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There are moments of silent depth in which the winter of the scalpel of meaning and the spring of the sound-born, unleashed body look upon the world fully present. When the notes at last are heard, the ordered world is their indistinguishable score. The ritual of process is that which carries. The process of ritual is that which brings moments both transitory and immortal, apprehended by musician, seer, clairvoyant, herald; the welling tones that emanate from the crystal salt of shattered primordial sea; the melody that creeps unheard from unseen distance across the desert blaze; the hymns that blare in whispers from mountain peak and valley depth, beams of their power streaming into the ordered world, in confluence with body, voice and soul, dissolving it again and again. Water is the Sun is the inevitable union of Mkl Anderson (Drekka), and Adam Parks (Timber Rattle / Lightning White Bison). Together they play an alchemical amalgam of their primary projects, resulting in cinematic / landscape textures that give slow birth to psyche-pastorals and intoned ritual songs; a music as informed by the devotional chants of West Coast cults and Appalachian hymns as it is by the dark new age and ambient resonance of the experimental scene that has embraced and supported both musicians for many years. "Ritual Fever" - with its dual reference to an ecstatic state connected with nature, and an anxious lack in the context of modern-day alienation - is Water Is The Sun's first co-written / co-produced recording. It is a sculpted studio document of a fully realized work which they present in its entirety during their live performance. "Ritual Fever" is out now on Trome Records, UK (LP) and Tocco Magico, IT (CASSETTE). // Liberation Technology is a disenfranchised American duo formed in Cleveland by artists RA Washington and Messiah In Glytch. LT blends rap, noise and electronic music into a hybrid nod to free improvisation and ecstatic Jazz traditions.

Okapi is an Asheville, NC-based avant-folk duo that typically employs upright bass and cello, but has recently taken an alternative compositional approach using harmonium, cello, and voice to explore a contemporary interpretation of Appalachian-style murder ballad themes and other folk music elements, forming unique original pieces that thematically confront the complex relationship between man and the divine feminine of nature. // Halumnen is the electro-acoustic trio of Stephan Haluska, Naomi Columna, and Graham Rosen. Their project includes voice, harp, and other acoustic instruments processed through laptop electronics. Structural elements are ceded to the computer algorithm to examine the decision-making process in improvisation. Halumnen will present a multimedia work with accompanying video in 4-channel audio. This event is something of a birthday party for Stephan Haluska. Come celebrate with good music!

Toby Summerfield is a bassist, guitarist, collaborator, improviser, composer. and aught dawg. He comes from rock music, through jazz and tries to operate in a cross- pollinated musical garden. He’s most at home in complicated rock bands and free improvised situations- and especially loves when both can happen. But he’ll do whatever you ask him to, within reason. He has worked extensively with Colin Stetson, jaimie branch, Dina Maccabee and Bill Brovold; been a section leader and sub conductor for Rhys Chatham’s 100 guitar performances and leads the large ensemble Never Enough Hope. During the pandemic he started a solo practice built in the tools and techniques he has developed through his career to collaborate with his musical friends. He feels lucky to have been in Ann Arbor in the late 90’s and in Chicago during the Aughts, getting to play with the luminous humans who populated the music communities in those cities. // This performance of A Kairos Quartet is a first-time happy accident occasioned by Toby Summerfield’s passage through Cleveland to support a new record. Summerfield and Kluth were musical compatriots in Chicago during the ‘00s, contributing to one another’s lives and musical projects in big and small ways (see Summerfield’s band Never Enough Hope and Kluth’s band Aldric). Separated by years of pursuing life in different directions, they’ll be joined for this set of musicking by the luminous collaborative improvisors Carmen Castaldi (drums) and Garrett Folger (trumpet) as they interpret compositions by Kluth, Folger, and Castaldi.

