Spring concert, conversation features So Percussion

Sō Percussion kicks off the spring season with a concert on April 13 at the Oats Park Art Center. In addition to the center beginning a 8 p.m., a free conversation with the artists is at 3 p.m.

The box office, Art Bar and galleries open at 7 p.m., with the performance beginning one hour later.

Tickets are $17 for members, $20 for nonmembers. Tickets are available at Jeff’s Copy Express, ITT at Naval Air Station Fallon or call the Churchill Arts Center at 775-423-1440.

Sō Percussion has redefined the scope and vital role of the modern percussion ensemble with innovative multi-genre original productions, sensational interpretations of modern classics, and an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam,” says The New Yorker.

Sō’s repertoire ranges from “classics” of the 20th century by John Cage, Steve Reich and Iannis Xenakis to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers such as Caroline Shaw, David Lang, Steve Mackey and Paul Lansky. They also compose and perform their own works, ranging from standard concert pieces to immersive multi-genre programs.

The Oats Park Art Center is opening two new exhibits on Saturday.

Michelle Osman’s “I Saw Above Me That Endless Skyway” features paintings of Big Sky Country. An artist’s talk and reception for Osman is Saturday from 5-7 p.m., and her talk begins at 5:30 p.m. in the E. L. Wiegand Gallery.

Osman’s exhibition runs through July 13.

Exclusive sponsorship for this exhibition has been provided by the E. L. Wiegand Foundation.

“My paintings are temporal narratives that capture and create a moment,” Osman said in her biography. “They draw from, build upon and illustrate subjects and ideas of our cultural history. For me the subject must refer to something over and beyond its manifest self; the poignancy of headlights under the storm; the details and flesh of our inner emotions; our imagined selves. I use the figure to convey the emptiness of a night, the blue solitude of being submerged.”

Osman grew up in Costa Rica but now her eyes turn to the western skies in Montana.

“The storm clouds that roll across the valley are powerful, orchestral and intangible,” she said. “They build above our oblivious lives reminding me of our relationship to mother nature as she diminishes our scale and makes us insignificant.”

The Wedge Ceramics Studio presents selected works by studio artists from Saturday to July 13 in the Kirk Robertson Gallery. A reception for the artists will be May 4 from 5-7 p.m.