I’ve been writing here about this festival for about 3 years now, and it is back again next week. I’ve obtained tickets for all 5 nights this time around. The first 2 nights are at the recently restored Woodward Theater in downtown Cincinnati. nights 3 & 4 are at the acoustic wonder known as Music Hall, with the final night back at the traditional setting of Memorial Hall. Here’s this year’s schedule:
March 11 – Cloud Nothings and Will Butler (Arcade Fire)
March 12 – Bryce Dessner (The National), Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) with concert:nova
March 13 – The National with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
March 14 – Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, and Nico Muhly with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, So Percussion, Timo Andres, and Lanzendorf
March 15 – Perfume Genius, Lone Bellow, Mina Tindle
I’ll be doing reviews as the concerts go forward.
http://www.musicnowfestival.org/festival
Kaisfatdad says
Look forward to those. Looks very promising.
Curtis from Ohio says
Tonight was the first night of the Festival. The Cloud Nothings played straight ahead rock and roll, guitar, bass, and drum. However, they were overshadowed by the opening act, Will Butler. The band was made up of Will on guitar, a gorgeous blonde on keyboards, a gorgeous brunette on keyboards, and a hipster drummer who played his Christmas light festooned kit while standing. While they ( Will stated several times during the show “We are Will Butler”) obviously drew from a wide variety of influences, I would loving describe them as the B52s for a new generation; with Will as Kate Pierson rather than Fred Schneider. As someone who once saw the B52s 5 times in 7 days, trust me, that is high praise coming from me. I will report back after tomorrow night’s show.
Curtis from Ohio says
Night 2 review: Amore symphonic evening tonight, based around concert:nova, a chamber orchestra made up of 8 musicians from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The first artist was Jeff Zeigler, a cellist, who performed pieces by John Zorn, John Adams, and others, while accompanying himself on synthesizer. I enjoyed his work enough to buy the CD. Next, violinist Caroline Shaw did her interpretation of 4 songs form the Oh Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, accompanied by 4 members of concert:nova. Very nicely done, although she did note that no one could ever surpass Ralph Stanley’s own version of Oh Death.
After the break, Richard Reed Perry performed a piece he wrote called Heart and Breath with concert:nova. The musicians wore stethoscopes to time their playing with their heart beats. I think it worked, as the tempo increased dramatically when the souvenir guys loudly knocked over two folding tables during the performance.
The evening concluded with Bryce Dessner performing a piece he composed for the Kronos Quartet titled Little Blue Something, along with concert:nova. A really nice composition that I will be hunting for.
Curtis from Ohio says
Night 3, at the wonderful Music Hall with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), with a focus on modern classical music. First piece was Tuning Up by Varese, which still sounds as revolutionary as when it was played here 100 years ago. The theme was continued with Christopher Rouse’s Infernal Machine, and John Adam’s Short Ride in a Fast Machine. All three selections received standing ovations. Another crowd pleaser was Caroline Shaw’s world premiere of her composition Lo, with Ms. Shaw on violin. The first portion of the evening also featured Bryce Dessner’s orchestral piece Lachimae, which will once again send me on a search for it.
The entire second half was The National playing with the CSO. It was a marvelous pairing. The band performed their songs, while accompanied by backing from the CSO. It worked particularly well on sons such as Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks, I Need My Girl, and Fake Empire. A truly enjoyable evening for everyone in attendance.
Curtis from Ohio says
Music Now Festival, Night 4. At Music Hall with the CSO again this evening. The evening opened with a David Lang piece titled Man Made. It was performed by one of my favorite repeat groups at the festival, So Percussion, accompanied by the CSO. First movement involved So Percussion breaking sticks, the second playing wine bottles, third playing metal pipes and garbage cans, and the fourth playing two xylophones, steel drums, and a standard drum kit. Quite enjoyable to watch and hear.
Next was the world premiere of a piece by Icelandic composer Daniel Bjarnason titled Collider, that was commissioned for the festival this year. Played by the CSO, it was an impressive performance of a very interesting work.
After the break, the CSO accompanied Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and Sufjan Stevens doing selections from their Suite, Planetarium. I was mesmerized by this, and, again, will have to track down a recording. Sufjan showed off an astounding vocal range. The three were talking about where they had performed this piece. Bryce recalled London, Nico recalled Sydney, and Sufjan insisted his favorite venue was on the moon.
The evening ended with another Varese piece titled Ameriques. Though featured 120 musicians, Conductor Louis Langree told the audience that the work was composed for a 212 musicians, including an entire orchestra off stage. He stated that Varese was a true marvel, who’s career included playing with Claude Debussy and Frank Zappa.
Another wonderful night for the festival!
Curtis from Ohio says
Well, Sunday night was the last night of this year’s Music Now Festival, and probably my favorite. Three very diverse acts that made a magnificent whole. The opener was a lovely French woman named Mina Tindle. Another singer with an astounding vocal range, her songs were variously delivered soulfully, delicately, and powerfully. It certainly helped that she was entirely charming. After singing several songs in French, she informed the audience, “I am from France, which is why I am singing in French. Now Here’s another song in French.”. When the audience laughed at that, she innocently said, “I don’t know why that is funny”. This, of course, only increased her charm.
The second performer was Perfume Genius, which is basically a vehicle for Seattle artist Mike Hadreas. While his backing band could have come straight from Kraftwerk, Mr. Hadreas appeared with a crew cut, bright red lipstick, a little black dress, fishnet hose, and heels. Two songs in, his manner of dress was completely forgotten in light of his incredibly powerful and emotion drenched singing. To me, the music sounded like a synth based version of The National, which may be why Perfume Genius is one of that group’s favorite bands. I heard many comparisons to Iggy Pop and young David Bowie as well. To use that word once again, powerful stuff.
The final act was Lone Bellow, who the concert program described as an indie folk trio.That doesn’t do them justice. Something like a rocking Americana band with streaks of rockabilly might come closer. Composed of singers Zack Williams, Brian Elmquist, and Kanene Pipkin alternately performed hard driving southern based rockers, lovely acoustic ballads, and alt.country tunes for about two hours. They sang into the mikes, beyond the mikes at the front of the stage, and frequently on the floor with the audience. The one true rockabilly number had the audience up and dancing in the aisles, while Zack Williams ran through the dancers exhorting them to sing along. I think the audience would have happily danced along for another two hours if the band had any energy left to continue, but they had given every ounce away.
Another truly great week of music here in Cincinnati, my thanks to festival organizer Bryce Dessner!
DrewToo says
Curtis – you have to win some sort of prize for the “longest most detailed review”
I need to get myself to this festival next year – it sounds great.
Curtis from Ohio says
I’ll give you a head’s up when the dates are announced for next year, and can probably help with tickets too, Drew.