{"id":95618,"date":"2023-04-05T12:40:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T16:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=95618"},"modified":"2023-04-05T12:40:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T16:40:05","slug":"preview-bryce-dessner-talks-dream-house-quartet-music-north-american-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/04\/05\/preview-bryce-dessner-talks-dream-house-quartet-music-north-american-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Bryce Dessner Talks About Dream House Quartet, Music, And Their North American Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_95620\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95620\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-95620\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/Dream-House-Quartet-PREVIEW.jpg\" alt=\"The Dream House Quartet (Photo: Jonathan McCallum)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-95620\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Dream House Quartet (Photo: Jonathan McCallum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Classical contemporary supergroup The Dream House Quartet will be performing in Toronto at the Meridian Arts Centre on May 3 as part of their North American tour. The quartet comprises pianists Katia and Marielle Lab\u00e8que, guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner, (best known as founding member of The National), and composer, musician, and producer David Chalmin.<\/p>\n<p>With a unique instrumentation of two pianos and two guitars, they&#8217;ll be bringing an eclectic program of new music.<\/p>\n<h3>Dream House Quartet<\/h3>\n<p>Who are Dream House Quartet?<\/p>\n<p>Siblings <strong>Katia and Marielle Lab\u00e8que<\/strong> have been performing together since childhood, and first rose to fame with a modern take on Gershwin&#8217;s classic Rhapsody in Blue, which garnered a gold record designation. They&#8217;ve played with major orchestras around the world, and collaborated with prominent composers like Pierre Boulez and Philip Glass, among many others.<\/p>\n<p>Grammy winning artist <strong>Bryce Dessner<\/strong> is as much at home in the world of classical music composition as he is in the role of guitarist, arranger and songwriter for the indie alt-rock band The National. His compositions have been commissioned by l&#8217;Orchestre de Paris and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, among many others, and he&#8217;s written a number of well received film scores.<\/p>\n<p>As a producer, arranger, and sound engineer,<strong> David Chalmin<\/strong> has worked with icons of the indie music world. As a composer, his recent piece Electric Fields was co-written with Bryce Dessner for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2023\/04\/04\/scoop-soprano-barbara-hannigan-awarded-paul-de-heuck-norman-walford-career-acheivement-award-classical-singing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Barbara Hannigan<\/a> along with the Lab\u00e8que sisters. The performance at Disney Hall incorporated live video by Netia Jones and live electronics performed by Chalmin.<\/p>\n<p>Dream House Quartet perform Bryce Dessner\u2019s Haven in Paris in 2019:<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/K6hIQZ92EFE?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>As guitarist and composer Bryce Dessner tells it, the quartet came together as a natural kind of evolution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve been working with Katia and Marielle for several years,\u201d says Bryce Dessner. The group met several years ago during an event with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.<\/p>\n<p>After living in New York City for several years, Dessner moved to France in 2014, where the sibling performers are famous. \u201cI wrote a piece called El Chan which is a two piano piece.\u201d The Lab\u00e8ques have performed the concerto he wrote for them in concert many times. \u201cThey&#8217;re kind of a second family to me now,\u201d he says. David Chalmin is Katia\u2019s partner. \u201cWe all live down here in Basque Country. It&#8217;s almost like our band.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A concert in Paris in 2016 kicked off the ensemble\u2019s performing history, although the group didn&#8217;t formally become Dream House Quartet until 2018. Their goal is to bring the classical and contemporary worlds of music together.<\/p>\n<p>In 2019, the quartet toured with the music of British Thom Yorke, best known for his work with Radiohead, but also a composer of music for films and more. That tour began at the Paris Philharmonie, and continue to Lyon, London, and the Hamburg Elb Philharmonie. Yorke composed two pieces for Katia and Marielle, including one they\u2019ll play on the current tour.<\/p>\n<p>The repertoire for Dream House Quartet blends the classical and the contemporary. \u201cI spend my life composing music and playing electric guitar,\u201d he says. In The National, his role is quite different, as he explains. \u201cThis is a nice way to kind of marry those things.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>The repertoire<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cThis particular program is mostly featuring music by David and I.\u201d The tour will include premieres of specific works in some areas. \u201cWe&#8217;re constantly developing the program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The works on the program include new pieces by both Bryce Dessner and David Chalmin, Thom Yorke\u2019s first classical composition Don\u2019t Fear the Light, and music by Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything we are playing is either our composition, or what we&#8217;ve arranged,\u201d Dessner explains. \u201cWe play music we like.