You're just itching to hear something new and cool, aren't you? Well, you're in luck this week -- two of Baltimore's most ambitious organizations are offering programs on successive nights.
Tuesday finds the Evolution Contemporary Music Series at An die Musik focusing on the solo instrument and chamber works of New York-based clarinetist and composer Derek Bermel. See below for a sampling of intriguing works that will be on the concert -- Bermel performing his clarinet piece "Thracian Sketches"; and a string sextet with violist Victoria Chiang, violinist Jennifer Herrera and others rehearsing Bermel's "Soul Garden" for the program.
Pianists Stephen Gosling and Lura Johnson and flutist Tara Helen O'Connor are among the other musicians participating in Tuesday's concert.
Wednesday brings another Mobtown Modern presentation at The Windup Space, this one featuring violinist Todd Reynolds and -- hold on --
a dozen robots. The mechanical instruments, including a GuitarBot, are the products of LEMUR (League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots), an innovative group that has widened the playing field for Pat Metheny and others.
In this concert, Reynolds will perform some music interactively with his robotic friends and also turn the stage over to them to play works he wrote for this event. At least on a Wednesday night in Baltimore in March, you can't get too much cooler than that, can you?
PHOTO COURTESY OF MOBTOWN MODERN