Gleb Kanasevich is a clarinetist and composer based in Detroit, MI. He is an active soloist and session musician, having recently worked with indie rock bands, death metal bands, A24 films, and Netflix. He has been closely working with the Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival in New York City since 2021, frequently covering the festival’s electronic and live sound needs, concert production, and clarinet duties. He is currently the festival's chief operating officer. While he lived in New York, he also performed as a clarinetist with the city's premier contemporary music ensembles. As a composer he is interested in exploring expressive possibilities in very simple electronic setups, stark sonic landscapes, and extremely fine microtonality. Most recently, he was commissioned by Ensemble Intercontemporain, Michigan State University's Musique 21, Callithumpian Consort (Boston), and No Exit New Music Ensemble (Cleveland). His newest solo record “We Only Have But A Moment” is to be released on April 2, 2026 on Flag Day Recordings. From 2016 until Spring, 2019, Kanasevich also worked as a curator/video maker for the online new music database and audio/video/score resource ScoreFollower/Incipitsify. “We only have but a moment” delivers a highly intimate experience through its sonic purity and psychoacoustic intensity. Conjured just with extremely still clarinet playing and a six-speaker pure wave setup, the set creates a warm, secluded corner for individual reflection and existence in a “space with no walls.” It’s a seemingly subtle test of physical endurance for the performer that still flows effortlessly throughout. // Ahn is a three piece no wave/noise rock group from Northeast Ohio, made up of Bryce Wood, Kevin Greulich, and Sean Donovan. The group creates and explores sound through the use of guitars, tapes, drums and electronics.

Open Call for Conceptual Sound Projects In collaboration with Antigone Music Collective AMC and CUSP are calling artists to propose a live conceptual sound project for the 2026-27 concert season. The project is open to creatives of all artistic backgrounds who call Northeast Ohio home. Welcome backgrounds include but are not limited to: composers, musicians, improvisers, performance artists, visual artists, video artists, poets, dancers, movers, and more… The project will culminate in a performance of the work by Antigone Music Collective, tentatively scheduled for winter, 2027. Submissions close at 11:59pm on April 1, 2026 Selected projects notified by May 1, 2026 *Payment contingent on amount received through 2026-27 grant funding, announced July 2026 For more details and project proposals, please visit: /open-call

Matteo Liberatore is an artist and composer working in experimental music and intermedia art. Now based in Brooklyn, Liberatore spent much of his life in the medieval region of Abruzzo, Italy, amidst dramatic landscapes that are reflected through a performance and composition style of “unsettling beauty” and “striking physicality” (The New York City Jazz Record). Equally at home in smoky late-night venues as well as museums and galleries, Molto Ohm’s live performance consists of improvised sound collages made using 4 DJ decks played simultaneously. The music is fragmented, layered, and recombined, blurring the lines between club music and sound art. Molto Ohm integrates a screen projection that expands on the ideas expressed in the music, immersing audiences in a world of screen recordings, 360-degree footage, iPhone footage, and stock imagery that recontextualize the detachment and digitization of the online experience. Since its debut in 2023, Molto Ohm has released its first album FEED, performed live, received grants and commissions from organizations such as Foundation For Contemporary Arts, Composers Now and Metropolis Ensemble, and collaborated with artists including Ka Baird, Taja Cheek (L’Rain), Lester St. Louis (HxH), more eaze, Alyse Lamb (Parlor Walls), Brian Wenner, and more. // Ótal is the work of Icelandic artist Óskar Þór Arngrímsson, based in Akron. He creates hypnotic soundscapes from layers of texture and tone, with traces of Icelandic mysticism. Influenced by minimalist composers, Ótal’s music moves between the tangible and the abstract. Using synthesizers and field recordings, each piece unfolds slowly, creating intimate atmospheres meant for deep listening. Ella Medicus, an Akron-based artist is providing an immersive visual projection, using abstracted footage to pair with the performance.

