Wild Shore New Music: Season Thirteen
Homer * Anchorage * Fairbanks * Sept 23 - Oct 3, 2026
Wild Shore New Music's thirteenth season foregrounds Indigenous and Alaskan voices through interdisciplinary collaboration, improvisational practice, and chamber music as a site of cultural dialogue.Our mainstage program, a collaboration with Alaskan singer-songwriters, musicians, and filmmakers, presents a multidisciplinary work in three parts. The first part centers on Ahtna Athabascan and Iñupiaq songwriter Quinn Christopherson, winner of NPR's 2019 Tiny Desk Contest. Christopherson reimagines his songs for chamber ensemble and co-creates a new work with Wild Shore's ensemble.
The second part pairs live music with experimental films by Alaskan filmmaker Michael Walsh, including Braking Breath (35mm silent color film) and a re-edited mashup of rescued 1970s 16mm educational films from the Alaskan school district, recontextualized into 21st-century motifs. Wild Shore has commissioned composer Matt Evan to reimagine his work Still Live to accompany Braking Breath.
The final part brings together all of Wild Shore's artists for the early stages of a larger work-in-progress, combining film, composition, and improvisation. It features a birch-wood violin made by Christopherson's great-grandfather, Frank Hobson, known as "The Eskimo Violin Maker."
WILD SHORE ENSEMBLE:
Katie Cox, flute
Andie Tanning, violin
Eleonore Oppenheim, bass
Sean Dowgray, percussion
With singer-songwriter Quinn Christopherson and filmmaker Michael Walsh.
PERFORMANCES:
Bunnell Street Arts Center, Homer, AK; Friday September 25, 2026, door 6:30, concert 7:30 p.m.
The Nave, Anchorage, AK; Tuesday, September 29, 2026, time TBD
Davis Concert Hall, The Circumpolar Music Series, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Saturday, October 3, 2026, time TBD
The second part pairs live music with experimental films by Alaskan filmmaker Michael Walsh, including Braking Breath (35mm silent color film) and a re-edited mashup of rescued 1970s 16mm educational films from the Alaskan school district, recontextualized into 21st-century motifs. Wild Shore has commissioned composer Matt Evan to reimagine his work Still Live to accompany Braking Breath.
The final part brings together all of Wild Shore's artists for the early stages of a larger work-in-progress, combining film, composition, and improvisation. It features a birch-wood violin made by Christopherson's great-grandfather, Frank Hobson, known as "The Eskimo Violin Maker."
WILD SHORE ENSEMBLE:
Katie Cox, flute
Andie Tanning, violin
Eleonore Oppenheim, bass
Sean Dowgray, percussion
With singer-songwriter Quinn Christopherson and filmmaker Michael Walsh.
PERFORMANCES:
Bunnell Street Arts Center, Homer, AK; Friday September 25, 2026, door 6:30, concert 7:30 p.m.
The Nave, Anchorage, AK; Tuesday, September 29, 2026, time TBD
Davis Concert Hall, The Circumpolar Music Series, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Saturday, October 3, 2026, time TBD
With Gratitude to Our Supporters
Wild Shore's 2026-27 season is presented in partnership with Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, the Anchorage Concert Association, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Wild Shore is grateful for the support of the Atwood Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Curtis-Meares Foundation, the Augustine Foundation, New Music USA, the Richard L & Diane M Block Foundation, the Special Friend Fund, and many other individuals. The Rasmuson Foundation supports Wild Shore through the Harper Arts Touring Fund administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
Wild Shore's 2026-27 season is presented in partnership with Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, the Anchorage Concert Association, and the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Wild Shore is grateful for the support of the Atwood Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Curtis-Meares Foundation, the Augustine Foundation, New Music USA, the Richard L & Diane M Block Foundation, the Special Friend Fund, and many other individuals. The Rasmuson Foundation supports Wild Shore through the Harper Arts Touring Fund administered by the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
