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Danish String Quartet Finds the Human Connection

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

These days, the Danish String Quartet keep their touring schedule simple. Arrive in a new city in the morning, play a concert in the evening, and repeat. That’s not because the group doesn’t like exploring new places — it’s because they’ve got little ones waiting at home.

“ Back before we had kids, we did three-week tours, four-week tours in the States,” violinist Frederik Øland says. “Now we’re down to two weeks at a time, because anything more than that is just too much.”

A lot has changed since the early 2000s, when the newly-formed quartet were all teenagers at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Music. But what’s stayed constant is the critical acclaim that follows wherever they go. On Friday, November 21, the celebrated ensemble — comprised of violinists Øland and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen, violist Asbjørn Nørgaard, and cellist Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin — will make their Oberlin debut as part of the Artist Recital Series. [Read more…]

VOCES8’s Oberlin debut: a delightful 20th anniversary program (Oct. 28)

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by Stephanie Manning

VOCES8’s 20th anniversary called for plenty of celebration and plenty of humor.

When the British a cappella group visited the Oberlin Artist Recital Series on October 28, they brought a program of audience favorites that delighted the sold-out crowd in Finney Chapel. Known for their ethereal voices and crystal clear harmonies, the octet demonstrated all that and more as they bridged the sacred and secular in “Songs From 20 Years.”

This two-decade milestone gave good reason to celebrate not only the singers, but also their longtime arranger-in-residence, Jim Clements. Responsible for some of the group’s most requested pieces, Clements is like “the secret burger sauce in the Big Mac,” joked tenor Blake Morgan.

[Read more…]

A Little Bit of Everything with VOCES8

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

For Barnaby Smith, putting a concert program together is like cooking a three-course meal.

“You want the audience to come and have the starter, the main, and the dessert,” the countertenor says. “It’s like they’re having a nice dinner party while meeting the eight people on stage.”

As the Artistic Director of VOCES8, Smith curates those “dinner parties” for the renowned British vocal ensemble. And he has plenty of music choices to pick from. The a capella group is known for their genre-spanning repertoire — and they’re also celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. Both of those ideas come to the forefront in the program that they’ll bring to Oberlin’s Finney Chapel on October 28 as part of the Artist Recital Series.

“It’s got everything from Renaissance polyphony to jazz and pop songs,” Smith says. “There’s a little bit of something for everyone — Simon and Garfunkel, a few madrigals, and a bit of Bach and Elgar.” [Read more…]

Folk quartet adds Oberlin to the fabric of their American Patchwork (Sept. 13)

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by Stephanie Manning

Once you’ve listened to the American Patchwork Quartet, you might not hear your favorite folk songs the same way. Take the group’s September 13 version of “Shenandoah,” which began with an introduction that held the Oberlin audience spellbound.

Accompanied only by a drone, Harini (“Rini”) Raghavan’s voice spun out a searching melody in the South Indian Carnatic style, an improvisation of pure sound and syllable. But before long, she took a breath and seamlessly began the words to “Shenandoah,” the rest of the group then picking up the familiar, bittersweet song.

Interactions like that are at the heart of the American Patchwork Quartet — a group that combines different cultural and musical traditions to perform folk music in a distinct and dynamic way. Their Saturday night performance in Finney Chapel marked the group’s debut on the Oberlin Artist Recital Series.

[Read more…]

A Musical Patchwork, Rather Than a Melting Pot

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

When Clay Ross moved to New York City in 2002, he encountered people from all over the world during jam sessions at the popular jazz clubs.

“It was like a United Nations of talent,” says the South Carolina native, who moved to the city to pursue a jazz career. After learning where he grew up, “people would often say, ‘Oh, you must really know a lot about American folk music and country music,’ because they had this idea about what it means to be from the American South.”

But there’s a lot more to Ross than that first impression. The guitarist and vocalist spent 10 years studying music from Brazil and Latin America, during which he founded the group Matuto. He’s also won two Grammys with his group Ranky Tanky, which focuses on Gullah music of the southeastern Sea Islands.

