Youth Orchestras of San Antonio is teaming up with a genre-busting music group that has toured the world, has been featured with many orchestras and was the subject of an Emmy-winning PBS concert program, as well as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series: Time for Three.
"Precision and control of classical musicians, with the charisma and energy of rock stars — and it's unlike anything I've ever seen," YOSA music director Troy Peters said.
IF YOU GO WHAT: YOSA/Time For Three concert WHERE: Tobin Center WHEN: 7 p.m. Sunday COST: $16-$22
And Peters said they don't see a reason to stay within the confines of a classical repertoire.
"Imagine two world-class violin soloists, a great bass player, but then they can play great rock ’n’ roll; they can play bluegrass,” Peters said. “And so they do songs where they will play Guns N’ Roses turning into Mahler, then back to Guns N’ Roses again."
The group, which consists of Ranaan Meyer on double bass, and both Nick Kendall and Charles Yang on violin, will be performing with the YOSA Philharmonic, playing a piece called “Songs of Joy.”
WATCH | Time For Three in NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34bgjdQRjIM
“That's songs they wrote, turned into a sort of concerto for orchestra,” Peters said. “So they're playing and singing at the same time and the orchestra is going at full bore behind them.”
They’re also doing a mash-up of musical genres by performing popular rock songs from Guns N’ Roses, as well as the Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” along with Gershwin's “American in Paris.”
Peters said that performances like this whet the appetites of the younger YOSA members as well as more experienced musicians.
Along with the concert, Time For Three will conduct a workshop with YOSA ,“ where they'll talk about how did they make their arrangements; how do they put these songs together; what's it like to plug a violin into an amplifier; and how do you have to change the way you play,” he said.
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Jack Morgan can be reached at jack@tpr.org
