C enterStage - Reston Community Center

CenterStage
the
2012-2013
Professional Touring Artist Series
A Flower is a
Lovesome Thing
Featuring the Turtle Island Quartet
and Nellie McKay
Wednesday
October 30, 2013
8:00 p.m.

Reston Community Center Presents
A Flower is a lovesome thing
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Nellie McKay joins forces with the two-time Grammy
Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet to present a delightfully kaleidoscopic view of the music of
Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, and the Weimar cabaret of the 1920s. While the combination of voice
and strings has long been a staple of the classical genre as well as of contemporary music, McKay’s
talents on piano, mallets, and ukulele and Turtle Island’s famed innovative rhythmic techniques
unleash an unprecedented range of possibilities. A healthy dose of original music - for which both
McKay and the Turtle Island Quartet are renowned - rounds out this sweeping concert.
Turtle Island Quartet
Mateusz Smoczynski, Violin
David Balakrishnan, Violin, Baritone Violin
Benjamin von Gutzeit, Viola
Mark Summer, Cello
with guest
Nellie McKay
Vocals, Marimba, Piano & Ukulele
The multi-award winning Turtle Island Quartet has released numerous recordings and toured
internationally for more than a quarter of a century. The ensemble has collaborated with some of
the most sought-after artists of our day including; Paquito d’Rivera, The Assad Duo, Cyrus Chestnut
and Leo Kottke. McKay - who performed on Broadway in The Three Penny Opera - performs music
of 1920s Berlin as well as jazz standards made famous by Billie Holiday. Some of these pieces
transcend time and genre: well-known standards such as I Remember You, Mean To Me, and I Cover
The Waterfront, to the more offbeat, such as Marlene Dietrich’s sultry version of Black Market, and
Alabama Song, the German Cabaret tune revisited in modern times by the Doors. Also included is
a touch of Doris Day, whose music was so evocatively revisited by McKay on her recent recording
Normal as Blueberry Pie. Songs by the great Billy Strayhorn complete a night of intoxicating revelry.
Tonight’s performance will be announced from the stage.
There will be a short intermission.
Turtle Island Quartet Recordings:
Telarc, Koch International Classics, Windham Hill, Chandos, CC&C Records, GRP, BMG
Turtle Island Quartet is represented by:
Nellie McKay is represented by:
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Bios
Bios
Its name derived from creation mythology found in Native American Folklore, the Turtle Island Quartet,
since its inception in 1985, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music
for strings. Winner of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover category, Turtle
Island Quartet fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by
devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined.
Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed Turtle Island to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground
– authentic and passionate – a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.”
The Quartet’s birth was the result of violinist David Balakrishnan’s brainstorming explorations and
compositional vision while writing his master’s thesis at Antioch University West. The journey has taken
Turtle Island through forays into folk, bluegrass, swing, be-bop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop, as well
as music of Latin America and India …a repertoire consisting of hundreds of ingenious arrangements
and originals. It has included over a dozen recordings on labels such as Windham Hill, Chandos, Koch
and Telarc, soundtracks for major motion pictures, TV and radio credits such as The Today Show, All
Things Considered, Prairie Home Companion and Morning Edition, feature articles in People and Newsweek
magazines, and collaborations with famed artists such as clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, vibraphonist Stefon
Harris, guitar legends Leo Kottke and the Assad brothers, The Manhattan Transfer, pianists Billy Taylor,
Kenny Barron, Cyrus Chestnut and Ramsey Lewis, singers Tierney Sutton and Nellie McKay, the Ying
Quartet and the Parsons and Luna Negra Dance Companies.
Another unique element of Turtle Island is their revival of venerable improvisational and compositional
chamber traditions that have not been explored by string players for nearly 200 years. At the time of
Haydn’s apocryphal creation of the string quartet form, musicians were more akin to today’s saxophonists
and keyboard masters of the jazz and pop world, i.e., improvisers, composers, and arrangers. Each Turtle
Island member is accomplished in these areas of expertise as well as having extensive conservatory
training. Original members Balakrishnan and Mark Summer - arguably the finest cross-genre cellist of
the modern age - are joined by the elite of the young alternative string players from Europe - Polish jazz
violin phenom Mateusz Smoczynski, and violist Benjamin Von Gutzeit, of German descent, who recently
completed a masters program in jazz studies at Manhattan School of Music.
As Turtle Island members continue to refine their skills through the development of repertory by some of
today’s cutting edge composers, through performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles,
and through a determined educational commitment, the Turtle Island Quartet stakes its claim as the
quintessential ‘New World’ string quartet of the 21st century.
For Turtle Island’s recent Telarc recording, Have You Ever Been…, they tackle works by legendary guitarist,
songwriter and performer Jimi Hendrix, along with other compositions reflective of and inspired by
Hendrix’s music including Turtle Island Quartet founder David Balakrishnan’s new composition Tree of Life,
an exploration of the longstanding controversy that Darwin’s theory of evolution sparked – namely, the
spirit world versus the natural world, religion versus science.
