by Jeffery Fracé

by Anne Blackburn

West is a magic realism of baggage. West is all places and no place at all, inhabited by ghosts and mirages, fever dreams and deep thirst, outsized characters for expansive spaces. West has limpid harmonies, broken surfaces, collisions of rustic myths and digital manifestations, spaces that defy themselves. West is what a musical might be if it were allowed to go feral. About time.

If you're going to call yourself "Awesome," you'd better have a good sense of humor or be very, very good. "Awesome," the seven-piece Seattle band/performance troupe, doesn't take itself too seriously. And they've definitely got the skills to match the lofty status their name implies.

Here's what some local publications are saying about the past weekend at OtB:

Zach Carstensen posted some more background on how Seattle Chamber Players came to find Heiner Goebbels and why this composer is making important waves in the contemporary art scene:

by Steve Peters

Last night, with so much to look at, listen to, and comprehend, I found myself ebb back and forth between both overwhelming curiosity and peaceful enjoyment. Listening to the music of Heiner Goebbels, performed by Seattle Chamber Players and Pacific Musicworks was a mind whirling treat. Three works in length, the show was a smooth transition from a short overture, to an amusing rendition of Monteverdi’s II Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (where I was highly intrigued by the Monty Python –esque character reenactments) to the third, hour long piece by Goebbels.

by Kate Ratcliffe