⟡ community-driven ⟡ collaboration-oriented ⟡ DIY ethos ⟡ metalabel ⟡ ᨒ Eugene OR ꩜
⊙ our mission: we work to expand the definition of what music can be and what music is capable of achieving — as well as who is capable of achieving it.
✦ Upcoming Events
✦what we're up to — all events are free or pay-what-you-can unless noted.
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Porchfest1864 Moss St. · eugene, OR · 2:00pm, 4:00pm, and 6:00pm · outdoor · all ages · set by K O T A, a project by Dakota Zitterkopf➜concert
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Oakshire Inspires207 Madison St · eugene, OR · food, drinks & music · $1 per pint sold goes to EDME! Table and music from 5:00-7:00pm• fundraiser
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GalaHeadquarters Wine Bar 325 W 4th Ave · eugene, OR · Get tickets ahead✦ fundraiser
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New Music Festival 2026TIME, LOCATION, TBD · eugene, OR · 5th annual · presented with IMPULSE New Music Ensemble✦ festival
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Oakshire Inspires 2.0416 Main St · springfield, OR · food, drinks & music · $1 per pint sold goes to EDME! Table and music from 5:00-7:00pm• fundraiser
✉ follow @edmensemble for the most current updates · or subscribe to our newsletter on substack ✉
ⓘ About EDME
the eugene difficult music ensemble (EDME) performs and commissions underrepresented experimental works in order to open ears and minds — in eugene, oregon and beyond. ˖ ݁♬⋆.˚𝄞
⊙ mission
we work to expand the definition of what music can be and what music is capable of achieving, as well as who is capable of achieving it.
| history
EDME started in 2019 as a trio (soon a quartet) performing bizarre music around eugene. pre-COVID, we co-curated new music nights at venues not normally associated with composed music, bridging trained and untrained musicians — in yoga studios, dive bars, game shops, and concert halls alike.
throughout the pandemic we kept going: a YouTube channel that now hosts nearly 30 videos, outdoor performances at open-air studios and ArtCity's BEAM, and a livestreamed Eugene Garbage Project that turned collected trash into a concert-length work for voice and electronics.
since october 2022, our annual New Music Festival has brought guest artists and experimental concert music to downtown eugene — female-identifying, LGBTQ+, and non-white composers are featured strongly among the nearly four dozen composers selected so far. in 2025 we premiered Ambient Ecology, a series of calming, ecologically-inspired concerts at Maurie Jacobs Park, and we plan to keep bringing it back every spring.
| press + coverage
- ➜ OPB — Think Out Loud ➜
- ➜ Eugene Scene — "controlled chaos, and wonderful to absorb" ➜
- ➜ Oregon ArtsWatch — The Unfurling of Reality ➜
for press inquiries: Secretary@edmensemble.org
𝄜 People
𝄜 Members
- Raquel Armenderiz
- Jake Chaffee
- Fedor Chayka flute A music minor and chemistry/math major at the University of Oregon, studying in Dr. Cordova-Arrington's flute studio. Formerly of the Portland Youth Philharmonic.
- Savannah Gentry
- Ferris Haukom
- Sidney Hudelson
- Ellie Jakes cello / composition / electronics A composer, cellist, and synthesist working across classical, electroacoustic, jazz, and film scoring. Frequent collaborator of Fermata Ballet Collective; MM in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon.
- Tyler Kashow
- Rebecca Keller-Gardner
- Grace Kuo
- Victor Lawton II
- JP Lempke executive director
- Zichao Liu trumpet A trumpet performer and music educator from China, currently pursuing a DMA at the University of Oregon. Holds an MM from UNC School of the Arts and a BM from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
- Adrian Cervantes Mendez secretary
- Zoe Oda
- Frances Pinkham
- Dakota Zitterkopf trombone A student in the University of Oregon's trombone performance program, with backgrounds in western classical and jazz music as well as music journalism and composition.
⿻ Past Ambient Ecology Guest Musicians
2026
- K O T A (Dakota Zitterkopf) trombone / improvisation Solo project of EDME's Dakota Zitterkopf, a trombonist and improviser.
- Josh Hydeman photography / sound art An Oregon-based interdisciplinary artist whose practice centers on the hidden landscapes of the underground — recording bats, abandoned mines, and caves.
