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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > March > 23
Monday, March 23, 2009
Nonclassical SXSW showcase
The crowd knew what to do — with a live string quartet on stage at a bar, that is.
Saturday night, at the UK-based Nonclassical records showcase, part of SXSW 2009, the audience swilled beer, perched at the bar, straddled stools, clapped when they liked and hooted too.
Mainly, though, they listened. After all, they were there with specificity in mind. Clearly half the audience lacked the SXSW badges and wristbands that admit to all festival showcases. This was a cover-charge paying crowd there with a purpose: to see what classically-based music (composed, notated) could be like when its let loose from its stifling concert hall confines.
Gabriel Prokofiev, the London-based composer, producer, Nonclassical founder (and also grandson of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev), brought the Elysian Quartet with him from across the pond to play his String Quartet No. 2. Amplified, that is. Remember, the gig was in a bar.
That amplification gave the strings a metallic edge, perfect for Prokofiev’s jittery rhythms and moody pizzicato-laced melodies. Prokofiev plums the range of contemporary electro-based sounds and laces them through shifting stark yet excitable patterns.
Before the Elysian Quartet though, it was Delicious, Austin composer Peter Stopschinski’s ever-morphing ensemble. Four violins, bass, the ever-intriguing Ames Asbell on viola and Stopschinski on the piano delivering rolling streams of melody in a kind of alt-barrelhouse style. For her part, Asbell dug deep into Stopschinksi dark melodies, extracting a wide range of moods and sounds.
Graham Reynolds took over for a set, the super-prolific Austin alt classical composer wresting out his newest music, including gorgeous, heartfelt portions of his score to Fritz Lang’s famed movie “Metropolis.” (Reynolds and Stopschinski are forging the same path as Prokofiev.)
Later, the Elysian Quartet returned for another set, delivering an ethereal, emotive, impressive group improvisation — improvisation being a rarity in the world of string quartets. Elysian played with aplomb.
In between sets, Prokofiev DJ’d, offering atmospheric re-mixes of music from his Nonclassical label and just about anything else, including snippets from his grandfather’s ouevre. The sounds were groovy, vibrant, smart re-imaginings that made the point: Classical music (nonclassical music?) is all music in the 21st century and it can look and feel like all music.
Listen to samples of Prokofiev’s music;
- Elysian Quartet, String Quartet No. 1, movement 1
- Elysian Quartet, String Quartet No. 1, movement 1 - REMIX
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Ailey company comes to Austin on historic 50- anniversary tour
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre is in the midst of a 50-city global tour, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The tour began in late March last year and is scheduled to end in mid-June
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the New York-based company will appear at the University of Texas’ Bass Concert Hall.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with special guest Sweet Honey in the Rock
When:8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday
Where: Bass Concert Hall, 23rd Street and Robert Dedman Drive
Cost: $30-$52
Information: 512-477-6060, www.utpac.org.
The Austin performances will include company member Hope Boykin’s “Go in Grace,” an innovative collaboration with Grammy Award-winning female a cappella musical group Sweet Honey in the Rock, who will perform on stage with the dancers. Also on the program is a new production of the historic work “Suite Otis” by Tony Award-winning choreographer and former Ailey company member George Faison, a piece full of romance and humor set to the songs of Otis Redding. And Ailey’s timeless masterpiece “Revelations” will performed in its entirety.
Read more about the Ailey company’s 50th-anniversary tour here.
R. Deshauteurs, C. Brown, A. Machanic and R. Robinson in Hope Boykin’s Go In Grace.Go In Grace. Photo by Paul Kolnik
C. Brown, K. Boyd and A. Douthit in Hope Boykin’s Go In Grace. Photo © Steve Vaccariello
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