“What the Classical Music Establishment Could Learn from Checkpoint KBK”
Checkpoint KBK just received another rave review for their recent program at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. In a review titled What the Classical Music Establishment Could Learn from Checkpoint KBK, Wayne Lee Gay for D Magazine writes:
“The Soundings new music series, now in its second year at the Nasher Sculpture Center, once again delivered a flawlessly paced program in which the classical tradition intertwined convincingly with frontline musical innovation. […]
For this concert, traditionally trained musicians from Yellow Barn (violinist Anna Elashvili, violinist Keats Dieffenbach, violist Margaret Dyer, and cellist Hamilton Berry) were joined by members of Checkpoint KBK, an ensemble that almost defies description. Clarinetist David Krakauer and accordionist Merima Ključo were both remarkable in their own right, while Moravian-born Iva Bittová, who plays the violin and sings (and makes bird noises, and dances, and composes, all at pretty much the same time) must surely be one of the most remarkable performers in the world today. […]
The classical music establishment is searching—sometimes desperately, it seems—for new ways to engage an increasingly fragmented audience. In their highly intelligent, unfailingly dramatic approach, both the Soundings series as a whole and the musicians of Checkpoint KBK have discovered a promising direction.”
Following a captivating performance at Dallas’ Nasher Sculpture Center, Checkpoint KBK - the collaboration between extraordinary performers violinist-vocalist Iva Bittová, clarinetist David Krakauer, and accordionist Merima Ključo - is receiving glowing responses from audience members and critics.
Writes Gregory Sullivan Isaacs for Dallas’ Theater Jones:
“When a concert takes you suddenly to unknown regions and keeps you there, it can be difficult to write about the experience. The Friday’s Soundings concert at the Nasher Sculpture Center was just such a concert. […] There was a string quartet on the stage. A singer would enter down the side aisle, singing in an unrecognizable language. A clarinetist would wander in. An accordion player appeared. They all took turns playing and it was so dark that the program was useless as a road map through the modernist and vaguely Hebraic-Middle Eastern-klezmer influenced musical landscape. It was wonderful to be a bewildered visitor in a different world.”
Maya Beiser in the Huffington Post, Returns to UCLA Live
The Huffington Post’s David J. Kushner just sat down with Maya Beiser to talk about musical Cubism, her best-selling project Provenance, and the creative performer. Kushner writes:
“There is no doubt that cellist Maya Beiser is a dynamic performer. But her command is not limited to conventional concert stages. Video of her recent TED Talks presentation has garnered over 296,000 views online, no small feat for a performance of contemporary classical music. This seems right in line with the musician’s career as a whole, which seems predicated on presenting music as the ultimate unifying experience.” [David J. Kushner for the Huffington Post]
On November 11, Beiser will make her return to UCLA Live to perform selections from Provenance in a shared evening with percussionist Evelyn Glennie. The two will also premiere Stuttered Chant, a new work written specifically for them by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lang.
Maya Beiser at UCLA Live Friday, November 11 at 8:00PM Royce Hall 340 Royce Drive (map) Los Angeles, CA 90095
More than 200 composers from around the world applied to have works performed by ACME, and nine were picked by a small jury. Two judges, Christian Carey and Hayes Biggs, also provided pieces for the program. The composers selected came from as far afield as California and England. […] the concert offered a personable panoply of individual styles. […] another echo of the Internet’s power to span unbridgeable distances and inspire connections previously unimagined. [New York Times]
Next, ACME is on the road with A Winged Victory for the Sullen (Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, Dustin O’Halloran) for a North American tour from October 29 through November 15, 2011. The group is performing music from A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s self-titled debut album, which was released on Erased Tapes/Kranky to great critical acclaim on September 14, 2011.
Listen to some of what they’ll be playing below:
North American Tour Dates: ACME with A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Cellist Maya Beiser was honored to be one of only three musicians invited to present at TED2011. TED, an organization devoted to bringing together people from the forefront of their fields, released a stunning video of the performance and, with over 140,000 plays, the reception has been tremendous. Maya plays Steve Reich’s “Cello Counterpoint,” with video from Bill Morrison, followed by David Lang’s “World to Come,” with video by Irit Batsry.
