Last year Texas Performing Arts embarked on its Star Trek-like three-year mission to explore strange new worlds of classical music, to seek out new acts and new compositions, to boldly go where no musician has gone before. Already, the Mellon Foundation-funded initiative has brought us the weird (The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer, with John Malkovich) and the wonderful (the Ricky Ian Gordon-Mark Campbell Civil War song cycle Rappahannock County). Now comes the premiere of an epic percussion opera by Alaskan composer John Luther Adams. In Ilimaq (Inupiaq for "spirit journeys"), Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche whales away on 19 instruments for 50 minutes, accompanied by sound from live electronics and Alaskan field recordings. After a no-doubt sorely needed intermission, Kotche will be joined by bassist Darin Gray for a set as the duo On Fillmore. Let's go exploring! – Robert Faires