Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia favorites Alash at The Rotunda for two FREE concerts – 2pm and 7pm.

Alash are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Masters of traditional Tuvan instruments as well as the art of throat singing, Alash are deeply committed to traditional Tuvan music and culture. At the same time, they are fans of western music. Believing that traditional music must constantly evolve, the musicians subtly infuse their songs with western elements, creating their own unique style that is fresh and new, yet true to their Tuvan musical heritage.

Admission is FREE/pay-what-you-wish. 

Bowerbird is pleased to present Philadelphia favorites Alash at The Rotunda for two FREE concerts – 2pm and 7pm.

Alash are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömei), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Masters of traditional Tuvan instruments as well as the art of throat singing, Alash are deeply committed to traditional Tuvan music and culture. At the same time, they are fans of western music. Believing that traditional music must constantly evolve, the musicians subtly infuse their songs with western elements, creating their own unique style that is fresh and new, yet true to their Tuvan musical heritage.

Admission is FREE/pay-what-you-wish. 

The Event Horizon concert series features Electronic, Avant Garde, and Experimental music along with the work of live video, laser and analog projection artists. The concerts are always free and open to all.

Vishwanath_GI, aka Italian-born Gianni Intili, has been involved with the fine arts throughout his life. Starting as a painter, color theorist, sculptor and poet, he would infuse his art into architecture, planning and interior design. As a teen, Hendrix guitar riffs and distortions were music to GI; the sound of the Moog as played by Keith Emerson, ecstasy. Jazz Rock Fusion, Prog Rock and Electronic Music, was the music he enjoyed and transmitted in his radio show at FDU 440 AM College Radio. He wanted to play an instrument, but it was not until his early 50’s that he got his first Yamaha keyboard. Guided by many of his seasoned musician friends, that he jammed and learned improvisation. Then he started learning Music and Piano under the tutelage of Andrew Kadin. GI played with SPARSE, an Avant-garde Abstract Quartet who played the MusiXplore Summer Solstice Concert in Paterson NJ, along with ATONAL, Symmetry and ArtCrime. And other side projects like the ‘NONAME’ Trio, the duets of Bellagio and Tremezzo. Gianni is currently involved in a new collaboration ’LA ELECTRONICA‘ with Mario-Enrique Paoli, ‘CANOPUS RESONANCE’ with Ed Clark Cornell, and ME! Aka MONTCLAIR ELECTRIC! with Simon Pride. Gianni is also a founding member and the president of TE-MP0 aka The Electro-Music Performers Organization, a non-profit 501c3 which fosters and promotes the Development of the Electro-Music ethos through the organization and presentation of Live Performances, Seminars, Lectures, Exhibits and gatherings.

https://gi1music.bandcamp.com

https://www.youtube.com/@Giannett0

https://soundcloud.com/gi1-2

Chaka Benson is well known around the Philly electronic and experimental music scene, having many live and recorded appearances in venues such as ICA, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Fire Museum, Philly Contemporary and Bowerbird. His sound leans toward ambient and cinematic, with a huge Hip Hop influence.

Born into a scientific family, music technologist Don Slepian showed both musical and technical talent early in life. He was a tester on the early internet as a member of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Synthesizer Soloist with the Honolulu Symphony and Musical Director of the Honolulu Theater For Youth. He has been presented by WNYC’s “New Sounds” in New York’s Lincoln Center and performed at the Pompidou Center in Paris. He is currently living in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania where he writes and builds instruments.

Admission is FREE

Mini-Conference on “Neighborhood Church Enterprises and Developing Fatih Based Initiatives for Community Development and Concerned Citizens Civic Engagement”  Includes Panels & Workshops

Saturday, April 18, 2026    9am – 2pm

Free and Open to the Public (Donations and Free Will Offerings Encouraged)

Please make reservations: 267-314-9483 or hendersonmbrian@gmail.com

Convener:  Reverend Dr. Maurice Henderson

Founder, National Faith Based Training Institute, Center for Neighborhood Church Enterprises and School Age Ministries

Executive Director, Alternative Learning Institutes and Family Development Centers

Former Appointee to the U.S. Dept Education (under President Biden)

Agenda:

* How your church members can obtain free or low cost products, goods. services or procure financial support of over $10,000 annually.

