Classical

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Fidelio Trio “While the tonal system, in an atrophied or vestigial form, is still used today in popular and commercial music, and even occasionally in the works of backward-looking serious composers, it is no longer employed by serious composers of the mainstream. It has been replaced or succeeded by the 12-tone system.” This imperious admonition earned composer Charles Wuorinen no friends when he dropped it on the first page of the first chapter of his 1979 textbook Simple Composition. For decades (he’s 76), Wuorinen has held aloft the banner of modernism at its most uncompromising and cantankerous. What does his own music sound like? Well, the 1983 Piano Trio-which the Fidelio Trio is playing tonight-is as gnarly as the above edict suggests, but nowhere near as dry. Dazzling rather than recondite, its 10 minutes sweep along with an exhilarating rhythmic life; the violin, cello, and piano seem to sideswipe and strike sparks off one another as they hurtle forward. Sponsored by the Washington Composers Forum, the Fidelio will also play music by Johannes Maria Staud, Donnacha Dennehy, and John Harbison. GAVIN BORCHERT Chapel Performance Space (Good Shepherd Center), 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. $5-$15 Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 8 – 9pm

DXARTS New work from UW’s Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media. Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, UW Campus, Seattle, WA 98105 $12-$20 Thursday, November 13, 2014, 7:30pm

Seattle Symphony A musical voice new to Seattle: Colors of the Southern Cross by Argentine composer Esteban Benzecry, plus favorites by Mendelsohn and Mussorgsky. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 13; 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 15; 2 p.m. Sun., Nov. 16. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20-$120 Thursday, November 13, 2014, 7:30pm

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Anthony de Mare It sounds ridiculous to say Stephen Sondheim’s music hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves; he’s the most admired and honored showtune-maker of the past half-century. But I mean his music as music, not with all those distracting lyrics. The harmonic subtleties even of a song as familiar as “Send in the Clowns” can get lost coming from a theater pit. So probably it’ll be revelatory for even the most devoted Sondheimians to hear his songs as pianist de Mare presents them: He commissioned 36 composers-among them Steve Reich, William Bolcom, Wynton Marsalis, and ex-Bainbridge Islander Jherek Bischoff-to, as he calls it, “re-imagine” (rather than merely arrange) Sondheim favorites as solo concert pieces. The selection de Mare will perform tonight includes not only “Clowns,” but gems from Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park With George, Follies, and more. GAVIN BORCHERT Cornish Playhouse at Seattle Center, Seattle Center $20-$32 Thursday, November 13, 2014, 8 – 9pm

People. Make. Awesome. Explorations in the collaboration of dance and music-or rather, movement and sound-from three pairs of artists. Chapel Performance Space (Good Shepherd Center), 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. $5-$15 Thursday, November 13, 2014, 8pm

Jon Kimura Parker Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata, plus piano fantasies based on Hitchcock scores and The Wizard of Oz.

Meany Hall for the Performing Arts, UW Campus, Seattle, WA 98105 $10-$45 Friday, November 14, 2014, 7:30pm

Northwest Sinfonietta Julian Schwarz plays the cello concerto written for him by Seattle composer Samuel Jones. Benaroya Recital Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20-$40 Friday, November 14, 2014, 7:30pm

The Symphony Guild Mateo Messina’s 17th annual benefit concert for Children’s Hospital. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $44-$202 Friday, November 14, 2014, 7:30pm

Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra Bach, Elgar, Mozart, and a piece by Seattle composer Angelique Poteat. First Free Methodist Church, 3200 Third Ave. W., Seattle $10-$15 Friday, November 14, 2014, 8pm

Seattle Wind Symphony Light classics for band. First Free Methodist Church, 3200 Third Ave. W., Seattle $5-$20 Saturday, November 15, 2014, 7:30pm

Seattle Modern Orchestra Music by UW faculty composer Huck Hodge, plus Boulez and Murail. Chapel Performance Space (Good Shepherd Center), 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. $10-$20 Saturday, November 15, 2014, 8pm

Seattle Symphony A musical voice new to Seattle: Colors of the Southern Cross by Argentine composer Esteban Benzecry, plus favorites by Mendelsohn and Mussorgsky. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 13; 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 15; 2 p.m. Sun., Nov. 16. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20-$120 Saturday, November 15, 2014, 8pm

Suzie LeBlanc From this soprano, with instrumental ensemble Constantinople, music by pioneering 17th-century woman composer Barbara Strozzi. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 $27-$45 Saturday, November 15, 2014, 8pm

Seattle Symphony A musical voice new to Seattle: Colors of the Southern Cross by Argentine composer Esteban Benzecry, plus favorites by Mendelsohn and Mussorgsky. 7:30 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 13; 8 p.m. Sat., Nov. 15; 2 p.m. Sun., Nov. 16. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle, WA 98101 $20-$120 Sunday, November 16, 2014, 2pm

Cornish Early Music Faculty Baroque sonatas and opera arias. PONCHO Concert Hall (Cornish College), 710 E. Roy St., Seattle WA 98102 $10-$32 Sunday, November 16, 2014, 7pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, November 16, 2014, 9:30pm

Gordon Mumma A lecture/demo from this electronic-music pioneer and Merce Cunningham collaborator. PONCHO Concert Hall (Cornish College), 710 E. Roy St., Seattle WA 98102 Free Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 1pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, November 23, 2014, 9:30pm

Compline Services A half-hour meditation each week with the eight-voice Renaissance Singers. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, 1245 10th Ave. E. Free Sunday, November 30, 2014, 9:30pm