Think all classical musicians are old and dusty, playing sonatas in symphony halls somewhere? You haven’t met the musicians slated for this year’s Impulse Artist Series: The Alter Ego Season, a weeklong slate of concerts that will take place in various locations throughout the city. There’s Kris Becker, a pianist who’s played Carnegie Hall and who tours as a rock keyboardist and composes nu-classical music. He’s joined by fellow pianist and multimedia artist Phyllis Chen, who often performs the works of 20th-century composers on toy pianos, boom boxes and other nontraditional instruments. Suresh Singaratnam plays both classical and jazz trumpet. “He does ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ and all that,” says pianist/Impulse Artist Series executive director Jade Simmons, who organized the series. “But he does so much more as well.” And finally, there’s Brandee Younger, who plays the harp. “You think of that as an instrument for only classical music, but she makes the bulk of her living as a jazz and hip-hop musician.”
RTWT
I might be older, but I am not dusty. I am now a bit grumpy, though. This is not the first thing I’ve read that disses older musicians.
Found at the site for Impulse Artist Series:
“Replacing the stuffy, staid collection of classical music dead guys in white wigs with fresh, young, cutting-edge musicians.”
Gee, I’ve YET to see any dead guys in white wigs play in any concerts I’ve been in. How ’bout you?
