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Michael Schell

@radioeclectus

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Composer/intermedia artist. Host of Radio Eclectus (KHUH) and Flotation Device (KBCS). Writer for Sequenza21.com. Cribbage player.

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Friday night the Arditti Quartet comes to @MeanyCenter to play a double concert—the Northwest appearance ever by this most illustrious of all string quartets specializing in contemporary music. I got to chat with founder and first violinist Irvine Arditti on Flotation Device to hear his take on the program selection, the quartet’s 52-year history, his own path to a career devoted to exploratory music, and his perspective and outlook on the state of the avant-garde in 2026. Watch the interview at:

https://tinyurl.com/ArdittiInterview

You can also listen to the full broadcast program (including musical selections) in podcast format at https://tinyurl.com/IrvineArditti by @radioeclectus

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REPOST from @Flotation_Device_KBCS:
Tonight we prep for our most exciting new music week of the year, headlined by the Arditti Quartet's first ever appearance in Seattle. We’ll chat with the legendary group's founder and first violinist Irvine Arditti about its history, its selections for the @MeanyCenter performances (which range from Beethoven to Berg, Ligeti, Ferneyhough, Clarke and a Durand world premiere), and his personal route to a career in the avant-garde, as well as his perspective and outlook at the sprightly age of 73. We’ll also preview @SeattleChamberOrchestra’s centenary celebration of Feldman and Kurtág, as well as upcoming @EarshotJazz appearances by Jessica Lurie, Anna Webber and John Hollenbeck. A 50th anniversary look at a Takemitsu orchestral gem (spiced with a whiff of German waltz) rounds out the program.

Sunday, October 11, 10pm–Midnight PDT (GMT -7), on 91.3 @KBCS Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma (streaming at KBCS.FM). Available in podcast format (with HQ audio) at Mixcloud.com. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.
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Photo credits: Arditti Quartet (Ashot Sarkissjan, Irvine Arditti, Lucas Fels, Ralf Ehlers) by Manu Theobald, Brian Ferneyhough: String Quartet No. 3, Joël-François Durand by Steve Korn, George (Chiquita Magic, @AKWebber, Sarah Rossy, John Hollenbeck) by T.J. Huff, @SaxophoneJess via Key Leaves, Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, Tōru Takemitsu by Kiyotane Hayashi, Irvine Arditti and György Ligeti by Garth Knox, Morton Feldman by Joe Traver.

With Fred Frith, Jason Hoopes, Jordan Glenn, Aki Takahashi, @Kronos_Quartet, @DavidHarrington49, John Sherba, Hank Dutt, Joan Jeanrenaud, @Chicago_Wind_Project, @ILaubrock, @YumaSax, @MRRyanEaster, @DoYeonMusic, Chris Tordini, @SmithChes, @TokyoMetropolitanSymphony, @QuatuorMolinari1, @OlgaRanzenhofer, @PierreAlainBouvrette, @Aaron_Nevezie, Nannnnni, @HansaStudios and @Judith_Sherman on the @Kairos_HNE, @SonyMusic, @OuthereMusic, @ATMA_Classique, @NonesuchRecords, JVC, @Intakt_Records, @OutOfYourHeadRecords and @NaiveRecords labels. by @radioeclectus

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Last night pianist Lucian Ban sat down with host Michael Schell to talk about his Transylvanian Dance project with violist Mat Maneri, and their October 9 performance at Seattle’s Earshot Jazz Festival. Other topics include his Elevation and Oedipe Redux projects, and his unusual career path from Cluj, Romania to the Downtown New York free improv scene. Check out our tidy 14-minute conversation at:

https://tinyurl.com/LucianBan

Tune into Flotation Device every Sunday night 10pm–Midnight Pacific Time on 91.3 @KBCS Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma, and on demand in podcast format at https://tinyurl.com/FlotationDevice. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world. by @radioeclectus

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REPOST from @Flotation_Device_KBCS:
Tonight we celebrate Steve Reich's 90th birthday with one classic process-driven masterpiece plus one later, lesser-known work that showcases his interest in speech melody. We’ll assess his stature among the OGs of minimalism and among American composers in general. And we’ll contrast his beat-driven style with the sparser pseudo-repetitions in Morton Feldman’s Palais de Mari (preparatory to its October 7 traversal at @MeanyCenter by pianist Cristina Valdés). We'll also begin our Earshot Jazz Festival coverage with a preview of Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri’s Transylvanian Dance performance on October 9, including an exclusive interview with Lucian that delves into his unusual background as a Romanian-born, New York-based Downtown jazz pianist, and his approach to using Bartók’s famous field recordings of Eastern European folk music as an improvisational starting point.

