New Music Circle season starts Friday, September 28 with concert by Konk Pack

New Music Circle has announced most of its 2007-08 season schedule, starting with a concert next Friday, September 28 by Konk Pack (pictured), a trio of improvising musicians from Great Britain and Germany. The group will perform at 8 p.m. at the Kerr Foundation Building, 21 O’Fallon Street (on the riverfront just north of Laclede's Landing).

The rest of New Music Circle's 07-08 schedule includes a varied mix of experimental/avant-garde music and performances. On Sunday, October 14, NMC will present vocalist Thomas Buckner and computer music performer/composer Dave Wessel at Christ Church Cathedral. Next up is NMC music director (and retired Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra percussionist) Rich O'Donnell, who will will headline a concert on Friday, November 9 at Satori, 3001 Locust Street.

That same weekend - either Saturday, November 10 or Sunday, November 11, the exact date and time are TBA - the organization will team up with the St. Louis International Film Festival and the St. Louis Art Museum to present another installment of the Circle/Cinema series, which pairs silent films with live improvised music, at the St. Louis Art Museum Auditorium.

On Sunday, December 2, French composer, performer, and sound installation artist Laetitia Sonami will present a performance called "Lady's Glove," which utilizes a custom-designed controller worn on Sonami’s hand that allows her movements to control sounds, mechanical devices, and lights in real-time. This show will take place at the Mildred E. Bastian Center for the Performing Arts at Forest Park.

There's something called "Holiday Havoc Heraldry" scheduled for Sunday, December 9, and then NMC takes a break until the New Year. The season resumes on Saturday, March 15, when James Hegarty and Mary-Jean Cowell present a music/dance performance piece called "Sp(l)aces" at the Annelise Mertz Dance Studio, located in Mallinckrodt Center at Washington University.

On Sunday, May 4, the percussion duo HaZMaT (Thomas Zirkle and Matt Henry) will present a concert at the Mildred E. Bastian Center, followed by "Spring Into June," another Rich O"Donnell joint on Sunday, May 25 at Laumeier Sculpture Park.

NMC also promises two more touring artists as part of the Spring schedule as well as two other shows with date, time and locations TBA: "Meta-Morph-Us," a performance piece by "yoga practitioner, artist, and jungle jedi" Kelsey L. LaPoint, and "Synaesthesia," a "four-part concert of original music compositions set to experimental video works by Van McElwee, Peter Rose, and Roy Zurick."

Find out more by visiting New Music Circle's Web site.

UPDATE - 4:30 p.m.: NMC is also the subject of a feature story by Brett Underwood in the September issue of St. Louis magazine, found online here.