KO SOLO is Kate Olson’s atmospheric live looping project. 100% improvised and meant to transport listeners to similar realities in alternate timelines, Kate incorporates multiple instruments and effects to create orchestral soundscapes that range from avant garde and minimalist to funky and predictable. This time, a very special guest (me!) is invited to join Kate on stage, making this a truly knockout duo performance. 

KO Quartet is Kate’s original jazz-ish project: A chord-less quartet featuring soprano sax/trombone and tenor sax/trumpet blends mixed with electric bass and drum kit. They will be playing selections from Kate’s new album “So It Goes”, which was funded by a grant from 4Culture and will be released on Origin Records in January 2026. 

There will also be spoken texts by poet Omar Willey.

Demure Asian Rage is a multidisciplinary structural improv piece involving taiko, flute, electronics, poetry, and movement. This work explores how rage manifests in the context of being Asian, non-binary, genderfluid and AFAB individual in a world that frequently marginalizes such identities. What if our inner world was allowed to be free? What happens when rage and joy are encouraged to be unleashed? Demure Asian Rage is created by flutist/taiko drummer/composer Leanna Keith and taiko artist/composer Yeeman “ManMan” Mui. With opening set by Josh Hou.

A night of loop-based music by many Seattle improvisers celebrating the 20th Anniversary of Ball of Wax.

In a world that demands that we define ourselves with tags and constructed concepts, one can feel constricted by words that box our identity, often, creating separation from each other. What makes us all the same? What makes each one of us unique? This world premiere explores both sides of the human experience and invites you to “undefine” yourself through music, words and images. 

With Marina Albero (piano), Omar Wiley (text), Leanna Keith (flute), Heather Bentley (viola), and video artist Blazinspace. 

Bone//Brine//Break exists within a king tide, a kelp forest, an eroding coastline. Tendrils surge and collapse, a microcosm of violent beauty. The external creates the internal becomes the external.

Butoh dance performance featuring dancers/choreographers Hana Shiozaki and Arlo Sage King.

More info: https://seattleidf.org/event-details/#10th

Turn off your phone. Five of Seattle’s coolest artists. an activated studio/gallery space. They start making art at 9 AM. You watch it at 8 PM. Let’s do nothing together. 

Artists Doing is the launch of a performance series where artists across disciplines create immersive, high-spectacle works in site-specific spaces. What can happen when artists get paid (well!) to focus hard on something great? You’ll see both process and product. Dancers, actors, video artists, and musicians will smash into each other. You’ll let go. At the end, we’ll dance.

This time, the theme is Doing Nothing: unplugging from algorithms, savoring the moment, reclaiming our attention, being together in real life. See you there.

More info: https://the-feast.org/whats-next/

Josh Hou and Leanna Keith play Chinese diaspora inspired jazz tunes for the night market food extravaganza “Panda Festival”!

Tickets available: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panda-fest-seattle-2025-tickets-1250149724479?aff=oddtdtcreator

Dekoboko Taiko plays at the Folklife Festival at 11:00am at the Mural Amphitheater
Free!

Transplants is a coming of age story following two young women—one Chinese and one Chinese American—as they learn what it means to be their truest selves in a world that doesn’t know where either of them belong. It's an exploration of race, love, power, and freedom that reveals how—in spite of our divided times—even our fiercest differences may bring us closer than we can imagine.

Leanna will be opening the release show with music inspired by the book, and playing a little bit in between readings to set the stage. Come celebrate this local author who created a novel that swirls around topics of transnational identity, migration, and diaspora.

Kin of the Moon plays music of Tom Baker and Neil Welch

Tom Baker has composed a substantial yet delicate musical exploration of our shifting climate. “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier” is based on poetry by Craig Santos Perez. Scored for mezzo-soprano, alto flute, viola, saxophone, and guitar, the chamber ensemble movements  are interspersed with solo guitar meditations. These chamber movements and solo commentaries reflect on the tragedy of our world’s melting ice. Featuring saxophonist Neil Welch and guitarist Michael Nicolella.

KOTM reprises its performance of Neil Welch‘s “No house on fire, no”. Its unique sonic landscape emulates the infinitely variable sound of wind passing through vast fields of grass, an experience that Neil had on a trip to Alaska. No house on fire, no. for improvising quintet, explores phonetic text painting, reflections on physical landscapes and the collaborative spirit of a regularly performing ensemble engaged in creative improvisation. The work is segmented into four sections (Introduction, I, II, III) and is intended to progress between sections without pause. All instrumentalists use extended techniques to create undulating sounds of air and wind through various means, such as: fingers sliding on the keyboard with plastic finger picks, flute and saxophone blowing directly into their instruments without engaging pitch, bows sliding on the body of the instrument or swiping against the air itself, feet and hands brushing against the floor, clothing, or instrument. Some passages are dichotomous in their pitch content, blending tempered and non-tempered tuning. No house on fire, no. includes themes using non-pitched breathing through phonetic text painting, with rhythms and phrasing taken from the poem Drawn Together, by Joan Naviyuk Kane. Featuring saxophonist Neil Welch and bassist Abbey Blackwell.