A FREE evening of happenings – music, art, performance – at the Akron Art Museum!Warm, bright, and energetic – exactly what a February night in Akron, Ohio calls for and what this annual Museum celebration of art, music, and community brings! This evening of creative happenings delights with performances, interactives, and tasty snackings: perfect for friends, couples, family, and fellow creatives to gather, discover, and remember. CUSP (Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project) will curate music performances at a designated stage in the Museum’s lobby. 6:00pm A FREE evening of happenings – music, art, performance – at the Akron Art Museum!Warm, bright, and energetic – exactly what a February night in Akron, Ohio calls for and what this annual Museum celebration of art, music, and community brings! This evening of creative happenings delights with performances, interactives, and tasty snackings: perfect for friends, couples, family, and fellow creatives to gather, discover, and remember. CUSP (Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project) will curate music performances at a designated stage in the Museum’s lobby. 6:00pm MouseVision is a collaborative movement/sound collective, informed by Butoh, Deep Listening practices, and improvisation. It consists of Laura Swedenborg (Butoh dance), Kristen Ban Drake (Butoh sound), and bbob drake (sound) 7:00pm Work for interactive electronics and acoustic instruments with Stephan Haluska (harp) / Leia Hohenfeld (flute) / Torstein Johansen (upright bass) / Liam Battle (cello) 8:00pm Horses 4K, Jacob Trombetta (pedal steel guitar) Robin Guiler (synthesizer), Ambient project for pedal steel and electronics

Melanie Emig performs Morton Feldman’s “Three Voices” (1982), to commemorate Feldman’s centennial birthday. “Three Voices” is a composition for voice and pre-recorded tracks. Written in memoriam to his friend and poet, Frank O’Hara. The work is mostly sung without text, however the few fragments of text are from O’Hara’s 1957 poem “Wind.” WIND to Morton Feldman Who’d have thought that snow falls it always circled whirling like a thought in the glass ball around me and my bear Then it seemed beautiful containment snow whirled nothing ever fell nor my little bear bad thoughts imprisoned in crystal beauty has replaced itself with evil And the snow whirls only in fatal winds briefly then falls it always loathed containment beasts I love evil (CP 269) Melanie Emig is a performance curator, musician, and educator whose work blends music with visual storytelling. She is a 2025 recipient of the Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award in Interdisciplinary Art. Melanie produces interdisciplinary music performances that integrate strong visual and narrative elements. As a curator, she has been awarded the Neighbor Up Action Grant and the Quire Cleveland Community Grant. Alongside frequent collaborator Naomi Columna, they received the Satellite Fund through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to create their original performance work What I Meant… [DANCINGBANANA_gif]. As a vocalist, Melanie has performed with Apollo’s Fire, Quire Cleveland, and the Trinity Cathedral Chamber Choir. // J. Tracy Mortimore, double bass/composer Lenny Young, oboe/English horn/composer Double bassist J. Tracy Mortimore and oboist Lenny Young have been working together both as a duo and as collaborators in larger projects for two decades. On a technical level, they focus on conceptual structures to create improvised music and the implementation of the novel color possibilities of their instruments. On an esthetic level, they explore ways to sustain a musical dialog between two melodic instruments. The music they make ranges from delicate spectrally tinged textures to complex polyphony to theatric and absurdist gestures.

Annea Lockwood’s music ranges from sound art and environmental sound installations to concert music. Recent works include three collaborations: Elwha!, with Claire Chase, Into the Vanishing Point with Yarn/Wire, Becoming Air with Nate Wooley. Water has been a recurring focus of her work and her sound maps of rivers: the Hudson River, the Danube, the Housatonic River, and with Liz Phillips the Schuylkill, have been widely presented. A sound map of the Columbia River with Nate Wooley is nearing completion, supported by a grant from New Music USA. A Fromm Music Foundation commission was recently awarded for Elwha! and a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts supports the creation of a new installation for PS 21, Chatham, New York. Lockwood is a recipient of the SEAMUS Lifetime Achievement Award 2020, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The program consists of acoustic and electroacoustic works by Annea Lockwood. Lockwood is joined by a group of local collaborators to realize the works, Spirit Catchers and bayou-borne for Pauline. This event is made possible by the generous support from the Midwest Society for Acoustic Ecology. Bouyant (2013) Dusk (2012) For Ruth (2021) Spirit Catchers (1974) —Intermission— On Fractured Ground (2023) bayou-borne for Pauline (2016) Photo credits: Sorrel Hays of Ruth and Annea Sam Green, from his film "32 Sounds"

