Celebrate the birthday of jazz composer

Submitted by the Salish Sea New Music

Celebrate composer William O. “Bill” Smith’s 92 birthday at 7 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 4 at Brickworks in Friday Harbor during the event “New Music by William O. Smith.”

This groundbreaking jazz clarinetist and composer has written new works which will be premiered by the composer, flutist Jeffrey Cohan and violinist Sharyn Peterson. Other works written for the occasion include those by Seattle composer Huntley Beyer and Slovenian composer Igor Dekleva (Ljubljiana).

Suggested donations for the event are $15, $20 or $25. Those 18 and under are free. For more information, visit www.salishseafestival.org/newmusic.

World premieres by Smith include “Session” for clarinet, flute and violin; “Jazz Set” for flute and violin and “Five Pages” for solo violin, “It’s Personal” by Huntley Beyer and “Nostalgic Fantasy” by Igor Dekleva (Slovenia). The latter two were written for Smith, Cohan and Peterson for this performance.

Smith is well known — not only to Northwest audiences — but to jazz fans and clarinetists throughout the world. A founding member of the Dave Brubeck Octet, Smith pioneered the use of contemporary techniques on clarinet in the 1960s and has continued to experiment with them throughout his life, both in his jazz improvisation and classical composition. Smith was a professor of clarinet, composition and contemporary music at the University of Washington for 30 years.

Peterson is artistic director and conductor of the Mount Baker and Fidalgo Youth Symphonies and has brought young musicians to Finland, China, Ireland and other countries with these organizations. Founder and director of the Peterson Conservatory in Mount Vernon, she is artistic director and conductor of Summer Sounds Music Festival; co-founded Skagit Opera in 2004; and has directed the chamber music series “Music for a Starry Night” at the historic Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon since 1995. Cohan directs the Salish Sea Early Music Festival, the Black Hawk Chamber Music Festival in the Midwest and the Capitol Hill Chamber Music Festival in Washington, D.C.; and has performed as a soloist in 25 countries.

This inaugural performance of the Salish Sea New Music represents the organization’s mission to reflect important currents of contemporary musical expression in chamber music, from the present moment as well as the past century, featuring notable composers and performers from the region and abroad.