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Gather: Mabel Kwan // Corey Smith

Chicago-based, Austin-born pianist Mabel Kwanperforms with Dal Niente, Restroy, Uluuul, and big TEEN's Mega Laverne and Shirley. She is fascinated by sound, contradictions, and what we perceive to be familiar or strange. With a style that is detached and objective but highly personal, Mabel brings a quiet intensity and playfulness to her live performances.www.mabelkwan.com 

Corey Smithis a composer, writer, and performer based in Chicago, Illinois. He works in a hybridized performance style— a mixture of original music, text, and movement. Corey has been an artist in residence at the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, and Grin City. He is a 2017 and 2018 grantee of the City of Chicago's Individual Artist Program as well as a 2018 recipient of an Emergency Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts. His work has been seen at Links Hall, the Detroit Fringe Festival, and numerous venues around the American Midwest. His work has been described as “surreal and overwhelming, but also indescribably beautiful” by Architectural Digest.

He is an avid collaborator and has worked in various capacities as sound designer, assistant director, performer, composer, and/or devisor for artists such as Every House Has a Door, Rough House Puppet Theater Company, the Suburban Piano Quartet, director Lindsey Barlag-Thornton, and many others. Most recent collaborative credits include works seen at theBath Fringe Festival, Defibrillator Gallery, Co-Prosperity Sphere, McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum, and Roman Susan. More information is available at coreyds.com.

Gather is an experimental music series bringing musicians from different scenes, backgrounds, practices, disciplines, and communities together for connection and artistic exchange. We curate this series with our attention toward introducing musicians who may not otherwise cross paths and whose works dialogue in compelling ways. By doing so, we hope to leave potential for collaboration and familiarity amongst different experimental music forms in Chicago. Gather is curated by Allen Moore, Nick Meryhew, and Rebecca Himelstein