Sound Ideas

Using the name Jonathan Matis as a writer and performer, Morris combines composition and improvisation in his work; he is also co-founder of the DC Improvisers Collective, a quartet that melds jazz, contemporary composition and experimental music. Morris describes the American Composers Forum as "a service organization geared toward conservatory-trained musicians and the creation of new chamber music, whether for classical or electronic instruments. In plain English, we're trying to provide support for composers working and living in the area while also generating public interest in what they do. We're trying to make a connection between people and new music. For some reason, there's a disconnect there."

As to what constitutes new music, "that's the million-dollar question," Morris concedes. "Typically, our constituents are composers coming out of the classical tradition, and they're probably writing notes on manuscript paper, or some digital equivalent. But that's starting to change. Computer musicians are generating audio that is the finished product, as opposed to generating a score that's a finished product."

Morris admits he has one thing in mind with his improv-minded comrades at Transparent and Electric Possible: "Every step of the way, we're dependent on people taking a chance, right down to every audience member who's going to buy a ticket, because nobody knows what they're getting when they walk in the door."

New Music Salon concerts are at 8 at the Sitar Center Theater in the Patricia M. Sitar Center for the Arts (1700 Kalorama Rd. NW, Suite 101; 202-797-2145). Tickets are $10. Call 202-315-1315 or e-mail dc@composersforum.org .

21ST CENTURY CONSORT

The 21st Century Consort has championed contemporary music for 30 years; since 1978, it has been the resident new music ensemble at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Under the leadership of artistic director and conductor Christopher Kendall (who concurrently founded the "old music" Folger Consort), the group offers works by innovative 20th-century composers while presenting, often in world premieres, works by leading and emerging American composers.

According to Christopher Patton, Consort composer and managing director, "our programs are designed to be welcoming and invite people into what we feel is a very exciting world of music." The season opener on Nov. 5, "Homage," features the Consort with mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas and local baritone William Sharp. Among the works: Paul Schoenfield's "Camp Songs," using text by Aleksander Kulisiewicz, a Polish political dissident who was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and "Personnae #VI," a solo piano piece by Nicholas Maw, the acclaimed English composer who lives in Washington and teaches at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore.

The 21st Century Consort often presents programs related to Hirshhorn exhibitions and in June gave a concert at the Washington National Cathedral in conjunction with "Visual Music," an exhibit exploring synesthesia, in which aural and visual senses combine in such a way that musical sounds evoke specific colors. It featured the world premiere of Patton's "Out of Darkness," a multimedia collaboration with Daniel MacLean Wagner, chairman of the theater department at the University of Maryland. The Feb. 11 program, "Time and Memory," will celebrate an exhibition of Japanese-born American photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto; it will feature the world premiere of "Dream Palace" by Scott Wheeler, whose "Democracy" was premiered to great acclaim earlier this year by the Washington National Opera. Kendall was recently named dean of the University of Michigan School of Music but will commute to continue his association with the Consort.

Concerts by the 21st Century Consort are held at Marion & Gustave Ring Auditorium, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Independence Avenue and 7th Street SW). For a season schedule, visit http://www.resident%20associates.org/perf-arts/consort.asp .

CONTEMPORARY MUSIC FORUM

The Corcoran Gallery of Art also has a resident new music group, the Contemporary Music Forum. Its chair, composer Steve Antosca, says the Forum presents music by "young, energetic American composers right on the edge of modern music and avant-garde. We present a lot of music that involves computers and electronics, an integral part of modern American music and thus of our concert series."

Sunday's season-opening concert will include the world premiere of Washington-born composer Jeffrey Mumford's "an expanding distance of multiple voices," performed by violinist Lina Bahn; Mumford, a Forum composer and the first composer-in-residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, will attend.

Antosca says: "We all think of ourselves as classical composers -- we're all conservatory-trained and write for classical instruments. The music is written out for ensemble playing from scores, but we also interact with computers, real-time electronics and video."

For instance, during an April concert, world music percussionist Tom Teasley and Antosca performed the latter's "something else." The score, Antosca explains, "was a sheet of paper with instructions -- no written notes, just a structure and a clear idea of how it starts, a processional manner and lots of sections of improv. I would trigger samples and process what Tom played in real time as he was improvising." The concert also featured Robert Gibson's "Brood X," computer-processed audio work juxtaposing buzzes, whirs and chirps recorded during 2004's cicada invasion. In April, the Forum will present works by Antosca, Frederick Weck and Douglas Boyce, a former punk rocker whose chamber music bridges the medieval and the modern; all are Forum composers.

The Contemporary Music Forum performs Sunday at 4:30 at the Corcoran's Hammer Auditorium (17th Street and New York Avenue NW; 202-333-4529). For a season schedule, visit http://www.contemporary%20musicforum.org/ .

AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Also worth noting are the vanguard chamber music and jazz concerts that are part of ongoing music presentations at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium, continuing a legacy that dates to the 1930s. In fact, John Cage, the godfather of American experimental music, earned his initial national recognition after a percussion concert at the library in 1943.

Not only has the library presented concerts -- always free -- it has commissioned many new works, the best known being George Crumb's "Ancient Voices of Children," a 1970 work based on the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca and scored for soprano, boy soprano and an assortment of instruments, including mandolin, musical saw and toy piano.

A highlight of the new season will be an Oct. 8 concert of chamber music by Japan's Toru Takemitsu, who bridged Eastern and Western traditions. It's part of "Mirror of Tree, Mirror of Field: A Celebration of the Life and Music of Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996)," which will include free screenings at the Mary Pickford Theater of 10 films scored by Takemitsu. Among next year's programs: electronic music innovator Morton Subotnick performing "Until Spring Revisited," a surround-sound laptop work tracing technological breakthroughs in the history of the genre. For a full schedule, call 202-707-8432 or visit http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/concert/05-06preview.html .

Richard Harrington is the music writer for Weekend.