“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.”
