“The composers show up and they bring their people.” Early in our interview with composer and Fear No Music artistic director Kenji Bunch, the man drops that line in our lap and we think, “dear lord, that’s the whole philosophy right there.” This is how Bunch lives his life–it’s an ethos–we’re all Kenji’s friends, showing up, bringing our people.

We’ve spoken before of Bunch as one of the “Big Four Names in the Oregon School of Composition” (the other three are Nancy Ives, Robert Kyr, and David Schiff). But we’re not here today to talk about Bunch the composer; we’re here to talk with Bunch the impresario, Bunch the artistic director, Bunch the meta-composer. Together with his wife, the extraordinary pianist and FNM executive director Monica Ohuchi, Bunch has been crafting perfect seasons out of other people’s music for eleven seasons. Bunch and Ohuchi built from a place of strength, inheriting a chamber music organization that had already been going strong for decades and taking it to the next level.

So when they announced their upcoming season a couple months back, the present author (a relative newcomer to the FNM fanbase, having attended to Oregon classical music for a mere decade and a half) had this to say:

Fear No Music has done what literally every other “classical” organization in Oregon (except Cascadia Composers) has found impossible: They’re doing a whole season of music by Oregon composers.

Impossible for everyone else, inevitable for FNM. Their prior work has all pointed in this direction, from their album of music by (now former) PSU School of Music & Theater director Bonnie Miksch to their Young Composers Project training program to their annual Locally Sourced Sounds concerts. Indeed, Bunch characterizes the upcoming season as “doubling down” on the “farm to table ethos” of Locally Sourced Sounds.

The season starts this month, with concerts at Reed College on Friday, September 27, and at The Old Church on Monday, September 30, plus the De-Mystifying New Music “performance/discussion experience” at Reed on Sunday morning, September 29. The concert program itself–the first of the five that comprise the season–is titled “Generations” and features music by eight composers across four generations. Let’s go ahead and unpack that.

Representing the Boomers (who, in this case, are better than OK) are Paul Safar and Cynthia Gerdes; both are staples of Cascadia Composers concerts.

From Generation X we have Miksch, already discussed, and Stephen Lewis.

The Millenial contingent is represented by Kimberly Osberg and Kennedy Verrett. The latter is a somewhat recent arrival to Oregon, already known for his film work and his residency at the Lou Harrison House in Joshua Tree, California. And you can hear Osberg’s music next month when New Wave Opera performs her Edgar Allen Poe setting THUMP at their Night of the Living Opera shindig (more about that in a few weeks).

Finally, weighing in for the Zoomers, we have frequent ArtsWatch contributor Charles Rose and Bunch’s PSU student Henry Alexander.

We spoke to Bunch about all of this in August; his answers (and our questions) have been edited for clarity and flow.

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Oregon ArtsWatch: Congrats and thank you for the upcoming Fear No Music season! Can you talk about how this season came about?

Kenji Bunch: Thanks. You know, it seemed like the right time. Since Monica and I took the reins eleven years ago, we started this Locally Sourced Sounds thing. It was one concert every season and it’s always the most fun show. It always feels like there’s a real community because the composers show up and they bring their people and we always have a talk after the music. It’s just really nice. I was talking with Ryan Francis, who is a composer and our board president, and Ryan also likes Locally Sourced Sounds, but he’s heard that there are some composers who wish they could get on the program and it got me thinking, well, why don’t we just blow it open and fit as many people as we can just to kind of show that we mean it?

We want to support this vibrant ecosystem of creativity here. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that it’s an unusually fertile area for composing.

And there’s a lot of enthusiasm about it. I think–this is my theory, and you can feel free to refute this–there’s this DIY ethos that comes from the pioneer spirit out here in the West. Let’s figure out how to build a log cabin. You sort of learn as you go. And I noticed that coming back here from New York–there was less reluctance for people to just put themselves out publicly with their own creativity. A lot of other places have more of a certain traditional path where you go through this conventional music education to get to a point where you’re perceived as having the authority to put yourself out there creatively. You have to jump through these certain hoops. And it feels like here there’s less concern with that. And so people are like, “I wrote this piece of music, because why wouldn’t I?” And that’s really something I think is admirable.

