Tickets $12-30
*In-person

Sponsored by BECU. Co-presented with Nonsequitur and Cornish College of the Arts Music Department. Commissioning funds for Uncomfortable Subjects come from Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, 4Culture and City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture.

Samantha Boshnack’s Uncomfortable Subjects is a genre-busting song cycle for a 13-piece ensemble, featuring a wide-ranging cast of some of Seattle’s most exciting musicians and artists. Created during the pandemic, with a delayed premiere, Samantha Boshnack’s Uncomfortable Subjects expands Boshnack’s trademark interlocking grooves and instrumental explorations into complex lyrical and conversational territories.

The project was conceived in February 2020, when Boshnack brought together artist/writer/community builder Natasha Marin and Pushcart Prize-winning poet Jane Wong to engage in two- and three-way correspondences about “uncomfortable subjects.” The resulting project, created during the turbulent ensuing years, embraces challenging topics like race, family trauma, climate crisis, mental illness, covid isolation, and the tensions of making art, charting the artists’ journeys to find peace, strength, and encouragement in a shifting landscape.

Boshnack’s acclaimed previous work has assembled a world-ranging cohort of musical collaborators (Global Concertos, 2016); surfaced historic feminist journalism (Nellie Bly Project, 2017); and explored geologic instability (Seismic Belt Live in Santa Monica, 2019). Her projects include her chamber orchestra B’shnorkestra (Go to Orange, 2013); Sam Boshnack Quintet (Exploding Syndrome, 2014); numerous releases with composers’ collective Alchemy Sound Project and postmodern outfit Reptet; and commissions from Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Karin Stevens Dance, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and Mutual Mentorship for Musicians.

The evening’s performers include: Johnaye Kendrick (voice), Joshua Kohl (conducting),  Alex Guy and Alina To (violin), Heather Bentley (viola), Gretchen Yanover (cello), Carlos Snaider (guitar/percussion), Chris Symer (bass), Chris Credit (tenor saxophone/bass clarinet), Leanna Keith (flute), Bhavani Kotha (oboe), Greg Campbell (percussion/french horn), and  Samantha Boshnack (trumpet/compositions). This performance will also feature live remarks from Jane Wong.

Raisbeck Auditorium is a new performance space at Cornish College of the Arts. Not to be confused with the older Raisbeck Performance Hall next door, the new auditorium is located in the Ivey building on the corner of Lenora St and Boren Ave.

*Earshot Jazz COVID-19 Policy: Earshot recommends that all ticket holders be vaccinated. Policy subject to change. Full COVID policy here.

Samantha Boshnack photo by Emma Wang
Graphic design of project image by Stephen Schildbach