Seattle Modern Orchestra’s (SMO's) University of Washington residency celebrates the legacies of longtime former School of Music professors and West Coast luminaries Stuart Dempster (b. 1936) and William O. Smith (1926-2020) with '90/100, Celebrating Stuart Dempster, William O. Smith, and West Coast Experimentalism.' Curated by longtime SMO clarinetist Rachel Yoder, the evening integrates elements of improvisation, deep listening, and playfully creative movement while rebooting elements of the composer/performer duo’s historic antics. 

SMO is joined by all-star guests C. Neil Parsons (Boston) on bass trombone and movement and Yoder on clarinets. Expect movement throughout the space and embodied, theatrical music-making, as well as the sonic high of Smith’s wild and wonderful extended clarinet techniques.

Program

Pauline Oliveros: The Well and the Gentle (1985)
William O. Smith: Encounter (1970)
Rachel Yoder: Double Void (WORLD PREMIERE)
Curtis K. Hughes: chewing gum tornado (2026)
William O. Smith: Explorations for clarinet and chamber orchestra (1998)
Stuart Dempster: S.M.O.R.E.S (2017)* SMO Commission 

Program Note

“Ten years ago, in the fall of 2016, there was an '80 and 90' concert at Meany Hall in celebration of the 80th birthday of Stuart Dempster and the 90th birthday of William O. “Bill” Smith. It was a tradition that apparently began with a 40/50 concert in 1976, and though Bill passed away in 2020, it brings me great joy that we can now celebrate Stuart’s 90th birthday, and what would have been Bill’s 100th!

Stuart and Bill are names well-known to the Seattle experimental music scene and beyond, as composers and performers of course, but also due to their three decades as co-leaders of the UW Contemporary Group (1968-1997). As I researched for this concert, looking through Contemporary Group papers and programs in the UW library, I was struck by the staggering number of performances they put on over the years, often involving dozens of faculty and students. Many of these people are still playing and creating music in Seattle (including in our own SMO!), and we must give thanks in part to Stuart and Bill for the thriving, multifaceted contemporary music community we enjoy today.

So what, in 2026, is the musical legacy of Stuart and Bill? For me, it’s very personal: Bill was my inspiration to begin to consider myself a “composer” at the age of 40. From the time we met in 2015 until he passed away in 2020, I had the amazing opportunity to get to know Bill – improvising with him, getting advice on playing his music, then working on a couple new solo pieces he wrote for me. He showed me (through his always kind and curious example) a different route to composition that I had never considered, ultimately helping me find my way to myself.

The musical spirit of Stuart Dempster and William O. Smith lives on, here on campus, in the Seattle new music community, and well beyond.”
—Rachel Yoder, curator