“Something unusual is happening at Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra concerts this weekend. For the first time, the storied orchestra—the nation’s fifth oldest—will present a subscription concert with indie rock musicians,” writes Janelle Gelfand in Sunday’s (3/16) Cincinnati Enquirer (Ohio). “In a bold move, Louis Langrée and the orchestra are collaborating with the MusicNOW Festival. Two different programs will match up rock-inspired world premieres against classical masterpieces in Music Hall. MusicNOW was founded in 2006 by Cincinnati native Bryce Dessner, a guitarist in the New York-based band The National, a band that he and his twin, Aaron, founded in 1999.… Dessner … is also a classically-trained musician who studied flute, classical guitar and composition at Yale…. To open this year’s MusicNOW Festival, the Dessner brothers will be playing their electric guitars with the symphony in a piece by Bryce Dessner, ‘St. Carolyn by the Sea.’ The evocative piece was inspired by Jack Kerouac’s 1962 novel, ‘Big Sur.’ … The program will include major names among today’s American composers: Dessner, David Lang, Nico Muhly and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.”
Posted March 19, 2014