Sunday, October 4, 10pm–Midnight PDT (GMT -7), on 91.3 @KBCS Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma (streaming at KBCS.FM). Available in podcast format (with HQ audio) at Mixcloud.com. Creative and improvised music from the Northwest and around the world with host Michael Schell.
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Photo credits: @Lucian__Ban and @ManeriMat perform Transylvanian Dance, Steve Reich by Jeff Herman, young Reich riding a New York tricycle, Four Organs (Philip Glass, @NicoMuhly, @David.Cossin.52, @TimoAndres, Reich) by Stephanie Berger, Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri by Bogui Jazz, Reich and @MTilsonThomas via the artists, Pendulum Music (with @Richard.Serra, James Tenney, Reich, @BruceNaumanArt, Michael Snow) by Richard Landry, Béla Bartók transcribing a field recording.

Featuring @DJSpooky_official, John Surman, Paul Hillier, @ArsNovaCopenhagen, @EnsembleModern, @PeterRundel, Orkest de Volharding, @MivosQuartetFour, @HolstSinfonietta_OperaFactory, Klaus Simon, Martin Demmler, Steffen Schleiermacher, @Harding.Alex, @Mr.JDAllen, Bob Stewart, @DerrekCPhillips, @RalphGrierson, Roger Kellaway, Tony Raney, @KilgoreStudios, @Preben_Iwan and Steve Reich and Musicians on @NonesuchRecords, @ECM_Records, @EMIRecords, @SunnysideRec, @CantaloupeNY, @NaxosUSA, @ModeRecordsInc and @DGClassics. by @radioeclectus

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REPOST from @Flotation_Device_KBCS:
Tonight we hang out with Henry Threadgill and his two new albums: one with Vijay Iyer, the other with his Zooid band which—like Flotation Device—is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. We’ll also hear from Northwest standouts Wayne Horvitz, Robin Holcomb and Marc Barreca, sample the latest from Anna Clyne (in a holiday mood), Beatriz Ferreyra (the doyenne of French acousmatic music) and Simon Nabatov (channeling his inner Ustvolskaya), and continue our exploration of Heiner Goebbels’ unsentimental setting of Thoreau’s Walden. We'll preview an upcoming Bonnie Whiting percussionist recital that will feature timely themes from Ancient Greece. And our “50 years ago in the avant-garde” feature will pay tribute to Thea Musgrave’s early and experimental Rorate Coeli.

It’s the last week of KBCS's Fall Fund Drive, our most crucial time of year financially. If you have the means, we sincerely hope you will support Flotation Device's loyal home by browsing online to KBCS.FM and contributing whatever you can. Thanks!

Sunday, September 27, 10pm–Midnight PDT (GMT -7), on 91.3 @KBCS Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma (streaming at KBCS.FM). Available in podcast format at Mixcloud.com. Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell.
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Photo credits: Iannis Xenakis via @AmisDeXenakis, Fifteen (Dafnis Prieto, @HenryThreadgill, @VijayIyer) by Michael Wilson, Robin Holcomb and @WayneHorvitz by Lisa Hagen Glynn, @TheaMusgrave by Bryan Sheffield, Bonnie Whiting via the artist, Anna Clyne by Christina Kernohan, @SimonNabatov by Florian Ross, Heiner Goebbels by Olimpia Orlova, @MarcBarreca via the artist, Beatriz Ferreyra by @INAgrm.