* Access to plenty of grants and other financing resource development.

* Details for congregation members to start their own businesses

* Community Benefits: Processing donor options, inkind giving, capital campaign building, and financial contributions for your group, associations or institutions

* Obtaining Staffing, Volunteers, Service Learners, Interns, etc

* Tips for Financial Literacy, Savings Success and the Intergenerational Distribution of Wealth within the Home and Community of Collaborations

* Free yearly memberships provided by National Associations, etc.

* How to transfer your life and work experiences to college credits and degrees

Poet-Tree En Motion Presents a Free Community Arts Event with Live Music, a Fire Show, Spoken-Word, Live Painting and More on April 22

 Poet-tree En Motion is a multidisciplinary arts showcase that has been ongoing seasonally for over 19 years at The Rotunda! The name itself is fitting for an arts celebration taking place on Earth Day which also happens during National Poetry Month.

“Well, Earth Day, meaning our commitment to invest in sustainable practices, should occur in our everyday lives, in my opinion,” says artistic director Gabrielle de Burke, who goes by the stage name Plum Dragoness. “My own creative expression of poetry/spoken-word power is the foundation upon which the event was inspired to grow. So there is the play with words that can access to growth and the imagery of things that are Earth Day consciousness.”

De Burke will open the event with movement meditations that cull from her background in tai chi, chi gong and other energy practices. This will set the mood and ground participants before experiencing a range of performances from artists local and regional to Philadelphia. She will also perform her original spoken-word pieces and theatrical dance.

“I will be sharing a few different poems from the two albums of poetry that I released some years ago, as well as some new work that speaks to the theme of what a privilege it is despite all the challenges we endure to experience the blessing of this life on the Mother ship-Earth!”

Also performing will be Tapestry Dance Project, an improvisational “transcultural belly dance” troupe; I Yahn I Arkestra, a reggae and dub music collective; B.A.D. Blaze and friends, a fire arts performance trio; and DJ UNITE, playing a mix of hip-hop, R&B, and pop. Artist Angi Vita will be on hand to do live body and face painting on willing participants.

Admission is FREE. Donations at the door will benefit the Darby Creek Valley Association. Tips for individual artists are also welcome and encouraged.

For information about Poet-tree En Motion, email de Burke at plumdragoness@gmail.com and join the Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/116980678334215.

ABOUT POET-TREE EN MOTION:

Poet-tree En Motion works to inspire both artist and audience to connect and work together toward cultivating the arts community in Philadelphia, welcoming artists of all kinds to experience performances local to the neighborhood.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Gabrielle de Burke (artist Plum Dragoness)

Founder/Event Organizer Poet-tree En Motion

484-557-9605

plumdragoness@gmail.com

FOR EVENT LISTINGS:

Earth Day Celebration presented by the Poet-tree En Motion multidisciplinary arts showcase 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, April 22 at The Rotunda located at 4014 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19104. The event is free and open to the public. Guests can enjoy live music, guided movement meditations, belly dancing, live painting, spoken-word poetry and a fire show. Donations at the door will benefit the Darby Creek Valley Association. Tips for individual artists are welcome and encouraged. For information about The Rotunda, log on to www.TheRotunda.org. For information about Poet-tree En Motion, go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/116980678334215 and email artistic director Gabrielle de Burke at plumdragoness@gmail.com.

ARTIST BIOS:

PLUM DRAGONESS (GABRIELLE DE BURKE)

Native to West Philadelphia, Plum Dragoness (aka Gabrielle de Burke) is a multi-talented thespian, dancer, martial artist, instructor, poetess, and writer who has been involved with performing arts since childhood. She is known for her poetic style, vocal performance, fire dance, flow arts, and choreographic flair throughout Philadelphia and abroad.