KB: I’ve done a lot of thinking in the last few years, as everyone in positions like mine has, about gatekeeping, and whose music is allowed on the concert stage. And I like to think that Fear No Music has gotten a little ahead of the curve on that. We’ve committed to our equity for a number of years now and we’ve been really looking to bring music from all corners of the earth and a lot of different underrepresented communities, and it made sense to take that same enthusiasm and just really elevate what’s going on around here, and take the whole year to do that.

OAW: A few years ago when we were talking about your concerts with all Black composers, you mentioned that the problem wasn’t finding enough music, it was that there was too much. Could you talk about how you first cast the net initially for this season, and how you narrowed that down to the things that you’d actually do?

KB: Well, one thing about Locally Sourced Sounds that has kind of happened naturally is the intergenerational aspect to it. We have our Young Composers Project program, where we’re trying to nurture young composers and put on a premiere of their first works. And that’s a flagship program for Fear No Music. But with the performing ensemble, I think it’s really important that we don’t get seduced by the new, splashy, young thing on the scene, where you have to be under forty. I can understand there’s an easy marketing angle for that–people are always excited by the shiny new toy–but I think it limits us. And it might not allow us to understand that there are people well over 40 doing really interesting work and have been for years, and if we do a vertical flight where you have music by people from the same place at different points in their lives, you get a really interesting understanding of that place, I think.

One thing I really wanted to achieve with this season was that of course I wanted to bring in some young voices who are just emerging, but I also wanted to have people in mid-career, people who have been working for decades and maybe deserve a little more attention. We’re celebrating David Schiff’s 80th birthday and he’s really been one of the real icons of new music in Portland for a long time. And as much as possible, I want to mix these up so we get old and young in the same program. I’d like for those composers to be able to connect and prepare notes.

And you know, ultimately I think anyone doing what I do wants what’s on stage to reflect who’s in the audience. We have students in the audience, we have middle-aged folks, we have older audience members, and I want everyone there to be able to see someone at a similar point in their lives, possibly telling a similar story that resonates with them. I think that any time you try to say “this is the music of this place” it’s important to not present just one perspective of what that is. You have to show that it’s lots of different things. It’s not just any one thing. And I think it’s okay if by the end of the whole season we’re not any closer to figuring out what music from Portland sounds like than we were at the beginning, because it’s always evolving and diverse, and it doesn’t have to commit to any one definition.

OAW: I see a few Cascadians I know here, notably Paul and Cynthia, and then a few teachers and directors, people like David and Bonnie–could you talk about community and working with other organizations and people who are parts of other organizations and how that overlaps with Fear No Music as an organization?

KB: I’ve learned in this role from other folks in similar roles in similar organizations, like Kathy FitzGibbon at Resonance Ensemble for instance. What she does there is like a masterclass on how to connect with other groups and really build community and connect not only with other performing groups, but align with certain social justice groups. There’s just such a richness to the work they do, spreading themselves out like that. And we’ve done a certain amount of that in recent seasons.

And with this platform of presenting what’s the sort of cross section of what’s going on around these parts I wanted to see if we could help some folks out, like on that concert with David Schiff’s work, I’m positioning work by the new Composer Collective, Raindrop New Music, and I think it’s nice to combine those those two things on the same stage, and say, here’s something, a classic work by someone we all know and love and respect and here’s new work by this emerging, exciting new group, let’s check that out.