Dekoboko Taiko discusses how Japanese instruments have been used throughout history, and how they appear now in the North-American taiko drumming tradition.

Dekoboko Taiko brings the energy to open up Sakura-con 2025!

The Seattle premiere of Leanna Keith’s “Built to Last”, as well as a new work by composer Sarah Perske.

Music inspired by Fahrenheit 451 - a feature of the Banned Books Season. One of the most iconic dystopian books of all time, we'll see what I create for it. 

Mark Wilson presents an evening of his own compositions exploring his interest in integrating the musical fingerprints of kora music from Gambia, theorbo music from 17th century Italy, American hip hop from the 90’s and the French Baroque, along with canons and tango. All of this through the lens of living in a time of racial reconciliation, the too-soon death of a friend, the success of another beating cancer, while living a life of music, teaching, playing and listening.  

It is an evening of compositions and collaborations by Mark Hilliard Wilson with flutist Leanna Keith, oboist Bhavani Kotha, clarinetist Bev Setzer, bassoonist Kate MacKenzie, tenor and trumpet player Peter Nelson King, soprano Teresa Tam, and the Seattle Guitar Orchestra.

Join Nebula Ensemble and Seattle-based trio Kin of the Moon (flute, voice, and viola) at Metropolitan State University Denver on March 1st at 7:30pm. This collaboration brings to life three brand new works: Sarah Perske's new piece to be performed by Kin of the Moon, Leanna Keith's "Built to Last" played by Nebula Ensemble, and a final improvisation involving all players. You won't want to miss the magical timbres and textures  created with this blend of strings, winds, and voice, along with the brilliant musicianship of Kin of the Moon!

Cornish College of the Arts Faculty Showcase!

A collection of various performances featuring the artistic talents of the Cornish music faculty.

Brilliant musicians and dancers will collaborate to create… who knows? A night of exploratory deep listening, collaboration, experimentation, improvisation in multiple formats, including interactive opportunities for the audience.

Sound Artists: Abbey Blackwell, Amy Denio, Carol J Levin, Caroline Kraabel, Christian Pincock, Haley Freedlund, Jenny Ziefel, Leanna Keith, Mark Filler, Susie Kozawa.

Movement Artists: Aaron Swartzman, Aiko Kinoshita, Christian Swenson, Hannah Rice, Katrina Wolfe, Sheri Cohen.

Butch Morris, the composer of gorgeous instrumental songs. Inspired by Morris’ 1991 New World recording “Dust to Dust”.

An improvising chamber strings ensemble. Conduction by Wayne Horvitz and Stephanie Richards with special guests: Peggy Lee, Leanna Keith, Robin Holcomb, and Darius Jones.

Re-imagining the music of Cecil Taylor, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, Julius Hemphill, Carla Bley and Ornette Coleman.

Samantha Boshnack’s Uncomfortable Subjects is a genre-busting song cycle for a 13-piece ensemble, featuring a wide-ranging cast of some of Seattle’s most exciting musicians and artists. Created during the pandemic, with a delayed premiere, Samantha Boshnack’s Uncomfortable Subjects expands Boshnack’s trademark interlocking grooves and instrumental explorations into complex lyrical and conversational territories.

Leanna Keith joins Omaha based Phil Smith (drums), St. Louis based Alex Cunningham (violin), and St. Louis based Lisa Cameron (drums) for a night of experimental improvisation.

Leanna performs snippets of “Body of Breath” at the Flute New Music Festival during the “Amplified” concert.

An augmented reality performance featuring live performances by Leanna Keith, Josiah Boothby, and Ewa Trębacz, alongside the manipulated recordings of this trio performing inside the inactive nuclear reaction chamber in Satsop. Enhanced by the natural reverb of the space, this performance is sure to be visceral.

KOTM PRESENTS:
Hear “body of breath” live and celebrate the process it took to get to this point! Opening set played by the one and only Heather Bentley.
Huge thank you to Jack Straw Cultural Center for their Artist Residency Program which allowed this to happen.

"body of breath" is a concept album by Leanna Keith of the bass flute as a living, breathing, organism. Backed by live and pre-recorded processed electronics, Leanna creates shifting surrealist soundscapes, utilizing the unique timbre and extended technique possibilities of the bass flute as a solo instrument. Each piece was written with Leanna’s performance in mind, expanding the limited repertoire of the bass flute. The tracks explore identity, storytelling through time, organic processes, and the creation of self through breath.