In 2019, those years of conversations about cultural assumptions and expectations took shape into something new when Ross founded the American Patchwork Quartet. This collective of musicians reinterprets American folk tunes through their varied cultural backgrounds and musical training. And on September 13 at 7:30 pm, the group will perform in Finney Chapel as part of the Oberlin Artist Recital Series. Tickets available online. [Read more…]

Contemporary Collaborations with Third Coast Percussion

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

“Strum,” “Strike,” and “Bend” are all evocative references to the physicality of string and percussion instruments. And one is especially significant.

Put all three together, and you get the title of Third Coast Percussion’s (TCP) upcoming program with violinist/composer Jessie Montgomery. “ I think the ‘Bend’ part is maybe the most interesting,” says ensemble member Robert Dillon. “Something we really have enjoyed about Jessie’s percussion writing is this twisting, warping, or bending of sounds.”

Whether that’s blowing through a tube into a tom-tom or hitting a crotale before dipping it into water, these manipulations are ubiquitous in Montgomery’s music. And her recent piece for TCP is no exception.

[Read more…]

Martha Redbone Roots Project: community and storytelling in Oberlin (Apr. 6)

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by Stephanie Manning

Martha Redbone knows how to tell a good story. So you’d better listen up, and get ready to sing along.

“This really will be a church tonight,” the singer promised Oberlin’s Finney Chapel and its assembled audience on April 6. The mood was indeed congregational — sometimes religious, but always communal. Redbone, pianist Aaron Whitby, violinist Charlie Burnham, and bassist Fred Cash, Jr. fostered an intimate evening of American Roots music with their performance as The Martha Redbone Roots Project. [Read more…]

Martha Redbone Hears Her Musical Call

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by Stephanie Manning

Reposted with the permission of Oberlin Conservatory

“If it’s meant to happen, the music will find you.” That’s how Martha Redbone sees it. And it wasn’t until she was in college studying illustration in the late ’80s, that the music found her for good.

Back then, the advent of the first Mac was rapidly changing the art world. “As an illustrator who loved painting and drawing people, that digital world was not for me,” she said. Feeling torn, she turned to music as a creative outlet, starting as a background vocalist before progressing into a career as a lead singer. Together with her songwriting partner (and later life partner) the pianist Aaron Whitby, she began to write music that had stories to tell.

“ There was a connection and a resonance that I got from singing, and it gave me a sense of peace,” she says. “I’ll always be an artist, I’ll always be an illustrator. But the music is what ended up calling me, and I just listened to that call.”

[Read more…]

Midori and Özgür Aydin: an introspective evening in Oberlin (Mar. 5)

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by Stephanie Manning

If one word encapsulated Midori’s recital at Oberlin on March 5, it might be “catharsis.” This program wasn’t just a distraction from the big emotions many of us have been grappling with these days. It required confronting tangled feelings first, before arriving with a changed attitude on the other side.

Finney Chapel was the violinist’s first stop on her latest recital tour, together with her longtime collaborator, pianist Özgür Aydin. The Oberlin Artist Recital Series event attracted a large crowd, yet the space still seemed fitting for an intimate, two-person recital. Low lighting shrouded the Chapel’s great organ and the back of the stage in a warm darkness, focusing all attention on the musicians.

The process of catharsis came slightly out of order, but nonetheless effectively. For embracing a thorny emotional tangle head-on, there was Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, which arrived after intermission. [Read more…]

Anthony McGill & Emanuel Ax on Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series (Feb. 5)

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by Kevin McLaughlin

The crackle in the air on February 4 was perhaps more or less routine for clarinetist Anthony McGill and for Oberlin’s Artist Recital Series, which always seems to bring out the best in performers. But still, his kind of artistry doesn’t come along every day. Add to it pianist Emanuel Ax’s exquisite contributions, and you had a real night to remember in Finney Chapel.

Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestücke Op. 73 (Fantasy Pieces) are heard with equal pleasure performed on clarinet (Schumann’s original) or cello. But McGill showed the advantages of his instrument with his branded suppleness, his crayon box full of sound colors, and a chameleon’s ability to be heard or veiled at will.

The duo emphasized the picturesque over the dramatic in these three miniatures — Schumann originally entitled them “Soirée Pieces.” [Read more…]

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