We’re doing a concert of all electro-acoustic music. We started that last season, last year–we sort of low-key did an entire season of work by female composers. I say “low-key” because I really didn’t want to promote it like that and wave the flag about how I’m doing this. We called it Headwinds and it was composers who faced adversity in getting their music out there, but I can’t specifically name what that adversity was. It was an entire season of female composers, and one concert was all electroacoustic stuff. Ryan and Nick Emerson (our board vice president and also a composer) were really helpful with that show. They’re really dialed in with the tech aspect of it. And we had a lot of enthusiasm about that concert and wanted to continue doing that and making electronics more a part of our regular chamber music experience, because it’s 2024, it’s like a new thing to do that anymore. I think integrating that more and more is important for us.

So our first concert is this really wide swath of eight composers represented from four different generations, and I think that’s going to be a really fun way to kick off the season. And of course, we’re not able to fit everyone we can think of on these programs. And I hope they understand that that’s not because I don’t think their music is worthy. It’s just that there’s not enough time to do that. And I’m more motivated than ever to continue trying to find new works by composers working here locally to keep promoting.

OAW: Do you have any repeats this season? Material that you’ve performed before? I see a few of these composers are ones whose work you’ve performed in the past.

KB: I don’t think there are any specific works other than there’s this one solo viola piece with David Schiff that he specifically asked if I would play again, that I’ve played a few times and he likes the way I play it and it’s just a fun thing to be able to do for him. So I’ll play that. There’s a cello and piano duo by Cynthia Gerdes, who has been a long time Fear No Music friend. I mean, long, like way before my time. I think Jeff Payne played this piece of hers probably decades ago and he requested that we bring it back. And I thought that made a lot of sense.

Cynthia’s is called Love, Love, Wind, Dust for cello and piano. David’s piece is called Joycesketch II, and that has also been recorded.

OAW: How much of an actual program list do you have for any of these? And are you able to share any of that with our readers?

KB: I’ve found it, especially post-COVID, a little hard to commit to an exact piece with the lineup that’s gonna be there on stage. So there’s always going to be a little wiggle room, I think. But hopefully what I have is what is going to happen. So that first concert, we’ve got Cynthia and Paul and Bonnie. The piece by Bonnie Miksch is the quartet that she wrote for 45th Parallel a few years back. I just found that piece so beautiful and I wanted to hear that again, so we’ll do that. You know, it’s always great when you can commission new work, create new work to put out there in the world, and that’s hugely important for us composers. But there’s also really something to be said for subsequent performances of works that we’ve written, right? Just getting another live performance of a piece–because there are so many of us, myself definitely included, that have a whole lot of shelf space of music that’s performed once and then it just sits there. And I want to help get these works that really deserve another live hearing out there. So that felt like the right thing with that piece.

And I’m really excited about a piece called Change for a Dollar for solo piano by Kennedy Verrett, a really interesting composer who has relocated to these parts recently. I’m just really excited to be able to present his work and have that included.

We’ve got Steve Lewis, who has been for a number of years now part of the Young Composers Project Ensemble. He’s a pianist and a composer, and he’s done great work with our students, and he’s also a really accomplished composer, and we’re going to play a piano quintet of his, which is a fascinating meditation on identity called Citizen Subject.

We programmed a flute/clarinet duo by Kim Osberg last year and it was such great fun, I wanted to include her again this season. Her music is so refreshingly witty and full of character. So we’ll present a suite of very brief miniatures called Extracted Wisdom that she wrote about the singular but unfortunately relatable experience of dental surgery.

I got a piece by our buddy Charles Rose, and that was mainly because I wanted to play it. It’s called For Wayne Shorter, and I just feel like I was meant to play it. I mean, it wasn’t written for me by any means, but it’s something that just feels like it’s in my wheelhouse.

Paul’s piece is Incantation for piano, viola, and cello. And it’s really beautiful and dramatic and it features doubling on percussion, which I’m a huge sucker for. You know, give me a mallet and something to hit, and I’ll be there.

