Southern Exposure New Music Series

11/14/2025

Tonight!

Program:

11/14/2025

Tonight! Perfect Lives at the USC School of Music Recital Hall!

11/13/2025

A few photos from tonight's rehearsal for tomorrow's free presentation of Robert Ashley's "Perfect Lives," featuring Ed Madden, Greg Stuart, David Kirkland Garner, and the New Sounds Quartet. This is going to be incredibly fun and trippy! 7:30pm, The University of South Carolina School of Music recital hall.

11/13/2025

The Featured Artist for Friday's concert is Mary Ann Haven ( ) . Come to the show and check out her amazing artwork on display in the School of Music office! Mary writes:

I have been fortunate to have lived in a variety of beautiful places... from the great plains of the Midwest to the mountains of West Virginia. From the Carolina salt marshes to the ten thousand islands of southwest Florida, the beauty of the natural world has informed my inner compass. Time has shown me that my painting practice tends to reflect the emotional balance in my environment. Both realism and non-representational work are present. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in design which I used for 25 years as a self-employed working artist. For the last decade I have spent time exploring what it means to translate the experience of my current environment through paint onto canvas. It has been an unending adventure. Whether I'm working on large murals or small paintings, music has helped carry me through the process. Jazz in particular seems to have the magic necessary to keep the "monkey mind" entertained so that the rest of my attention can stay busy with the creative process of paint, brushes and canvas.

11/12/2025

Spotlight on poet and USC faculty Ed Madden ( ) who is featured as a performer on the upcoming "Perfect Lives" concert, Friday night, 7:30pm, Recital Hall.

11/11/2025

Spotlight on USC faculty Greg Stuart, featured as a performer, improviser, director, and video designer on Robert Ashley's "Perfect Lives" this Friday night!

Stuart is a percussionist celebrated for his work at the intersection of experimental music, improvisation, and electronics. Described by The New York Times as offering “a ghostly, gorgeous lesson in how close, concentrated listening can alter and enhance perception,” Stuart has collaborated extensively with composer Michael Pisaro, including their acclaimed Continuum Unbound trilogy, named one of The Wire’s best albums of 2014. A member of the trio Meridian and frequent collaborator with leading experimental artists, Stuart has performed at major international festivals and venues such as MaerzMusik (Berlin), the Melbourne Festival, Café Oto (London), and REDCAT (Los Angeles). He is Associate Professor of Percussion at the University of South Carolina, where he directs the Experimental Music Workshop.

11/10/2025

Friday night, "Perfect Lives" by Robert Ashley, USC School of Music Recital Hall, 7:30 PM, Free!

We’re honored to feature Ashley (1930–2014), a groundbreaking American composer who redefined opera for the modern age. Known for pioneering “opera-for-television”, he created works that fused speech, music, and media into something entirely new—distinctly American in sound and language. His operas, including Perfect Lives, Atalanta (Acts of God), Now Eleanor’s Idea, Dust, and Celestial Excursions, are hailed as visionary, blending storytelling, technology, and the rhythms of everyday speech. Called “a radical new beginning” for the art form by The Village Voice, Ashley’s influence continues to shape contemporary music and performance. His legacy lives on through recordings on Lovely Music, Ltd. and countless artists inspired by his bold reimagining of what opera can be.

11/05/2025

On Friday, Nov 14 we will present three scenes from Robert Ashley's epic "opera" Perfect Lives, brought to life in the USC School of Music Recital Hall at 7:30 PM by USC faculty Ed Madden, Greg Stuart, and David Kirkland Garner, featuring the New Sounds Graduate String Quartet!

Check out Ashley's original TV production of Perfect Lives: 1. The Park (Privacy Rules) from 1983

These are songs about the Corn Beltand some of the people in it... or on it.http://www.robertashley.org/productions/1977-83-perfectlives.htmhttp://www.ubu.co...

09/22/2025

Thanks to the amazing Splinter Reeds and guest composer Stefan Freund for a superb concert Friday night! Wonderful, dynamic ensemble playing of a totally engaging program. And it was so great to bring a couple of series director Mike Harley's Alarm Will Sound BFFs from one Columbia to another!

09/05/2025

Our first show of the 2025-26 season features the all-star wind quintet Splinter Reeds (alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe and bassoon). Works are by Mario Godoy, Cara Haxo, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Aaron Mencher, Stefan Freund and Paula Matthusen.
This free concert – no tickets or reservations required, general admission seating – is on Friday, September 19 in the USC School of Music Recital Hall, 813 Assembly St., Columbia.
The program also features visual art by Columbia painter Susan Hansen Staves.

09/02/2025

Southern Exposure's 2025-26 Season, "Visions" - SAVE THE DATES!
All FREE concerts Fridays @7:30pm in the USC School of Music Recital Hall.

September 19, 2025 - Splinter Reeds, with music by Godoy, Haxo, Nourbakhsh, Mencher, Freund, and Matthusen
November 14, 2025 - Scenes from Robert Ashley's "Perfect Lives," feat. Greg Stuart, David Kirkland Garner, and Ed Madden
January 30, 2026 - Donnacha Dennehy's "Tessellatum," feat. Nadia Sirota and Gabriel Cabezas
March 20, 2026 - John Zorn's "The Holy Visions," with an all-star quintet of five female vocalists.

04/16/2025

Great photos from our recent performance of John Luther Adams’ Inuksuit!