Over the past 18 years, she has toured as a solo artist, founding member/core performer/assistant artistic director of Archedream for HumanKind among many others. She has independently released two albums of original work with the project Plum Dragoness & the Elements, known for its fusion of multimedia, live world-beat musical infusions, spoken-word vocals, and lyrical poetry. She has also helped bring together the all-female performance group trio The Femme-Mynistiques, who released their debut EP “Here She Comes…” in the summer of 2016.

Since 2007, Plum Dragoness has been a resident performance artist, as well as host and organizer for the successful performing arts series Poet-tree En Motion. This has allowed her the opportunity to share her own creative performances (including collaborative projects she initiated) and work created by many unique artists within the West Philadelphia community and beyond.

Her work as a healing arts practitioner and instructor continues to intersect with her work as an interdisciplinary performance artist through the incorporation of internal and martial arts forms in combination with dance, poetry, and theater presentation. She has been teaching in the Philadelphia area and abroad since 2000.

Instagram: @plumdragoness @dragonspiritarts @authentic.eccentrics

TAPESTRY DANCE PROJECT

The dancers of Tapestry Dance Project love to move together. They perform improvisational transcultural belly dance. Their dance style is a non-verbal language inspired by core focused dance forms from around the world, including Middle Eastern, Indian, North African, Spanish, and Modern dances. There is no choreography. The dancers exchange lead and follow roles in a unique group improvisational format, supported and enhanced by the evocative rhythms and haunting melodies of their live musicians. Improvisational Transcultural Belly Dance is an elegant and earthy " in the moment " style, which celebrates the folkloric spirit, connection and community.

video clip: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17b6CGGMeV/

https://www.facebook.com/Tapestry.Tribal

http://www.tapestrytribal.com

I YAHN I ARKESTRA

I Yahn I Arkestra is a Philadelphia-based reggae and dub collective formed in 1997. Fusing roots reggae, dub, jazz, and global rhythms, the band is known for their spiritual, genre-blurring sound. Led by founders Derek “Ras Jah D” Myers and Kasea “Kaseaopia” Myers, the group has shared stages with Damian Marley, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and The Wailers. Their dynamic live shows and message-driven music continue to inspire a global audience.

ANGI VITA

Angi Vita is a Philly-based artist and body painter who focuses on the inner beauty of humans of all backgrounds, shapes, genders, and ages. Her works of art on these living beings is a special kind of intimacy that doesn't objectify but instead emphasizes the person in feeling confident and adorned. Her concept of visual art is not based on societal expectations, but rather a celebration of connection. She believes that there is no normal, and that is the beauty of the art.

B.A.D. BLAZE & FRIENDS – fire performers Ambra Renee, Bryce Adams, and guest Ruby Chen

AMBRA RENEE

Ambra Renee is a dynamic multidisciplinary performance artist known for her playful, powerful presence onstage. Creator of the hilariously absurd roller-skating act Esther Rollz, she blends comedy, character work, and physicality in dazzling ways.

A skilled fire spinner, and trained in heels and burlesque, Ambra’s work spans the sacred, the sensual, and the downright silly— always inviting her audience into a world of bold movement and unexpected joy.

Follow the sparkle, follow the flame -- Ambra Renee where the magic rolls in.

BRYCE ADAMS

Bryce Adams, aka Bryceiznyce, is a dynamic force of movement and spectacle, blending athleticism with artistry in every performance. As a masterful fire spinner specializing in intricate poi tricks, Bryce lights up the night with hypnotic displays of skill and rhythm.

Beyond the flames, Bruce is a professional Parkour and free-running athlete who has competed on the world stage in World Chase Tag, pushing the limits of speed, agility, and creativity.

Off the course, Bryce shares his passion by teaching Parkour to kids and young adults, inspiring the next generation to move with confidence, discipline, and freedom.

Whether leaping across rooftops or spinning fire under the stars, Bryce brings energy, precision, and heart to everything he does.