David Balakrishnan (violin, baritone violin) graduated from UCLA with a
B.A. in music composition and violin and earned a master’s degree in music composition at Antioch
University West. The Turtle Island founder developed the template for the Turtle Island Quartet
revolutionary compositional style—based on the principle of stylistic integration applied to bowed
string instruments—that in addition to the group awards has earned him Grammy nominations in
the arranging/composing categories and led to numerous grants, both from private sources such as
conductor Marin Alsop, who commissioned his piece for violin and orchestra, Little Mouse Jumps, as well
as national service organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts and Meet The Composer
foundations. In 2005 he received a MTC/ASOL “Music Alive” residency with the Nashville Chamber
Orchestra for which he composed six orchestral works, the last being a concerto for Turtle Island cellist
Mark Summer. The NCO also commissioned Balakrishnan’s composition Darkness Dreaming, which
premiered in April 2004 with guitarists Sharon Isbin and John Jorgenson. His piece, Spider Dreams
(1992), has been widely performed and recorded throughout the world by a diverse array of musical
organizations, including a live recording by Turtle Island with the Detroit Symphony conducted by Neeme
Järvi on Chandos Records. A 2002 commission awarded by a consortium of presenters headed by the
Lied Center of Kansas resulted in a string octet entitled Mara’s Garden Of False Delights, which is featured
on Turtle Island’s Grammy winning Telarc release, 4+Four. His most recent commission is again from the
Lied Center, for which Balakrishnan composed a full-length work involving theatre, dance, poetry, video,
and Turtle Island with the KU wind ensemble that is an artistic response to the socio/political issues
concerning the various theories of evolution, both scientific and cultural, entitled The Tree Of Life.
Mark Summer (cello) is a founding member of Turtle Island Quartet and is widely regarded,
thanks not least to his phenomenal percussion and pizzicato techniques, as one of the outstanding
cellists of our time. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a recipient of their 2008
Distinguished Alumnae award, Summer was a tenured member of the Winnipeg Symphony for
three years, before leaving the orchestra to perform in several Canadian contemporary and Baroque
ensembles, as well as his own group, The West-End String Band. Asked to perform at the Winnipeg Folk
Festival in 1985, the group went on to record Summer’s original music for CBC Radio. That same year,
Summer visited the Bay Area where he was invited by David Balakrishnan to help form the quartet.
He continued to touch base with his classical roots, performing with the Chamber Symphony of San
Francisco, the Oakland Symphony, Oakland Ballet, and the contemporary music ensemble, Earplay. In
the 26 years since embarking on an improvisational musical odyssey, Summer has continued to develop
a unique and multi-timbered style, which incorporates virtuoso jazz soloing, distinctive bass lines, and
extensive percussive techniques adapted from the guitar, bass and drums. He has been the subject of
feature articles in Strings and Bass Player magazines, and has published two pieces for solo cello, one of
which, Julie-O, was recently featured on two episodes of NBC’s Parenthood. In addition to composing
and performing with Turtle Island, Summer performed for several years in a trio with clarinet virtuoso
Paquito D’Rivera, participating in the trio’s 2005 Grammy-nominated recording The Jazz Chamber Trio. He
has been recorded for numerous motion picture soundtracks and performed and appeared on albums
with singers Linda Ronstadt, Toni Childs, guitarist Jeff Tamelier of Tower of Power, saxophonist Kirk
Whalum, and guitarist Will Ackerman. In 2011, Mark made his debut as an orchestral soloist, premiering
David Balakrishan’s cello concerto, Force of Nature. His more notable cello exploits include performing
the Brahms Clarinet Trio in a sandstone grotto by the banks of the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, and a
performance on Taos Mountain at 11,000 feet on a cello made of ice.
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Bios
Bios
Mateusz Smoczynski (violin) is a graduate of the Frederic Chopin Academy of Music in
Warsaw, Poland. A student of Andrzej Gebski, he made his jazz debut in 1999 in Jazz Camping Kalatowki
with the Jacek Namyslowski Quintet. Mateusz has collaborated with such renowned Polish musicians
as Urszula Dudziak, Tomasz Stanko, Krzesimir Debski, Zbigniew Namyslowski and Jaroslaw Smietana.
