Brilliantly inventive and unabashedly experimental, the music of Raven Chacon invites a living dialogue between composer, performer and listener. With a practice that hovers at the intersection of visual art, installation and contemporary classical music, this award-winning artist from the Navajo Nation’s Fort Defiance uses conceptual graphic scores to dip into colours and timbres from across the spectrum of sound. Influenced by everything from heavy metal to the traditional Diné songs sung by his grandfather, Chacon’s compositions range from string quartets to a harbour symphony for a group of docked ships with fog horns. He has exhibited and performed at Whitney Biennial, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, 18th Biennale of Sydney, The Kennedy Center and more.

The Chan Centre will present digital recordings of three of Chacon’s compositions: American Ledger performed by the UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble led by Rob Taylor; La’ts’aadah performed by violist Marina Thibeault; and Horse Notations performed by Paolo Bortolussi (flute), Jasper Wood and David Gillham (violins), Marina Thibeault (viola), Eric Wilson (cello), and Russell Wallace (drum)