Sympatico Percussion Quintet, Pianist Nathan Speir, and Classical Revolution Greensboro

Music for a Great Space

This weekend, the Music for a Great Space concert series presents Sympatico Percussion Quintet. If you're thinking loud snare drums, bass drums and maybe a cymbal crash or two, think again. Sure when it comes to putting out volume the ensemble can take it to “11”, but the musicians that make up Sympatico can also play as soft as a whisper and every dynamic gradient in between. And they do so on dozens and dozens of different percussion instruments, many of which come from the far corners of the world.

Sympatico's Christopher Norton spoke with David Ford recently about the ensemble's diverse and eclectic repertoire beginning with Charleston Capers. It was composed in 1930 by George Green and today we sample from a recent SPQ recording with Christopher's colleague Susan Powell, whom he describes as of the foremost ragtime xylophone soloists of her generation.

Sympatico Percussion Quintet comes to the Triad this Friday night, January 16^th at 7:30PM, in Christ United Methodist Church in Greensboro compliments of Music for a Great Space concert series. We've been sampling some of the pieces on the program. There will be several others, and, while they're in town, SPQ will be offering percussion clinics at UNCG, UNCSA and some local elementary schools as well. 

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Pianist Nathan Speir

Pianist/composer Nathan Speir draws his inspiration from a wide variety of sources including late and modern classical and jazz composers, New Age artists, minimalist composers like Steve Reich and Arvo Parte,  and sacred Byzantine music. His new album which was just released last week captures the essence of his journey through life and lessons he's learned along the way. It's titled The Emotive Leaf and we sample from it in today's show.

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Classical Revolution

For decades the three Big Bs were Bach, Beethoven and Berlioz. Then a guy named von Bulow gave Berlioz the hook in favor of Johannes Brahms.  But now,  Classical Revolution Greensboro is re-writing the Big B's book by adding….Brew Pub.

Cellist Brian Carter and his chamber music colleagues in Classical Revolution are taking the music straight to the people wherever they are, and the revolution is coming to Gibb's Hundred Brewery in downtown Greensboro Sunday night, January 18^th at 8pm with The Railyard String Quartet: violinists Rebecca Willie & Naiara Sanchez, violist Noah Hock and cellist, my guest today Brian Carter.

On the musical menu: Mozart, Haydn and Shostakovich, and on the barley pop menu it's Gibb's Guilty Party ESB, Cherchez La Femme Milk Stout, and Blind Man's Holiday Greensboro Pale Ale with more house recipes and seasonals coming soon. The day after Valentine's Day Classical Revolution presents Love Songs (of course) with some of the Triad's finest singers accompanied by strings, and then on March 22^nd it'll be a shift of gears with the renowned Red Clay Saxophone Quartet taking it into overdrive. All performances are at 8pm at Gibb's in Greensboro. 

You can follow Classical Revolution Greensboro on Facebook and Twitter.

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The Triad Arts Weekend team decided to try something new this week and took a little time to throw out some of their personal recommendations. On this week's show, the Triad To Do List looks like this:

David: Bookmark's A Movable Feast takes place Sunday, January 25th from 3:00pm - 5:00pm. Meet 20 authors from around the country at this annual event. It's like speed dating but with authors.

Bethany: Art-o-mat isn't the only provider of small art at Delurk Gallery this month. Delurk's "The Little Things" exhibit is on display through January, featuring 2D and 3D art that is no bigger than 14 inches (at largest dimension). Check out work by 51 artists within the community.

Eddie: The jazz-drumming film Whiplash opens this weekend, and he's looking forward to checking it out. He's also interested in the fact that The Lego Movie was not nominated for Best Animated Film for the Oscars. Dale Pollock discussed branding in films (including The Lego Movie) last summer on Triad Arts Weekend.   

http://youtu.be/7d_jQycdQGo