Classical Chamber series at The Block

• 7:30 PM 9:00 PM

• The Block

Experience the variety of sound that a string quartet can make! Varo String Quartet will perform a mix of music, from the innovative works of living composers to classical masterpieces at Muskegon’s The Block.

Kari Watson premieres Fuse, a new solo performance for analog modular synthesizers and programmed drum machines. The piece plays with clock function and tempo ramps, moving between analog and digital environments as Watson shapes the sound in real time.

Fuse engages a quadraphonic speaker array in tandem with a spatial audio sculpture of unhoused speaker cones distributed through the room. A custom synth garment—made in collaboration with visual artist and designer Av Grannan—houses patch cables and an XLR snake that tie Watson’s body into the setup. Modular instruments sit atop custom ceramic tables made with visual artist and ceramicist Paige Schlosser, designed so cables can be woven in and around the surfaces.

Watson takes theorist Donna Haraway’s cyborg as an origin point for the project: a figure of synthesis and hybridity, where humans and machines are enmeshed and the boundaries between body and environment are continually unsettled. Fuse makes that unsettled boundary audible, asking where the performer ends and the surrounding system begins.

for more information: https://lampo.org/archive/kari-watson-2026/

Three Places for String Quartet is performed by Quatuor Mémoire at the Chapelle Historique du Bon Pasteur in Montreal, Québec.

Heather Roche premiers a new work for Bass Clarinet on the Critical Sounds Festival & Conference at the Greenline Center for the Arts in Hyde Park.

Contemporary chamber ensembles Quince and Varo String Quartet share a bill for an afternoon of colorful and virtuosic music.

**VARO String Quartet:**

Another Living Soul by Nicole Lizée

Three Places for String Quartet by Kari Watson

gardensongs by Paul Novak

**QUINCE ENSEMBLE:**

Night Wears Black by Juhi Bansal

The Smallest Gap by Carrie Henneman Shaw

Evening Morning Day by David Lang

Presented by The CheckOut.

This is an 21+ event

University of Chicago Tea Time Concert - Fulton Recital Hall

• 4:00 PM-5:00 PM

• Fulton Hall

Western Michigan University - Bullock Series recital

7:30 PM 8:30 PM

Dalton Center Recital Hall (map)

The Performing Media Festival presents a performance of TETHER by Kari Watson, Luana Borges, and Kristen Bernier on March 14 in the festivals final concert.

Kari Watson and Sam Wenc play duo at the Kiosk gallery on March 7th in the afternoon.

Jen Torrence gives the US Premier of For Jen Torrence on the opening night of Chicago’s Frequency Festival.

OSCILLATIONS for large ensemble, modular synthesizer, and electronics, presented through the Mannes School of Music and the New School by the Mannes American Composers Ensemble with Conductor David Fulmer, with Watson on synthesizer.

A public in progress sharing of the Watson and Middleton’s new collaboration, The Masks We Wear.

Kari and Katinka play Studio DB in celebration of their record VISTAS.

Listening Party at listening club AFTER.

Kari Watson and Ethan Braun play duo at RICHTEN25 in Berlin, DE.

Kari Watson & Katinka Kleijn play at the Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury as part of Watson & Kleijn UK/EU tour.

Kari and Katinka duo splitting a bill at Khimaira w/ Maya Bennardo, Etienne Nillesen and Kristofer Svensson.

Duo show with cellist Laurence Gaudreau at Parlour, Amsterdam.

Tickets

Kari plays a duo with accordionist Tizia Zimmerman gig at WIM, Werkstatt für improvisierte Musik Zürich, at 8pm.

MINU_festival_for_expanded_music is a Copenhagen-based festival presenting art on the borders of experimental music and other media. It is a space for oscillating between extremes and charting relationships between art, technology, and contemporary culture. With a curatorial focus on the events as holistic experiences, MINU is an initiative for expanding the definition of music through presenting the unmusical as musical. 

On November 7th at 730pm, the International Museum of Surgical Science will present RESONANT CHAMBERS, a night of audio visual performances by Kari Watson & Lou Mallozzi (Duo), Kelley Sheehan, and David Bird.

On Wednesday October 15th at Upstairs, solo sets by Kari Watson, Jason Calhoun, Misses and Sam Wenc. Show at 8pm, 21+.

Kari Watson plays solo set on a bill with Zach Layton, Ryan Sawyer and Alex Waterman at the Avalon Lounge

Kari Watson and Katinka Kleijn duo play at the Hungry Brain for International Anthem’s 11 x 11 series.

Modular Synthesizer and Percussion Duo

Organizer: Kari Watson & Romane Bouffioux

Percussionist Romane Bouffioux & Composer/Performer Kari Watson play a duo set from 15:30-16:30 in OS Showcase

Kari Watson: twinning für zwei Violinen und LED-Lichter (2025)

Kari Watson: For Jen Torrence für Percussion, Elektronik und Video (2024/25)

Kelley Sheehan: Neues Werk für Percussion solo / New Work for Percussion solo (2025)
Uraufführung / World Premiere

Sarah Saviet (Violine / Violin)
Maya Bennardo (Violine / Violin)
Jennifer Torrence (Percussion)
Kari Watson (Electronic Devices)
Luana Borges (Video)

Tickets: https://ztix.de/hp/events/26883/info

July 21st, 2025 | 1:00 PM | Goodson Chapel-Recital Hall

Axiom Brass plays Alloys on a program at the DC Trombone Workshop

Singing in Kate In’s CLEAT choir piece Drop Lift Fly