tuning the air history:
performances
The final performance of Tuning the Air took place on Thursday December 15, 2011. Here is how we got there:
2005: Feb 21, first trial run, “An Evening of Music for Large Guitar Ensemble”
2005: Apr 11-Dec 26, TTA 1-38, 38 Mondays (without fail - see below) at Trinity Church.
2006: Mar 06-Dec 18, TTA 39-80, 42 Mondays at Trinity Church.
2007: Feb 19-Jul 2, TTA 81-100, 20 Mondays at Trinity Church.
2007: Sep 10-Oct 8, TTA 101-105, 5 Mondays at Trinity Church
2007: Oct 15-Dec 15, TTA 106-115, 10 Mondays at Capitol Hill Arts Center
2008: Apr 4-Jul 21, TTA 116-130, 15 Mondays at Fremont Abbey Arts Center (Café)
2008: Sep 18-Dec 11, TTA 131-141, 11 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Café)
2009: Feb 5-Jun 25, TTA 142-162, 21 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Café)
2009: Sep 24-Dec 17, TTA 163-173, 11 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Great Hall)
2010: Apr 15-Jul 1, TTA 174-185, 12 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Great Hall)
2010: Oct 7-Dec 16, TTA 186-195, 10 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Great Hall)
2011: Feb 10-Jun 30, TTA 196-215, 15 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Great Hall)
2011: Oct 6-Dec 15, TTA 216-225, 10 Thursdays at Fremont Abbey (Great Hall)
Notes:
Performing “every week, without fail” was an explicit part of our mission. There were a couple of exceptions:
In 2007, the third year of the run, we began splitting the year into two “seasons”. This gave us a few weeks break around New Years, and a second one in the Summer, during which we could step back to implement revisions to the show, as well as giving us time bring in and rehearse new material.
When we moved the show to Thursdays in 2008, we made the decision not to schedule performances on Thanksgiving.
Our one and only ever canceled show was Dec 18, 2008, due to a blizzard that shut Seattle down (a rarity here!)
On Oct 29, 2009, Tuning the Air relinquished its scheduled performance in order to host and perform with Robert Fripp and the Orchestra of Crafty Guitarists in the Great Hall at Fremont Abbey Arts Center.
tuning the air history:
company members
Over the 7-year run of Tuning the Air many people contributed. Some were there from the beginning. Others were with us for a period of time, and then moved on. Some were involved full-time. Others were available on call. Players. Dancers. Lighting. Sound. Recording. Staging. House. Management. Direction. Promotion. Every one essential. Of the 10 guitarists who performed in show #0, 7 were still with the company and performed in show #225, the final performance of Tuning the Air.
Mary Beth Abel
Igor Abuladze
Micah Arvey
Sandra Bain Cushman
Igor Bekker
Ian Bessler
Jaxie Binder
Andrew Boscardin
Andy Boyd
Jim Breslin
Robin Brezinski
Tobin Buttram
Charles Corley
Sruti Desai
Trey Donovan
Christina Florkowski
Darlene Franz
Dhyana Garcia
Tony Geballe
Carl Martí Germain
Chris Gibson
Meleah Gibson
Hank Hadeed
Dean Jensen
David Lavallee
Gene Lee
Andrew McNutt
Greg Meredith
Stani Meredith
Travis Metcalf
JT Milhoan
Aimee Page
Joel Palmer
Ingrid Pape-Sheldon
Elisabeth Perrin
Bill Rieflin
Frank Sheldon
Taylor Sherman
Howard Snyder
Rob Taylor