RUBY CHEN

“A lifelong dancer rooted in ballet, modern, and traditional Chinese dance, Ruby began their training at age 3 and honed their foundations at Philadelphia's Gwendolyn Bye Dance Center. In 2010, the San Francisco Burning Man scene pulled them into the worlds of flow arts, fire, and circus: training in hoop, levi wand, poi, palm torches, contortion, and aerials. 

Now back on the East Coast, they bring their feral energy to fire dance troupes and underground parties across New York City, Philly, and Washington DC. Their performances are equal parts ritual and riot: hypnotic one moment, deliriously chaotic the next, always threaded through with a mischievous spark that dares you to look away.”

Instagram: @MxRubeality

DJ CHRIS BASS

Chris Bass, known as DJ UNITE, is an energetic and hardworking DJ from West Philadelphia known for bringing high energy and a strong presence to every event. With a passion for music and creativity, he focuses on making every performance feel unique and unforgettable.

He began DJing at school basketball games before becoming a regular at lunchroom events, roller skating rinks, and live shows alongside Big Cuz. Through these experiences, he developed the ability to read the crowd and control the vibe in any setting.

Specializing in hip-hop, R&B, pop, and line dances, DJ UNITE stands out with his signature style, from his shiny outfits to his recognizable branding. His goal is simple—leave every crowd feeling like they just experienced something different.

Inspired by Big Cuz, DJ UNITE continues to grow and elevate his craft.

Follow and book @djunite_ on Instagram and TikTok.

Bowerbird is pleased to co-present Gene Coleman’s program Experiments in Neuroaesthetics: Evoking Voices from Biological Systems.

In the music of Giacinto Scelsi, Luigi Nono and Pauline Oliveros, and in the films of Stan Brakhage, there was a desire to reveal the “inner voices”. Working with new biodata technologies and systems, we reach a new reality, where the inner voices of the body, mind, via biological systems, can be Evoked – seen and heard in unprecedented ways. How can we create music and art in this new reality? This program shows three different approaches, which are linked by use of The Source, a Biodata device that can translate electric biorhythms into various media. The program features work by: KAVI (Ilze Briede), The Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra (q.GOO), and The Neuro Music Ensemble Conjure.

PROGRAM

KAVI: Emergent Feedback Loops: Cybernetics and the Human Brain

qGOO (Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra): q.GOO_ PhiladelphiaNeuroMusicAI/42026

Gene Coleman: EVOCARE (2026) for string quartet and neuro electronicsConjure Neuro Music Ensemble + GuestsAdam Vidiksis, Neuro electronicsSam Wells, Neuro electronicsTom Kraines, CelloGene Coleman (Composition and Direction)With special guestsMelinda Rice and Molly Germer, ViolinsMaren Rothfritz, Viola

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

KAVI (Ilze Briede), a Latvian–Canadian artist and researcher working across visual art, digital design, interactive installation, and live audiovisual performance. Her work Emergent Feedback Loops: Cybernetics and the Human Brain, uses her biodata to generate complex visual structures, accompanied by improvisational responses from musicians. Her work examines how physiological data—such as brain activity and other biosignals—can function as generative inputs for artistic systems. This performance presents ongoing dissertation research and a research-creation inquiry within computational arts, exploring the integration of live human brain data into cybernetic systems. Drawing on unprocessed neural signals, the work resists reductionist models of data interpretation and knowledge construction, aiming to create more authentic, unpredictable experiences that foreground emergence, unpredictability, and co-evolution. A feedback loop among performers, the computational system, and spectators forms a dynamic, interdependent ecology in which visual, sonic, and spatial elements continuously evolve in real time. This research is supported by a developing biophysical sensing device from BioMECI called The Source, designed to collect and translate physiological signals into performative outputs. Through this system, brain activity becomes an active agent within a cybernetic environment, enabling new forms of interaction and perception. Positioned at the intersection of art, science, and technology, this work proposes a framework for data-driven performance centered on relationality, embodiment, and collective world-building.

The Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra (q.GOO) presents its compositionq.GOO_PhiladelphiaNeuroMusicAI/42026. This work extends contemporary practice in media art, neuroscience, and AI by making perceptible the hidden rhythms of living neural matter and prompting new questions about perception, agency, and the future of embodied computation.

