Experimental guitar pioneer Fred Frith and award-winning Foley artist Shelley Roden will test the limits of the improvisatory composition of soundscapes in an open rehearsal on Sunday, April 12, 2026 at 2 p.m. The concert, entitled “Fringes of Consciousness,” is part of the Sanctuary Concert Series, which offers an acoustically outstanding venue for performers and audiences to share in a listening experience.
The series highlights the work of the Sanctuary Coalition of Sonoma County, defending our migrant neighbors from deportation threats, and all proceeds from the event will go directly to this effort.
Fred Frith is a pioneer of the extended electric guitar. He learned to compose in Henry Cow, developed his song-writing skills in Art Bears, explored his multi-instrumentalism in Skeleton Crew, rocked the house with Massacre and is still doing all of those things, having been in one band or another continuously since 1964! Meanwhile his work has been performed by string quartets, orchestras, big bands and a whole range of groups and artists in the ever-expanding field of semi-popular music. Fred is also an award-winning film composer whose credits include the acclaimed documentaries Rivers and Tides, Touch the Sound, and Tracing Light directed by Thomas Riedelsheimer, The Tango Lesson, Yes and The Party by Sally Potter, Werner Penzel’s Zen for Nothing, Peter Mettler’s Gods, Gambling and LSD, and the award-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Last Day of Freedom, by Nomi Talisman and Dee Hibbert-Jones. He is the subject of Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel’s much loved Step Across the Border, cited by Cahiers du Cinéma as one of the 20th century’s hundred most influential films. Long fascinated by the unique and strangely eccentric world of the Foley artist, Fred is greatly looking forward to exploring the world of sound from a completely different angle!
Shelley Roden is an award-winning Foley Artist working at Skywalker Sound in Northern CA. She has created and performed foley sound effects for hundreds of live-action films, animated films, and television series. Her recent projects include Pixar’s upcoming film Hoppers, Warner Bros. Pictures’ F1: The Movie, and the Tony Gilroy series Andor.
The art of foley is a formal process where the foley artist manipulates found objects to create sound effects and perform in sync to picture while a foley mixer simultaneously uses digital and analogue tools to shape and record the performance. This process involves collaborating with a team to improvise, experiment, and discover new ideas. Shelley thinks of foley sound effects as carefully orchestrated and nuanced musical notes that accompany a visual. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to improvise live with Fred to expand her musical vocabulary. Her palette will include tools she uses to create foley sound effects as well as instruments designed by friends and inherited from family members. Without images to guide her choices, Shelley will rely on her ears and impulses to create with Fred a sonic tapestry to move and connect with the live audience.
Together, Frith and Roden offer the very rare opportunity to hear a new approach to the creation of sound enacted on the spot. This open rehearsal will mark their second time meeting up to create together, and all fans of classical, improvisatory, and experimental music will want to seize the opportunity to catch them at work.
“We’re excited to bring a new and beautiful listening room to the already rich Petaluma musical landscape,” says David Dodd, one of the series organizers. “The church sanctuary is an acoustical gem, and we are happy to offer this space for pure musical enjoyment.” The building, a 1901 Italian Gothic Revival gem by noted Petaluma architect Brainerd Jones, is undergoing restoration by the congregation. Dodd says that the UU congregation sees these concerts as a way to raise awareness of the need for defense of our migrant neighbors in the face of ever-increasing threats of deportation.
This is an all-ages event, with no alcohol served–just some snacks and drinks for a late afternoon concert. A suggested donation at the door–no advance ticket sales–of $20 (or more!) will go directly to the artists. The church is located at the corner of 5th and B Streets in downtown Petaluma. Doors open at 3:30, so plan to arrive early to get a good seat!