- New Agency trio Ranier Collins, Evan MacFarland & Henry Rahe — an Oregon-based trio blending synth-heavy soundscapes with viola, French horn, guitar, and vocals.
- Gabie Strong conceptual artist Explores drone, decay, and sonic degeneration through sound, radio, and installation. MFA, UC Irvine; exhibited at MOCA and the UCLA Hammer Museum.
- D.S.P. Mystic (Bagonia) field recording / spatialized feedback A new project from Portland-based artist Bagonia, using site-specific field recording and audience participation to blur creator and audience.
- JEC (Jake Chaffee) bass / ambient production A bassist, visual artist, and ambient producer based in Eugene, known for immersive livestreams and the project "three days and."
2025
- Free Static (Chris Ruiz & Courtney Stubbert) electronics / improvisation An experimental collaboration using electronics, acoustic instruments, and other objects to guide improvised sonic exploration between chaos and order; their AE set dialogued with samples from an obscure 1970s meditation record.
- Don Haugen electronics / sound installation An Eugene-based sound artist working with tape loops, oscillators, feedback, and home-built electronics since the late 1980s to explore location-specific sound and room dynamics; curator and founder of the Eugene Noise Festival (est. 2005).
- Jennifer Wright piano / composition / installation A pianist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist who builds large-scale instruments and sound installations from industrial debris to confront climate change and overconsumption; exhibited at the Oregon Jewish Museum and the Alaska State Museum, and featured on OPB's Think Out Loud.
- Owen (XDL) electronic production / radio A Portland-based performer, producer, and composer releasing music as XDL, drawing on hip hop, electronic music, jazz, and video game soundtracks; 1st place in UO's 2023 Electronic Music Composition Competition, heard Sundays on 104.7 KDUK.
- Luke Wyland composition / improvisation A Portland-based interdisciplinary artist and composer with 20 years of releases in AU, Methods Body, and as LWW, most recently the solo record Kuma Cove (Balmat, 2024); works across improvisation, somatic embodiment, and bespoke tuning systems.
- Daniel Menche noise / drone An iconic Portland experimental musician with three decades of noise, drone, and field-recording-based work across more than 60 albums, released on labels including Editions Mego, Touch Music, and Ash International.
𓏲 Past Members
- K.C. Isaman double bass A multi-genre bassist — orchestral, chamber, jazz, and improvised — pursuing a Master's in Historical Performance Practice at the University of Oregon under Tyler Abbott.
- Owen Atlansky electric guitar / audio engineering A performer, producer, composer, and radio jock from Portland, releasing music as XDL. 1st place, UO's 2023 Electronic Music Composition Competition. Heard on 104.7 KDUK.
- Jayne Cronin double bass A music education student and double bassist from Mundelein, Illinois. Winner of a Leonard Bernstein Award and former senior soloist and symphony orchestra president.
✦ New Music Festival
our 5th annual festival — presented with IMPULSE New Music Ensemble, our third year partnering together, is a four-concert series of experimental scored and unscored works, improvisations, and audience participation pieces, occuring on October 2–4, 2026 in eugene, or. all performances are free and open to the public.
we welcome works across all experimental traditions — acoustic, electronic, improvised, mixed-media, and beyond. we also accept text-based and graphic scores. no stylistic prerequisites. we prioritize work that takes risks. ꩜
✉ Call for Scores — 2026
open march 16 – june 1, 2026 (11:59pm PDT). notifications by july 1. $5–15 sliding-scale fee, waivers available to anyone who asks, no questions. up to 2 scores per composer.
submit now ➜꩜ Guest Artist Application
we invite guest artists to perform, present, and collaborate with our ensemble and community. see the application page for current openings and deadlines.
