaborative Composition Initiative workshop performing Olivier Messiaen’s monumental Quartet for the End of Time. Written in 1941 while Messiaen was a prisoner of war, the Quartet tells the story of the book of Revelation while meditating on his faith and the eternal. The story of the Quartet’s composition is one of resilience, persistence, and friendship between Messiaen, clarinetist Henri Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire, and cellist Étienne Pasquier. 
Unheard-of also performs the Midwest premiere of CCI Composition Faculty Liliya Ugay’s After the End of Time. The work written in 2020 is a modern homage to Messiaen. It responds to the feelings surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the fear and uncertainty, detachment and unity, and hope.

Unheard-of performs multimedia premieres with explosive visuals, hyper-pop electronics, and prophetic musical storytelling. This program features Christopher Stark’s Maple, Annika Socolofsky’s Let the more loving one be me, a new premiere from David Bird, and Christian Quiñones’s My Eyes Devour the Internet. 

Stark’s Maple captures the intensity and devastation of Yellowstone’s 2016 Maple fire through bending electronic loops and field recordings morphed into dance rhythms, examining the anxiety in between the forces of nature and technology. Socolofsky’s Let the more loving one be me is a sonic documentary of the histories and stories of queer elders, capturing their stories while they are still here. Quiñones’s My Eyes Devour the Internet is a maximalist romp through digital excess, from overpowering virtual vocaloid synths to the overpowering meme-fluenced hyperpop.

Unheard-of performs multimedia premieres written by our festival fellows Yeeun Sim, Max Eidinoff, Emelia Ulrich, Jason Zhang, Dayton Hare, HoiPui Chen, Alex Brown, Preston Posey, and Yeonsuk Jung. These emerging artists from across the United States worked with Unheard-of to develop dynamic works for Unheard-of and electronics.

Join Unheard-of, the CCI fellows, and our composition faculty for an immersive experience exploring the galleries of the Kemper Art Museum. The group will present a set of musical miniatures paired with artworks throughout the museum, running twice on August 15th (3PM and 4:15PM).

On September 19th, Unheard-of presents a new expansive electroacoustic commission by Matt McBane exploring underwater topographies in acoustic and synth forms paired with a set by Mehrnam Rastegari and her trio. Rastegari is a prominent Persian musician, award-winning film score composer, and master Kamancheh player bringing Persian music in new directions with inflections of rock, jazz, and modern fusion.