With @LibertyEllman, Jose Davila, @ChristopherHoffmann, @ElliotHumbertoKavee, @DanaLeongMusic, @EnsembleModern, @AngelikaNiescier, @PascalKlewer, @ShannonKBarnett, @RogerKintopf, @AlexParzhuber, @LondonPhilharmonicOrchestra, Christian Karlsen, @ElenaDubinets, @NewYorkVirtuosoSingers, @Harold.Rosenbaum @MiroQuartet, @RenePierreAllain and @ScholesStreetStudio on @NonesuchRecords, @PiRecordings, @ModeRecordsInc, @LyritaRecords, @ECM_Records, @PentatoneMusic, @Room40Shoots and @NewFocusRecordings. by @radioeclectus

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REPOST from @Flotation_Device_KBCS:
Broody music takes the spotlight tonight as we explore works inspired by Samuel Beckett and Albrecht Dürer. We’ll contrast Charles Dodge’s realization of Beckett’s Cascando (made using 70s-era synthesized speech) with Trevor Bača's new rendition of Stirrings Still with narrator Paul Griffiths and the @JACKQuartet. We'll follow the Irish connection to Donnacha Dennehy's new piano concerto “Limina”, while Harrison Birtwistle covers Dürer with his clarinet concerto Melencolia I (named for the master's famous allegorical engraving). The late Phill Niblock continues the clarinet focus in the premiere recording of a work for multitracked bass clarinets, while Geof Bradfield and Ben Goldberg lead a double-clarinet quartet with Myra Melford and Dana Hall. Wadada Leo Smith and Angelika Niescier offer their own all-star trios. We’ll celebrate Ned Rothenberg’s cross-cultural music for his 70th birthday, while revisiting Morton Feldman’s obscure piece Orchestra for its 50th. A new solo cello composition by Salvatore Sciarrino extends Feldman’s flirtation with silence, while Ming Tsao adds a dissonant line to Bach’s Two-Part Inventions and Birtwistle does likewise with a Machaut ballade. Cheer-Accident unveils their first live album ever, and the premiere recording of a colorful orchestral work by the underrated 20th century composer Elsa Barraine rounds out this wide-ranging program.

Sunday, September 13, 10pm–Midnight PDT (GMT -7), on 91.3 @KBCS Bellevue/Seattle/Tacoma (streaming at KBCS.FM). Available in podcast format (with HQ audio) at Mixcloud.com. Creative and improvised music with host Michael Schell.
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Photo credits: Samuel Beckett by John Haynes, @CheerAccident via the artists, Elsa Barraine by Boris Lipnitzki, @DonnachaDennehy by Hugh O’Conor, magic square from Dürer: Melancholia I, Wadada Leo Smith by Phil Penman, Chicago Tapes (Luke Stewart, @AngelikaNiescier, Nicole Mitchell, Mike Reed) via @Intakt_Records, Ming Tsao by Markus Sepperer, Sync (Jerome Harris, @Ned.Rothenberg, Samir Chatterjee) via the artists, Harrison Birtwistle by @MitoSettembreMusica, Feldman via @ModeRecordsInc. by @radioeclectus

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This is Dolma, from the village of Syabru, who Lauren and I met in 1997. It's uphill from the similarly-named town of Syabrubesi ("besi" means base/gateway in Nepali), where Lauren and I emerged from this trek in Nepal's Langtang region and which was largely destroyed in the flash flood along the Trisuli River. Both villages are predominately populated by Tamangs, one of the most prominent hill tribes, known to tourists for their traditional role as porters. They’ve tended to live in the shadow of the far less numerous Sherpas from the Solu Khumbu region who outrank them in the Nepalese social order, working as guides rather than as porters and speaking better English while practicing a more rarefied variety of Tibetan Buddhism than the Tamang’s unique religion that’s centered on shamanism but draws elements from both Buddhism and Nepalese Hinduism. I was astonished to follow a shaman in Syabru as he conducted the annual home blessing for a lodge-owner there. And later that day it was Dolma who led us on a tour of her town, ending up at the primary school where Lauren took this photo, which she later cited to help convince me to start our own family.

Tamang music culture is as distinctive as their religion. I remember overhearing an astonishing antiphonal song at the Jana Bahal in Kathmandu that was sung by a small group of men and women whose parts alternated and were completely different in style: the men’s was a slow and relatively straightforward chorale, answered by lively, irregular scalar lines from a solo female voice joined at the end by the other women in a four-note cadential formula.

If you’re in the Northwest, there’ll be a candlelight vigil for the flood victims this evening in Renton, organized by @NepalSeattleSociety. They’ve also been sending over relief funds through their charity, if you're able to help financially. Visit their Instagram page for more information.

Nepal is always in my thoughts—its scenery, culture, and the diversity and hospitality of its people—but especially so right now. by @radioeclectus

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