Telluride Bluegrass: Brooklyn Rider (with Bela)

13 Jun Telluride Bluegrass: Brooklyn Rider (with Bela)

“We’re more than a decade into the post-classical’ era: classical musicians of all stripes are reconsidering the repertoire they play, and reimagining the way they play it. And the string quartet—once the focus of connoisseurs, now a sturdy off-road vehicle for sonic exploration—has been at the forefront. In New York, the movement has been personified by Brooklyn Rider, the fun-loving foursome whose smoothly ingratiating style emerges from a combination of new-music, early-music, and world-music influences, in addition to deep classical training,” The New Yorker

Brooklyn Rider, by Sarah Small

Perhaps from the get-go, certainly once Craig Ferguson and Steve Szymanski took over the event in 1989, Telluride Bluegrass has been defined by a wide open tent with enough room inside to include jazz, rock, pop, funk, even classical music on the program. Which means the “brand” is effectively an endorsement of the best of the best from whatever genre.

Banjo superstar Bela Fleck reinvented the image and sound of his instrument in a remarkable career that has taken him all over the musical map, from the progressive bluegrass band Newgrass Revival to the unique sound of the Flecktones, a mix of acoustic and electric music with roots in folk and bluegrass as well as funk and jazz – and more recently, classical.

At Telluride Bluegrass 2014, Bela performs first with the Colorado Symphony, Friday, June 20, 6 – 7 p.m. His second (scheduled) appearance takes place Sunday, June 22, 11:30– 12:45 p.m. when Bela collaborates with the Brooklyn Rider, a ground-breaking string quartet and strong add-on to the classical crossover of this year’s event.

Bela Fleck & Brooklyn Rider, by Shervin Lainez

“They are four classical musicians performing with the energy of young rock stars jamming on their guitars, a Beethoven-goes-indie foray into making classical music accessible but also celebrating why it was good in the first place,” raved the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 

The name of the group originates from  20th-century artistic collective, Der Blaue Reiter  (The Blue Rider), and the fact that Brooklyn is home to all four members.

But what’s in a name?

The genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider combines an eclectic repertoire with a gripping performance style that is attracting legions of fans and drawing critical acclaim from classical, world and rock critics alike. NPR credits Brooklyn Rider with “recreating the 300-year-old form of string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble.”

The musicians –  Johnny Gandelsman & Colin Jacobsen, violins; Nicholas Cords, viola; Eric Jacobsen, cello –   are all about making everything old new again. And to prove the point, they play in venues as varied as Joe’s Pub in New York City; the San Francisco Jazz Festival; Todai-ji Temple in Japan; the Library of Congress; South By Southwest Festival – and now Telluride Bluegrass. With its creative programming and global collaborations, Brooklyn Rider illuminates music for its audiences in ways that are “stunningly imaginative.” (Lucid Culture).

In 2011, when the iconic composer Phillip Glass, a former artist-in-resident at the Telluride Musicfest, went shopping for a group to record his string quartets, he chose Brooklyn Rider.

“…These Brooklynites reveal astonishing layers of texture and depth in Glass’ writing, as well as warmth often absent from Glass performances. With the inclusion of Glass’ rarely heard String Quartet No.1, from 1966, and the world premiere of his score to the 1997 film Bent, this is a treasure for Glass fans and anyone willing to roam new musical terrain,” raved NPR Music.

Brooklyn Rider, by Sarah SmallAnd…

And…

“Brooklyn Rider’s interpretation of Glass’s tense, melancholic vision is a cathartic and delicate masterpiece … Once again, these four young musicians are proving themselves to be among the most fearless in the classical world today,” purred The Huffington Post.

Past performances with Bela serve to compound the superlatives.

“Something seems inevitable about the recent partnership of innovative string quartet Brooklyn Rider and pioneering banjo master Béla Fleck…For more than a decade, Brooklyn Rider — its young members graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School — has been called the future of chamber music, with their embrace of new compositions and envelope-pushing collaborations with other global artists,” said the Seattle Times.

And…

“… Fleck and Brooklyn Rider proved their points that seeming incongruity can still produce inspiration,…” George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

For more about Brooklyn Rider, click the “play” button and listen to my conversation with violinist Colin Jacobsen, described by The Washington Post as “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene.”