The Neuro Music Ensemble Conjure performs EVOCARE, a composition by Gene Coleman for string quartet and neuro electronics. Coleman calls this “Neuro Music” – music modeled on the auditory pathways of the brain and nervous system. EVOCARE reveals the inner voices of the body and mind using a new Biodata technology called The Source, which translates our nervous system rhythms into sound. EVOCARE is a dynamic dialog between acoustic music and the Biorhythms of perception, interoception, affect, emotion and thought.

This program is produced by The Institute for Music and Neuroaesthetics, Bowerbird and The Rotunda

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Ilze Briede (artist name Kavi) is a Latvian–Canadian artist and researcher working across visual art, digital design, interactive installation, and live audiovisual performance. Her creative and pedagogical practice engages with biophysical sensing, creative coding, and projection-based media to explore the aesthetic and epistemological potential of physiological data. Kavi is currently a PhD candidate in Digital Media at York University, Toronto, where her research investigates the design of cybernetic systems for performance and immersive narrative environments driven by real-time biophysical signals. Her work examines how physiological data—such as brain activity and other biosignals—can function as generative inputs for artistic systems, enabling alternative modes of perception, participation, and knowledge production.www.ka-vi.com/

Gene Coleman is a composer, musician and director. A 2014 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the 2013 Berlin Prize for Music, he has created over 70 works for various instrumentation and media. Innovative use of sound, image, space and time allows Coleman to create work that expands our understanding of the world. Since 2001 his work has focused on the global transformation of culture and music’s relationship with other media, such as architecture, video and dance. He studied painting, music and film making at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where his principle teachers included legendary experimental film artists Stan Brakhage and Ernie Gehr, as well as Robert Snyder (music) and Barbara Rossi (painting).

Coleman has an extensive record working internationally. He was composer in residence at the American Academy in Berlin (2013), the American Academy in Rome (Fall 2011), Shofuso Japanese House (Philadelphia, 2009), Foundation Kunst Raum Sylt Quelle (Germany, 2008), Westwerk (Hamburg, 2007), Taipei Artists Village (2007), University of Lubeck (Germany, Feb. 2005), The House of World Cultures (Berlin, 2003/2004), Takefu International Music Festival (Japan, 2002) Spritzen Haus (Hamburg, 1995) and ASAP (Maine, 2000/2001). In July 2005, he was a recipient of grants from Meet the Composer and the US State Department for a composer’s residency in Beirut, Lebanon. In 2001, he received a fellowship from the NEA/Japan-US Friendship Commission and lived in Japan for 8 months. He has received 4 fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and 1 from the New Jersey State Arts Council (2008), as well as grants from the NEA, Arts Midwest, American Music Center, The American Composers Forum, Meet the Composer, The Japan Foundation, Philadelphia Music Project and others. He has received commissions from Chamber Music America, The Crossing, Archer Spade, Tom Buckner, Phace Contemporary Music, Network for New Music, Nexus Gallery, Trio Accanto, Klangforum Wien, Chamber Music Now, Ensemble 01, E-Mex Ensemble and the NRW Culture Foundation, The Renaissance Society, International House Philadelphia, Chicago Cultural Center, The Takefu Festival, HKW Berlin, Konzerthaus Wien and the Ernst Von Siemens Foundation. Coleman has been a guest lecturer at many universities including Chiao-Tung University and Taipei National University of the Arts (Fall 2007) and Hong Kong University (Fall 2009). His paintings, short films and musical scores have been widely exhibited, including shows at the Art Institute of Chicago (1984) and The MCA Chicago (2000). His ongoing projects feature musicians from many parts of the globe. Recent works such as “Kyoto_Naigai” and “Future City” explore music’s relationship with video and architecture. These and other projects have brought Coleman and his work to many audiences in Europe, Asia and North America.genecolemancomposer.com

The Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra (q.GOO) is an experimental art–science collaboration that brings together living neural tissue, generative media, and networked human participation to explore new forms of emergent, cross-species creativity. The project centers on brain organoids—lab-grown clusters of neural cells cultivated in partnered neurobiology labs—which produce spontaneous electrical activity. This neural activity is captured through microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and translated in real-time into sound, visual structures, and computational behaviors. In this sense, the organoids function as active “performers” within a hybrid ensemble composed of biological, human, and machine processes.

