Harry Partch Festival

7:30 p.m., May 11 – 13 | Meany Theater

Twentieth century American composer Harry Partch created an original musical world and hand-hewn instruments on which to perform his microtonal compositions, which continue to inspire and influence musicians and composers today. This festival celebrates the music and influence of this unique composer, whose collection of hand-made musical instruments are in long-term residence at the 91Ě˝»¨under the curatorship of composer and Partch scholar Charles Corey.

The three programs in this series include premiers of new works composed for Partch’s instruments as well as rarely or never-before performed works from the composer’s archives. Other activities, including master classes, demos, and talks, complete this homage to a uniquely American artist.

MFA Dance Concert

May 16 – 20 | Meany Studio Theater

Six MFA candidates in dance invite you to participate in the premiere of six conceptually and aesthetically diverse works. Drawing from jazz, performance art, improvisational practices and contemporary dance, these new works grapple with time, underwater ecosystems, identity, vulnerability and the body as a biographical canvas. Performed by 91Ě˝»¨ undergraduate dancers.

Artist Talk: Sharon Lockhart

7:00 p.m., May 17 | Henry Art Gallery

The Henry is excited to welcome Sharon Lockhart as a Gurvich Contemporary Art Project visiting artist. During her visit, Lockhart will engage with youth, artists, educators, and community members in a series of experimental gatherings to discuss her work and collectively generate new ideas around contemporary art practices. In this talk, Lockhart will share thoughts on her extensive practice and recent projects.

Through film, photography, and installation, American artist Sharon Lockhart works closely with communities around the world on projects that are both socially engaged and visually complex, unfolding over extended periods of time. In 2017, Lockhart represented Poland at the 57th Venice Biennale with her multidisciplinary project “Little Review,” organized with National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland. Created with young women from the Youth Sociotherapy Center in Rudzienko, Lockhart’s project in Venice comprised translations, a film and a series of photographs, as well as educational workshops. “Little Review” draws its inspiration from the work of Janusz Korczak (1878/79–1942), the Polish-Jewish educator, orphanage-director, and children’s rights advocate. Similar to Korczak, Lockhart’s goal is to provide a forum for children’s voices, both past and present.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

8:00 p.m., May 17 – 19 | Meany Theater

Led by former Alvin Ailey virtuosos and So You Think You Can Dance choreographers, Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, Complexions is sure to dazzle and thrill with Rhoden’s fiercely kinetic choreography and the company’s daredevil dancing. The first work of the evening is STAR DUST, a tribute to the genre-bending innovation of David Bowie. This rock-opera-style ballet pays homage to Bowie’s iconic and chameleonic spirit. The program also includes Ballad Unto, a bold, sprawling abstraction on the intimacy of love set to the music of J.S. Bach.

Burke NiteLife: Offspring Fling

The bass marimba, big as a desk and twice as tall, uses an organ pipe as a resonator and answers the mallet with a musically wooden plonk. The Chromelodeon II, a retuned reed organ, wheezes a trio of soft tones with the press of a key. And the elaborate Cloud-Chamber Bowls deliver tones ranging from a bell-like gong to a glassy clank.

These are the creations of (1901-1974), an eccentric musical genius who built them because he wanted to hear — and compose with — the sounds such contraptions would make.

There’s also the Kithara, the Harmonic Canon, the Zymo-Xyl, the Mazda Marimba, the Blue Rainbow, the Crychord and the Eucal Blossom. Even the Quadrangularis Reversum, which sounds like a Hogwarts incantation. And many more — about 50 in all.

The instruments came to the 91Ě˝»¨this winter from Montclair State University in New Jersey. And along with them came , a research associate tasked with taking care of the inventions, helping students play them and learn from them, and conducting fundraising and public outreach to support the collection and its maintenance.

Though of course Corey never met Partch, who died decades ago, he knows a great deal about the man and his music.

“He was a singer and a multi-instrumentalist — a percussionist, keyboardist, strings player — he did it all,” Corey said. “When he grew up he was playing accompaniment for silent movies. He was a very informed musician.”

In composition and performance, Partch employed “,” also called pure intonation, which is a tuning where the frequencies of notes are governed by ratios of whole numbers and make what are termed “just intervals.”

In just intonation, Corey said, “You can pick any pitch you want and that can be the key, and you can expand out in any direction from there.”

Corey said Partch’s main aim was to follow the human voice, “which of course does not speak in 12 rigidly chosen tones per octave, but has an infinite range of inflection,” and to build instruments that better harmonize and accompany the voice. He even created musical pieces for dance and theater productions during his long and varied career.

Partch played the instruments he created, but in time got tired of being their only performer. So he started adapting instruments for others to play, starting with a viola and expanding in time to the diverse set of instruments — some looking rather like Dr. Seuss creations — now in residence at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Music.

Even playing Partch’s musical inventions requires musicians to be more physically engaged than the usual concert player. For the outsized Bass Marimba, for instance: “Playing it on a riser, you have to move from one end to the other. There is a dance element — you need to have graceful footwork and be aware of your presence on stage.”

Corey is well cast as the keeper of this odd musical world. As a student at Montclair State he performed in several of Partch’s theatrical pieces, and he even visited the 91Ě˝»¨in 2012 as part of a touring production. After finishing his doctorate at the University of Pittsburgh, he returned to Montclair State and joined an ensemble dedicated to Partch music. The ensemble director died soon thereafter and Corey was placed in charge of the collection. Interest soon waned at the school, however, and the 91Ě˝»¨became the collection’s — and Corey’s — new home.

Student composers at the 91Ě˝»¨may be challenged by Partch’s eccentric notation and tuning methods, Corey said, “but it’s a world that isn’t open to many people, so I think they should take advantage.”

“There’s this idea that if you are doing something creative, just go for it, whatever inspires you — whether it’s to build your own instruments or explore one thing in music that really appeals to you. To really do your own thing, because no one else is going to.”

Just now, these wild musical inventions sit in storage rooms in the School of Music building, but their 91Ě˝»¨debut is approaching. Corey will host a , followed by .

In the meantime, he’s showing students the unique qualities of the instruments, answering questions, “talking theory” and trying to stir interest in joining an ensemble.

“Just trying to build a program,” he said, “more or less from the ground up.”

• To learn more about Harry Partch, his music and its residency at the 91Ě˝»¨School of Music, contact Corey at crcorey@uw.edu.