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_95621\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95621\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-95621\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/7-DHQ-byJonathanMcCallum.jpg\" alt=\"The Dream House Quartet (Photo: Jonathan McCallum)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"698\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-95621\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Dream House Quartet (Photo: Jonathan McCallum)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The works hold special resonance for him. \u201cElectric Counterpoint is one of Steve Reich&#8217;s most amazing pieces. It first got me into composition.\u201d The Dream House version incorporates two live guitars, along with pre-recorded elements.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Reich, as Dessner notes, has often worked with double instrumentation. \u201cAs a composer, it&#8217;s endlessly interesting.\u201d Working with two pianos, it accentuates the percussive nature of the instrument. \u201cIt has this kind of one big instrument feel about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere&#8217;s a piece called Haven that kind of epitomizes our sound.\u201d A piece called Cherche le bruit will be premiered \u2014 it\u2019s the name of the town where Katia and David live. \u201cIt&#8217;s much more virtuosic,\u201d Dessner says. \u201cIt&#8217;s a bit of an homage to Reich.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>On classical music<\/h3>\n<p>While the current program focuses on works by Dessner, Chalmin, and longtime favourites, the quartet has broader goals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve started commissioning new works,\u201d Dessner says. \u201cWhen we began, we were combining \u2014 it&#8217;s obviously all music by living composers \u2014 it&#8217;s a mix that we like to call historic minimalism.\u201d Although, as he continues, minimalism may be too narrow a term. \u201cIt&#8217;s almost reductive to call them minimalists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The classical music world is still subject to a kind of purist mentality in some quarters which insists on separating it from any other genres. \u201cIt removes an elemental, fundamental vitality of the music. We exist in conversation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that classical music, while historic, and at least 1,000 years of tradition, if we&#8217;re talking about Western music, is a living tradition.\u201d New composers take their inspiration from the same things that the old masters did, he notes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe exist in a cross generational continuum.\u201d He notes that classical music canon itself has excluded so many voices from for so long, a matter that\u2019s only now begun to be addressed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think my response to that is, I love Renaissance music, and 12th century polyphony, [&#8230;] as much as I love Philip Glass and the Beatles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Younger listeners, in particular, don\u2019t separate classical music from the array of other genres of music they listen to. It\u2019s one among many choices, and streaming has led to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/11\/17\/scoop-music-industry-report-music-consumption-worldwide-almost-10-percent-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">upward bump in classical music listening<\/a> overall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny teenager can sit in their bedroom and listen to Mahler&#8217;s 5th, and it&#8217;s revelatory,\u201d Dessner says.<\/p>\n<p>But, as he points out, the technology can also promote a certain homogeneity that is part of the algorithmic culture. That\u2019s what makes supporting new composers so crucial. \u201cI think it&#8217;s important to hear new composers and encourage them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And, in some ways, what we now accept as classical canon doesn\u2019t necessarily have historical roots. Improvisation, for instance, was both common and expected of performers during the classical and baroque eras. \u201cThe baroque idea of a musician is closer to today&#8217;s,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<h3>The details<\/h3>\n<p>Their North American tour kicks off in New York City on April 23, and wraps up in New Haven, CT on May 5. They hit Toronto on May 3 at the George Weston Recital Hall.<\/p>\n<p>Just before, their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.Dream Housequartet.com\/news\/dream-house-quartet-present-their-new-ep-on-deutsche-grammophon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new EP<\/a> on the Deutsche Grammophon label will be released on April 14.<\/p>\n<p>Tickets for the Toronto show May 3 show are on sale now [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tolive.com\/Event-Details-Page\/reference\/Dream-House-Quartet-2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig van Daily \u2014 classical music and opera in five minutes or less <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/ludwig-van.us9.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=4f785cb3f9058f2393ccad035&amp;id=57cdb68eac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>HERE<\/em><\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Classical supergroup The Dream House Quartet will be performing in Toronto at the Meridian Arts Centre on May 3 as part of their North American tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":95620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40430,18,19,29,38,4557,63],"tags":[5139,40558,40559,3788],"yst_prominent_words":[6715,6616,31300],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/Dream-House-Quartet-PREVIEW.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-oSe","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95618"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95618"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95622,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95618\/revisions\/95622"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95618"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=95618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}