Another year …

Thank you to everyone who joined us for another magical festival.

There are photos and many kind words.

Each Note Secure offers a review of the festival complete with photos of his own.

City Beat’s Spill It music blog offers a night by night review:

Introductions, Heartbeats and Sufjan!

An Evening of American Guitar

Fest Gets More “Traditional” (Relatively)

Sara Pierce from The Cincinnati Enquirer offers A perfect piece of art: now at Memorial Hall

We are especially thankful to everyone at Memorial Hall and the many volunteers who helped make it happen.

CIN Weekly talks to Dessner about the festival

The Cincinnati Enquirer previewed the festival.

Opening Night features Richard Reed Parry and Nico Muhly

Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre), an experimental multi-instrumentalist composer returns to the festival to participate in the first evening. Contemporary composer, Nico Muhly will make a rare appearance between engagements in New York and Europe to perform.

Inspired by his participation (with Clogs) in the Filmmaker’s Coop Benefit, in April 2007, Dessner has chosen to open the festival with a selection of films to be accompanied by Parry, Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Padma Newsome, Rachel Elliott (and more added daily) at Memorial Hall.

Dessner will perform three pieces that made their debut at the Kitchen in New York on March 13th, including one that accompanies a new film by Matthew Ritichie. More on the new work can be found here.

MusicNOW 2008 April 2nd - 5th

Update: Saturday evening with Grizzly Bear and Andrew Bird is SOLD OUT!

The 2008 festival will feature contemporary music pioneers Bang on a Can All-Stars; and Bill Frisell, alongside three of the world’s most creative rock bands, Grizzly Bear, The Dirty Projectors, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird. Visual artist Karl Jensen will create a large installation in Memorial Hall, and Glenn Kotche; (WILCO) and Bryce Dessner (The National) will perform as special guests with Bang on a Can.

Festival Schedule:

Wednesday, April 2nd
An evening of music and film featuring vintage experimental films from the New York Filmmaker’s Cooperative by Robert Breer, Marie Menken, and Harry Smith along with contemporary artists Matthew Ritchie and Bill Morrisson accompanied by Richard Reed Parry, Nico Muhly, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Padma Newsome, Rachel Elliott and special guests at the Memorial Hall. More details below. Performance begins 7pm.

Thursday, April 3rd
An evening of American Guitar with classical guitarist Benjamin Verdery and Bill Frisell’s 858 Quartet, featuring Eyvind Kang, Hank Roberts & Jenny Scheinman, at Memorial Hall. Performance begin 8 pm (doors at 7pm).
Friday, April 4th
Dirty Projectors and Bang on a Can featuring Glenn Kotche and Bryce Dessner at Memorial Hall. Performance begin 8 pm (doors at 7pm)

Saturday, April 5th
Andrew Bird and Grizzly Bear at Memorial Hall. Performance begin 8 pm (doors at 7pm)

Tickets are $15 for individual concerts, $40 for 3 nights at Memorial Hall and available to purchase online.

[Read more →]

Grizzly Bear

Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear recently released, Friend, a set of covers, re-workings and collaborations that highlight the breadth of their sound and also place them within a group of prolific musicians that perform and celebrate together. The band offers a gorgeous take on pop music with lovely harmonies and thoughtful arrangements.

Take Away Shows feature 2008 Artists

Our friends over at Take Away Shows have captured a number of this year’s artists: Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear and Andrew Bird.

Benjamin Verdery

Guitarist and composer, Benjamin Verdery has performed around the world and recorded widely — most recently with Andy Summers (of The Police) First You Build a Cloud.His composition Peace, Love and Guitars was performed and recorded by John Williams and John Etheridge at the Dublin Festival in July 2006. In addition to writing and performing, Verdery has chaired the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music since 1985.

Bill Frisell’s 858 Quartet

Bill Frissell is widely acknowledged as a gem of American guitar. A performer, composer and band leader, Frisell has recorded albums ranging from interpretations of musical styles — bluegrass, to pop song arrangements for Elvis Costello.

His most recent release Floratone is another example of his highly creative and improvisation approach to music.

Last year he premiered the Disfarmer Project in Columbus, Ohio a piece commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts. For the festival he brings his 858 Quartet. Frisell offers, “Originally the music for this group was written for and inspired by eight Gerhard Richter paintings. The Richter paintings are where this began, but the chemistry felt so good with these folks, I have written more music and will continue to do so as it develops on into the future. For me, this has been a chance to write for my dream string section and also a reunion with one of my best friends, Hank Roberts. Hank was in my first band and we hadn’t played together or even seen each other for many years.”

The quartet features Jenny Scheinman (violin), Eyvind Kang (viola), and Hank Roberts (cello).

Bang on a Can All-Stars with special guests Glenn Kotche and Bryce Dessner

Contemporary music pioneers Bang on a Can All-Stars, will appear with special guests Glenn Kotche and Bryce Dessner. The New York Times describes the ensemble as “a fiercely aggressive group, combining the power and punch of a rock band with the precision and clarity of a chamber ensemble.”

The Bang On All-Stars features Robert Black (bass), David Cossin (percussion), Ning Yu (piano), Felix Fan (cello) and Evan Ziporyn (clarinet). Their goal is to present memorable performances of genre-defying music. Dessner has performed with the band, filling in for founding member, Michael Gordon. Kotche and Bang on a Can All-star, David Cossin collaborated for a concert as a part of the 2006 festival.

Curator’s perspective

Curator, Bryce Dessner, scours the globe for artists to invite. Read more about his vision in an article at CityBeat.

WOXY

WOXY has been a great partner since the beginning. Each year artists have been invited into the WOXY lounge . The first year, Clogs stopped by and performed two tracks that were previously unrecorded.

The second year curator, Bryce Dessner, dropped by to preview the festival for listeners and shared some unreleased material that kept the session from being archived. My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden stopped by too and played both great covers a couple of tunes.

Archives of Clogs and My Brightest Diamond are available at woxy.com