Featuring the following contributors:

transLAB: Marcos Novak (director), Nefeli Manoudaki, Iason Paterakis, Mert Toka and Diarmid FlatleyATMOS Implementation: Lucian Parisin-D::StudioLab: Mark-David Hosale (director) and Ilze [Kavi] BriedeSBCAST: Alan Macy (director)

Scientific collaborators:The Kosik Neurobiology Lab: Kenneth Kosik (director) and Tjitse van der Molen

Abstract:

Beyond AI models, the constantly and rapidly evolving q.GOO project assembles Superconductivity for Minds: a globally distributed ecology in which actual and artificial brain organoids, bio-inspired algorithmic and quantum computational processes, spectral sound, coupled human-computer collaboration, and networked planetary environments begin to co-compose intelligence through Agentic Media Ecologies and Perforated Systems. This project explores what becomes thinkable when the “emergent possible” of the hybrid natural-artificial environment itself becomes agentive —reciprocally both data-driven and data-driving— when cognition is distributed across heterogeneous Umwelten, and when the path toward Superoptimal AGI/ASI runs not through isolated systems, but through recursively coupled permeable, porous, and perforated outer and inner worlds.

Modelled on complex ecosystems such as coral reefs, rainforests, and the planet itself, and also perception, cognition, civilization, and culture as emergent systems, the project and its variants are structured operationally by the notion of “perforated systems” — systems that, like living cells, consist of an autonomous internal behavior protected by a permeable, porous, or literally perforated “membrane.” This arrangement allows all parts to maintain their integrity but also to send and receive energy and information to and from each other and from the overall environment. Diverse coordinating processes provide algorithmic environmental homeostasis by adjusting the data flowing through the perforations.

This “free-but-perforated” operational strategy is also a statement regarding human collaboration and environmental sustainability. Each participant contributes a “species” that is free to be whatever it needs to be, provided it remains “perforated” and can receive and send data and information that can alter its behavior. The work thus instantiates a “media ecosystem” where the result is ecosystemically regulated by the health of the whole, which is always richer and more interesting than the sum of its parts.

The Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra (q.GOO) is an experimental art–science collaboration that brings together living neural tissue, generative media, and networked human participation to explore new forms of emergent, cross-species creativity. The project centers on brain organoids—lab-grown clusters of neural cells cultivated in partnered neurobiology labs—which produce spontaneous electrical activity. This neural activity is captured through microelectrode arrays (MEAs) and translated in real-time into sound, visual structures, and computational behaviors. In this sense, the organoids function as active “performers” within a hybrid ensemble composed of biological, human, and machine processes.

q.GOO evolves from the SIGGRAPH 2023 Synaptic Time Tunnel project and the Protonoesis series by collaborators at UCSB’s transLAB (directed by Marcos Novak) and the Kosik Neurobiology Lab (directed by Ken Kosik). These works form closed-loop systems in which organoid signals influence generative algorithms, which in turn shape the audiovisual environment surrounding the installation. Audience members encounter an immersive, multi-modal field where neural activity, machine interpretation, and human agency intermingle, suggesting a form of “distributed cognition” that exceeds any one participant.

The project invites reflection on the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of working with living neural material, asking what it means to situate organoids—entities neither fully biological subjects nor inert tools—as participants within artistic systems. q.GOO foregrounds sensation, emergence, and relationality. It proposes a speculative model of collective intelligence, where biological and computational systems co-produce meaning. Through this, the Quantum Global Organoid Orchestra extends contemporary practice in media art, neuroscience, and AI by making perceptible the hidden rhythms of living neural matter and prompting new questions about perception, agency, and the future of embodied computation.

Admission is FREE