@uncommonsoundcle is hosting a curated stage at the annual Midwinter 2026 event @akronartmuseum Saturday February 7th A FREE evening of happenings – music, art, performance – at the Akron Art Museum! Warm, bright, and energetic – exactly what a February night in Akron, Ohio calls for and what this annual Museum celebration of art, music, and community brings! This evening of creative happenings delights with performances, interactives, and tasty snackings: perfect for friends, couples, family, and fellow creatives to gather, discover, and remember. CUSP (Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project) will curate music performances at a designated stage in the Museum’s lobby. 6:00pm MouseVision is a collaborative movement/sound collective, informed by Butoh, Deep Listening practices, and improvisation. It consists of Laura Swedenborg (Butoh dance), Kristen Ban Drake (Butoh sound), and bbob drake (sound). 7:00pm Stephan Haluska (harp, live-processing electronics) / Leia Hohenfeld (flute) / Torstein Johansen (upright bass) / Liam Battle (cello), Interactive audio “game” for live-processed acoustic instruments 8:00pm Horses 4K, Jacob Trombetta (pedal steel guitar) Robin Guiler (synthesizer), Ambient project for pedal steel and electronics Akron Soul Train will showcase one of their 2026 Emerging Artists, Maddie McSweeney for in-gallery artist performance that will be ongoing throughout evening. NCCAkron (National Center for Choreography) has curated dancer and choreographer Teagan Reed for three performances of her work Somewhere Between to occur once a hour in Alfred McMoore: All This Luck in My Head. As an extension of their work in the Akron Art Library program, Time Change Generator will have an interactive lounge installation in the Lobby. A pop-up shop of Time Change Generator goods will also be available. Ron Copeland will be mural painting live in the Museum’s lobby. DJ Palaces is set to curate music in the galleries for the ultimate winter night atmosphere. Good Company Akron will once again present a delicious limited menu of snackables for purchase. Screen takeovers by Nightlight Cinema will add an extra dash of visual wonderment in the Lobby.

Cleveland! As some of you know, @tartar.biz , my soul clown sister (aka compost clown for those at @rustbeltriders ) is coming January 3rd and I cannot wait. @uncommonsoundcle and WOWIE productions are co-presenting this fantastic show @pilgrimucc_cle Presale tickets are on at the link in bio! We DO have a capacity and we WILL sellout, I’m guessing… Come see what NY Times said is a “demented clown show/unhinged cabaret/deranged improv but also a fearless exploration of self loathing that will stick with me for a very. Long. time” 💕💕 @great.big.extra.super.wow @spittlemonster30 @emmaluiseplz @dvstybvcket @l8nite_dhc @oxboworchardohio @stephanhaluska @sans.seriff.sheriff @annaazizzy @owl_and_apple and all other champions of weirdo experimental art in Cle!!!

Franck Vigroux is a multifaceted artist whose works range from experimental electronic music to modern composition and music theatre. Franck Vigroux‘s music is made of tectonic tensions, beats, electronic textures and a very personal approach to sonic exploration. He is equally prolific as a solo artist and as a collaborator, he has worked with musician such as Elliott Sharp, Mika Vainio, Reinhold Friedl, Ars Nova... Vigroux’s uniqueness comes from his artistic approach that integrates new media and performance arts. He designs transdisciplinary shows and audiovisual concerts, collaborating with visual artists such as Antoine Schmitt and Kurt d’Haeseleer. Vigroux will perform his work, Cascades, with Antoine Schmitt. Cascades is an audiovisual project inspired by the concept of waterfalls, here represented by flows of pixels which movements are generative, meaning never the same. For the music, this same concept is used as inspiration to compose music using electronic instruments, a sort of continuum reminding of surge and immutability… Fruit of a decade long of collaboration between the two artists, Cascades represent both infinite movement and stability, but where catastrophes can happen: a synesthetic artwork, both contemplative, reflexive and a physical experience. // Crow Hill Gnostic Temple is Witchbeam on electronics & Sister Jillian on percussion, with accompaniment from Mephisto Michael on vox and Jayson on drums. Through sonic ritual the Crow Hill Gnostic Temple creates an Infinite Autonomous Zone, at all times after the experiencer steps inside the zone, the zone remains available . This performance will be centered on pre-solstice darkness, the time of the year where shadows drape all material and create a formless void. CHGT will be creating the soundtrack to the film Highest Quality Black Cat by Steven Intermill, a visual romp through the eso-detritus of the 20th century occulture.