apply ➜𓏲 Selected Composers
2025
selected composers: Anak Baiharn, Erin C Blake, Zygmund de Somogyi, Frank Felice, Brian Field, Kyle Grimm, Robin Haigh, Liann Kang, Abby Kellems, June Young (Will) Kim, Alexey Logunov, Asher Lurie, Alan Mackwell, Gísli Magnússon, Eleanor Margraf, Matt Mason, Ugo Raimondi, Kian Ravaei, Leah Reid, Jee Seo, MA Tiesenga, Gloria Xia · selected guest artists: Emma Denney, Jakob Heinemann, Gracie Fagan, Hermetic Fever, Varun Kishore, Adrianna Svitak
- “What Was Then Isn't Now and Will Never Be Again”
- “Meeball's Wacky Adventure”
- “PIXELHEAD”
- “Ten Sacks O'Sneaks and Snacks”
- “Three Passions for Our Tortured Planet”
- “ECHO ECHO”
- “L'amour pur”
- “Study of Snowflakes”
- “Stuðlagil”
- “Ecstasies”
2024
- David Acavedo “Chroma”
- William Bolles-Beaven “Dialogue”
- Alicia Castillo “Billow”
- Daniel DeTogni “Postcards From Veneta”
- Emma Denney “Fresh Fuel for the Sodium Flares”
- Robin Haigh “traces in the earth of our bodies”
- Fani Kosona “Etude Topologiques: 3. Transforming into Light”
- Henry McPherson “How to Play Mariana”
- MA Tiesenga “Ebi Revolution”
- Cooper Wood “Celestial Bodies”
2023
- Anuj Bhutani “flightpath”
- Dinah Bianchi “Harmony 58”
- Chin Ting Chan “52 Blue”
- Gracie Fagan “Genzennial”
- Mikhail Johnson “Wach ya HAYDN?!”
- João Pedro Oliveira “Rust”
- Michèle Saint-Michel “Score for Memories and the Weather in Montenegro”
- Marta Tiesenga “Vík í Mýrdal”
2022
- Erin Blake “Storm King”
- Ryan Carter “Direct Attention”
- Luis Fernando Amaya “For it is Our First Universe”
- Nolan Hildebrand “guerrilla de dientes entre los árboles”
- Leah Reid “Crumbs”
- Josiah Tayag Catalan “Sage's Gardens”
✦ 2025 Selected Guest Artists
- Emma Denney
- Jakob Heinemann
- Gracie Fagan
- Hermetic Fever
- Varun Kishore
- Adrianna Svitak
- Mage video installation
✦ 2024 Selected Guest Artists
- Peer2Peer
- Professor Lumos
- Ryan Carraher
- Synsor
- Treya Nash
- Mage video installation
✦ 2023 Selected Guest Artists
- Don Haugen
- Free Static
- Mrs. Hands
- M Denney
- Jennifer Wright
✦ 2022 Selected Guest Artists
- Aine Nakamura
- Free Static
- M Denney
- Mystic Elevator
2026
coming soon…
• Donate
your support helps us pay artists fairly, maintain free public programming, and keep our open calls accessible to composers everywhere. ˖
when you give to EDME, you're paying artists. every dollar goes directly to the work.
- ˖ donate via paypal ➜
- ˖ read us on substack ➜
- ᨒ buy merch (threadless) ➜
- 𝄜 buy our music (bandcamp) ➜
for large gifts or institutional giving → ExecutiveDirector@edmensemble.org ✉
• Individual Supporters
thank you to everyone who has supported EDME as an individual donor in our 2025–2026 season. your contributions make this work possible.
performance supporters ($500–1999)
artist benefactors ($200–499)
Mike and Carolee Jakes
Shannan and Marshall Brengle
substack subscribers
Jason Wiley · Justin Ambron · Janet Stott and Arthur Pembleton · Ruth · Ryan Rix · Zane Ridings
friends of EDME ($25–199)
David Dellacroce · Donald Morgan · Flux Crystals · Jon Bellona · Matt Barton · Max's Tavern
Michael Alex Weber · Nicole Lillegard · Oldoc Benway · Pavilanis School of Music · Rachelle Suzuki and Jesus Barocio
in-kind donors
✉ Contact
get in touch. we read everything. ✦
| | membership, booking, collaboration | JP Lempke · ExecutiveDirector@edmensemble.org |
| ✉ general inquiries, new music festival | Adrian Cervantes · Secretary@edmensemble.org |
| 🕪 sound of curiosity, fake music book | Lee Pembleton · Treasurer@edmensemble.org |
| ✉ newsletter | subscribe on our site ➜ |
| @edmensemble ➜ | |
| facebook.com/EDMEnsemble ➜ | |
| ▶ youtube | edme on youtube ➜ |
| 𝄜 bandcamp | edme.bandcamp.com ➜ |
| ˖ substack | substack.com/@edmensemble ➜ |