Pablo Ziegler Quartet at Birdland with guest Sandra Luna
Pablo Ziegler Quartet with guest Sandra Luna July 12 - 16, 2011 shows at 8:30 & 11:00 PM Birdland 315 West 44th St (map) New York, NY
On July 12 - 16 Pablo Ziegler will bring his tango quartet to the legendary Birdland jazz club in New York. The group, featuring the consummate talents of Pablo Ziegler on piano, Hector Del Curto on bandoneon, Pedro Giraudo on bass, and Jisoo Ok on cello, will be joined by acclaimed Argentine chanteuse Sandra Luna in her first New York City appearance.
For more information on Pablo Ziegler, visit bernsarts.com
“The shadow of Argentine composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla looms large whenever new tango music is performed. In the North American musical mind, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that tango music begins and ends with Piazzolla. But Friday night’s Mondavi Center performance by pianist Pablo Ziegler and an ensemble of standout musicians dispelled that notion. … Like all successful band- leaders, Ziegler proved savvy in his choice of musicians. Stellar musicianship was a true highlight.”
“The Mondavi Center’s 1801-seat Jackson Hall was nearly full for the performance, accommodating all ages of music lovers, from the young family to my left to the college-aged women to my right.
… Pieces performed by the full Chamber Ensemble were almost too energizing for a sit-down concert. The heads of audience members were bobbing during the quick and flirtatious “Fuga y Misterio.” … Though talented stand-alone musicians, the ensemble seemed to thrive off the energy it created as a group. It was apparent that the ensemble’s members enjoy one another as more than colleagues, and their subtle on-stage interactions imbued the performance with an intimate yet inviting tone.
… In appreciation of the performers’ good vibes, the audience offered up some warmth of its own in the form of a standing ovation. With Ziegler ushering the members to stand closer together, the Chamber Ensemble stood smiling in front of us before rewarding the crowd with a rare encore performance.”
Pablo Ziegler continues to extend the realm of nuevo tango on the concert stage with his unique and majestic sound. An exciting new project developed at the Miami International Piano Festival, Beyond Tango sees Ziegler’s music arranged for solo piano as well as large classical ensemble, including string quartet, woodwinds, and classical percussion.
April 23 at 8:00 PM SymphonySpace 2537 Broadway (map) New York, NY 10025
The Paul Dresher Ensemble just closed a two-week run of a newly revised version of their inventive, solo stage work Schick Machine, featuring percussionist Steven Schick. The production earned critical acclaim for its unique, boundary-pushing musical creations. The New York Times featured Dresher and his invented instruments, as did the San Francisco Chronicle in a thoughtful interview. The San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Robert Avila writes:
A gorgeous clutter of instruments fills the stage at Z Space/Theater Artaud this week, and audiences, after an eye- and earful of Schick Machine, are invited to go up and play them, too. […] Master percussionist and contemporary music veteran Steven Schick […] wanders around a garden playground laboratory of ingeniously crafted percussive and stringed instruments (composer Dresher’s fanciful yet practicable inventions), against a video backdrop evocative of everything from superstrings to abstract expressionist painting to architectural blueprints and scientific scribblings. The instruments of wood and steel form elegant ridges, playful spirals, majestic fans, Ferris wheel–like magic circles, and sonic tulip patches — a kind of Eden for a lone but rarely lonesome madman.
NY Times Reviews Maya Beiser’s Recent Rubin Evening
“The Rubin Museum of Art encourages performers in its concert series to find connections between their music and the museum’s exhibitions, but given its focus on Asia (particularly the Himalayas) that can be a challenge for classical players. But it is precisely the kind of challenge that appeals to the cellist Maya Beiser, whose solo performances in recent seasons have been multimedia mélanges of classical, electronic and world music.” [Allan Kozinn for the New York Times]