Steve Turnidge
Miles Weishampel
Zachariah Weissman
Ryan Wik
Robert Williams
tuning the air history:
repertoire
These are the pieces that were performed:
49 Notes (Golden)
Aquarela do Brasil (Barroso)
Asturias (Lams)
B Minor Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Bach)
B Minor Prelude from the Well-Tempered Clavier (Bach)
Batrachomyomachy (Geballe)
Blockhead (Richards)
Bloed Spoed (Binder/Williams)
The Bus Artist (Abuladze/Metcalf)
Butterfly (Gibson)
Cajun Song (TBD)
Candor (SGC Improv)
Chacarera (Richards)
Chanson de Mardi Gras (traditional)
Chiara (Lams)
The Children's Hour (Ives)
Children's Song #1 (Corea)
Children's Song #4 (Space Circus, Part I) (Corea)
A Connecticut Yankee in the Court of King Arthur (Gavin)
The Crossing (Buttram)
Cultivating the Beat (Williams)
A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney, arranged: Gibson)
Deserted (TBD, possibly Gibson)
Driving Force (Fripp)
Eleanor Rigby (Lennon/McCartney, arranged: Gibson)
Etude (Walton)
Eve (Lams/Moriya/Richards)
Eye of the Needle (Fripp)
Fallout (Gibson)
five Five FIVE (Zappa)
Fragments of Skylab (Russino)
Geographical Fugue (Toch)
Giga (Corelli)
Gnossienne (Satie)
Growing Circle (Schwutke)
Hanging Gardens, Hanging Man (TBD, possibly Meredith)
Horn Up Your Ass (Guitar Craft traditional)
How Many Times? (Binder/Williams)
I Am The Walrus (Lennon/McCartney, arranged: Gibson)
I Will (Lennon/McCartney)
Ikada-Jima (Gibson)
In My Room (Wilson/Usher, arranged: Williams)
Invocation (Rieflin)
Kashmir/Led Zeppelin Mashup (Page/Plant/Bonham/Jones, arranged: Abuladze/Metcalf)
King for a Day (Jensen)
La Rueda (Pietrafesa)
Labrynth (Gibson/Metcalf/Snyder)
Lament (Geballe)
Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part II (Fripp)
Little Gangsters (Abuladze/Metcalf)
Little Red Truck (Germain)
Long Ago Today (TBD)
Lylli in Africa (Meredith)
Mad World (Orzabal)
Mars Effect (Bernadini/Williams/Binder)
Melrose Avenue (Moriya)
Mevlevi Greeting (SGC Improv)
Music for a Found Harmonium (Jeffes)
My Precious Dream (Binder)
Neptune (The Mystic) (Holst, arranged: Sherman)
Ninth Guitar E (Williams)
Not My Sharona (Geballe)
Odd Socks (TBD)
One of a Thousand Regrets (Golden)
Onyx (Abuladze)
Ouroborus (Gibson/Meredith/Metcalf/Snyder)
Peace Piece (Evans)
Pipeline (Carman/Spickard)
Prayer of Gratitude 22 (Gurdjieff/de Hartmann)
Prelude (Villa-Lobos)
Prelude from Bach Violin Partita #3 in E Major (Bach)
Prelude XXII in G Minor (Shostakovich)
Return to Paradise (Gibson/Metcalf)
San Justino (Kabusacki)
Scorched Air (Williams)
Sigh and a Kiss (Williams)
Sleep Dirt (Zappa)
Slow Burn (TBD)
Space Zombies! From Outer Space! (Peacock)
Tango Apasionato (Piazzolla)
Thrak (Fripp)
Tico Tico No Fubá (Abreu)
Trapiche (Golden)
Tuning the Air (SGC Improv)
Twilight (Williams)
Two-Part Invention #4 (Bach)
Two-Part Invention #8 (Bach)
Vashon Ferry (Abuladze/Metcalf)
Voices of Ancient Children (Nuñez/Kabusacki)
Vrooom (Belew/Fripp/Gunn/Levin/Bruford/Mastelotto)
Wedgewood Blue (Abuladze/Metcalf)
Where Is The Nurse? (Geballe)
Where It Goes (Faide/Ball)
The Wig Maker (Gibson)
Plus innumerable:
Circulations
Zithers
Improvisations
About: tuning the air - foreshadowing - show number zero - video
Who What Where When: performances - company members - repertoire