Together with Joachim Kuhn, Janusz Stefanski and Bronislaw Suchanek, he took part in the premiere
of legendary jazz violinist Zbigniew Seifert’s Jazz Concerto for Violin, Symphony Orchestra and Rhythm
section. Mateusz leads his own quintet with which he recorded his first CD Inspirations, dedicated to his
two biggest music influences, John Coltrane and Zbigniew Seifert. After the success of his first album
in 2007, Mateusz received the Minister of Culture and National Heritage Scholarship, and in June 2008
was awarded “Jazz Oscar” in the category “Music Lovers’ Hope of 2007”. In 2008, his second recording
Expressions was released to popular acclaim. In 2009, Mateusz formed a band with his brother Jan on
Hammond organ and the Russian drum star Alexander Zinger called New Trio. In 2010 they released
their first CD Simultaneous Abstractions which was nominated for Best Recording Debut of the Year for a
Fryderyki award (“the Polish Grammy”). That same year, Mateusz co-founded the Atom String Quartet,
the very first Polish jazz string quartet. They have recorded two CDs, Fade In and Places, and received first
prize for the Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa Competition, the most important jazz competition in Poland. The
Atom Quartet was also nominated in 2012 for a Fryderyki award. In 2011, Mateusz had the opportunity
to play with pianist Richie Beirach, trumpeter Ack van Rooyen, bassist Glen Moore, and drummer Janusz
Stefanski, performing at the Zbigniew Seifert in Memoriam-Berlin Festival.
Benjamin von Gutzeit (viola) was born into a musical family. One of his sisters recently
became the principal cellist of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, and his father is the director of
the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He began playing the viola at the age of four, beginning on a very
small violin that was outfitted with viola strings. Taught by his father until he turned 12, he then studied
with Emile Cantor, the viola player of the Orpheus String Quartet. In 1992 and 1994 he won first prize
in the final of the German youth Competition Jugend Musiziert; the 1994 win led to a concert tour in
Japan performing in a string quartet at the age of 12. When he turned 15, he developed an interest in
popular music as well and started to play the electric bass in jazz bands. In 1997, he studied for one year
as a student at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz. While attending the Gymnasium in Austria, in 2001 he
began his jazz studies with Jazz violinist Andi Schreiber from Vienna, later moving to the Netherlands in
2004 to study jazz at the Conservatory of Amsterdam with Dutch saxophone icon Ferdinand Povel and
guitarist Jesse van Ruller. While living in Holland, he took an active part in the Dutch jazz and improvised
music scene and performed on numerous festivals such as the famed North Sea Jazz Festival. In 2010
he was awarded a full scholarship to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he has pursued his
Masters degree until the present. He has worked with teachers Phil Markowitz, Garry Dial and John Riley.
Benjamin has performed and recorded with many great musicians including jazz violinist Mark Feldman,
electronic music virtuoso Matthew Herbert, cellist Ernst Reijseger, composer and bandleader Martin
Fondse and jazz saxophonist Dave Liebman.
Nellie McKay (vocals, marimba, piano and ukulele) Hailed by The New Yorker
as “funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented,” McKay just finished an extended run in
the off-Broadway hit Old Hats (winner of the Lucille Lortel award for Outstanding Alternative Theatrical
Experience and Drama Desk award for Outstanding Revue), and has written two acclaimed musical
biographies, Silent Spring: It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature (an exploration of environmental pioneer
Rachel Carson), and I Want to Live! ( the story of Barbara Graham, the third woman executed in the gas
chamber at San Quentin). “McKay’s virtually unlimited gifts as a singer, songwriter, actress, pianist,
ukulele player, mimic, satirist and comedian into a show that is much deeper than its surface might
suggest,” writes The New York Times. “In the most lighthearted way they evoke a heartless environment of
social injustice in which people who fall through the cracks are invisible to everyone else.”
McKay produced her critically acclaimed, debut double album Get Away From Me with Beatles’ engineer
Geoff Emerick, followed by Pretty Little Head, Obligatory Villagers, Normal as Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to
Doris Day, (“among the killer overhauls of American standards” - The New York Times), and her latest,
Home Sweet Mobile Home. She has won a Theatre World Award for her portrayal of Polly Peachum in the
Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera and performed onscreen in the film PS I Love You, as well
as writing original music for the Rob Reiner film Rumor Has It and contributing to The New York Times
Book Review.
Her music has also been heard on the TV shows Mad Men, Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Privileged and
Nurse Jackie, and Nellie has appeared on numerous TV shows including Late Show with David Letterman
(with the Brooklyn Philharmonic), The View, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Late Show with Craig
Ferguson, Live with Regis & Kelly and CBS Saturday Morning. In 2010, the Chase Brock Experience produced
a ballet of her third album, Obligatory Villagers, while Nellie recently finished contributing to the
soundtrack for the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
A recipient of The Humane Society’s Doris Day Music Award in recognition of her dedication to animal
rights, Nellie is known as an outspoken and fierce advocate for feminism, civil rights and other deeply felt
progressive ideals.
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Next On Stage
David Henry Hwang
Playwright, Screenwriter, Librettist
Sunday, November 10, 2013
3:00 p.m.
Tickets available online at:
www.restoncommunitycenter.com
$15(Reston)/$30(Non-Reston)
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