And then lastly, there’s a piano four hands work by my current Portland State student Henry Alexander, called The Customer is Always Right, and it’s a riot. It actually reminds me of stuff back way before. Actually the first time I ever knew anything about Fear No Music, I was commissioned to write something for them back in like 99, and I was still living in New York and I came back here and it was on a program that was called A Piano Riot, and they used to do these concerts of multiple pianos and piano four hands and all this stuff, and it kind of reminds me of that vibe. It’s a really fun, energetic piece for four hands that Monica and Jeff are going to play together.

OAW: This is my last big question, and it’s almost more of a suggestion than a question. But I was wondering if you were planning on recording all of this? And the suggestion is, would you please record all five of these concerts and put them on iTunes and Spotify and release a five CD box set of them on Bandcamp?

KB: Ha! I love that.

OAW: Or if not that, do you have plans at least just to record them and share them? 

KB: Yeah. That’s a great question and an idea that has come up already. Ryan and I have been talking about exactly that. What we want to do is just record and release a ton of stuff and put it out there. We feel like that’s another way we can help. It’s in line with our mission, but more broadly it could be a way to help the music community. And since there are fewer barriers to getting stuff out there these days there’s really no reason not to. But really it comes down to how you really have to make sure all the performers are happy with the performance, and you have to get the composers to sign off on it and make sure all the paperwork is in order. So that kind of thing can often slow it down. But yeah, definitely that’s something we want to do in general with our concerts and specifically with this season, which would, I think, help a lot of people to just have it out there and available. 

OAW: I always think of you guys and Cascadia Composers as being prime candidates for doing something like what Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble does, where you go to their Bandcamp page and they have like seventy albums up, all with beautiful artwork. Oregon doesn’t have anything like New Amsterdam Records, or Nonesuch or whatever. Oregon doesn’t have anything that promotes recordings of Oregonian composer-composers in the classical sense. 

KB: Exactly. Yeah. And this is the exact conversation Ryan and I had. And Fear No Music is the perfect record label name.

OAW: It is!

KB: And that’s what we want to do. I think it’s a little trickier with notated music played by classical musicians. Getting some performers to sign off on a jazz performance is a different animal from, you know, did we really nail this piece enough for it to be out there? And so I think that’s just what goes with the territory in this kind of music, I guess. But yeah, I think it would be so great. And I totally agree it’s something that is needed in this community and it feels like we have the platform to be able to do that.

OAW: I always ask the same last question. What would you ask Kenji Bunch? 

KB: I guess I would probably ask Kenji Bunch “what’s next after this?”–which is such an annoying question because, you know, I always feel like at a premiere of something I’ve written, people will ask me, “what’s next?” Like, can you just chill a moment? Give me a break! So I don’t know yet, but I would say that as a general philosophy, I feel like every year I ask myself what Fear No Music means, because I think it evolves over time. It’s certainly evolved since Jeff and Joel Bluestone started the group. Back when people really were afraid of new music and they thought it was something thorny and unapproachable and they didn’t want to feel lost and uninformed, and people were uncomfortable with it because they didn’t understand it.

That’s changed so much in the last forty years or so, and I credit the Kronos Quartet for a lot of that, and groups like it, that have really turned that whole vibe around so that today, it’s the new work that is what sells a concert. You know, that’s where the real enthusiasm is. So, in recent seasons, we’ve really leaned into promoting work by composers from underrepresented demographics or origins or whatever.

And I think that that work continues for sure. But something that I’ve been getting more and more interested in is pushing the idea of the boundary of what is considered chamber music. You know, we have this core ensemble of classically trained musicians, we have an audience that is mostly expecting–not classical music, but a chamber music experience of mostly acoustic classical instruments. I want to bring in more elements of other kinds of music like hip hop and folk and jazz. And I think there’s work to do there to widen that net for what could be.

My overarching goal has always been to get people to listen to everything with the same ears, and the same attention and respect. And I had a concert I was going to do but it got canceled in the pandemic year that was going to be a concert of country and rap. Because I read about country, rap and classical music being the three most negatively perceived styles of music. I think there’s a lot of potential there to bring in collaborations.