Music of the World, But Close to Home

The audience sprung to its feet for the finale of a recent concert at the Brooklyn Lyceum, part of a preview series of a new show that will debut this fall and feature local musicians and an eclectic mix of musical genres and instruments.

Juilliard-trained cellist and composer Mike Block, who often performs with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, created the series, GALA/NYC.

This new series, which will officially debut in September after a few more preview shows this month, brings together musicians who may never have met to perform compositions they compose prior to the concert, as well as reinterpretations of existing music.

Musicians include Grammy-winning performers playing folk, rock, bluegrass, pop, jazz, and classical tunes. Performances also include comedy, dance and audience participation.

“There are so many brave musicians in New York that make their living on the road,” Block said. “I’ve been touring beyond a healthy level for the past few years, and I totally started missing this local audience, playing for a regular audience, getting to know your audience."

"I knew other people felt that way as well, and wanted to create this space where these musicians can connect with an audience and vice versa,” he said.

Block sees the series as a musical analogy to the local food movement.

“I don’t have to fly half way across the world to find someone to play for,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to fly across country to play for 300 people when can do it down the block.”

For Block, fusion music has been a draw for years. Over the last few years, he has aimed to play as many genres as possible on his cello, and has worked in a variety of different music styles.

“One week I’m playing with Yo-Yo Ma at a nice concert hall, then I’m playing music with Middle Eastern friends in Bay Ridge, then I’m in a tent at a blue grass festival. I wanted to bring all these types of people together and have them interact.”

A recent Saturday night preview show at the Lyceum’s upstairs concert space included a performance fusing a frame drum with throat singing, a ballet and hip-hop fusion dance performance, and tunes played on a Sheng, a free-reed bamboo mouth organ.

Hu Jianbing, a Chinese folk musician from Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, played the Sheng. He has earned widespread recognition for his Sheng performances, and recently he debuted a new concerto with the Seattle Symphony.

The audience participated during one set at the Saturday show, called “The Good, the Bad and the Today.” Block asked for three volunteers to come onto stage. One told a story about her best day ever, another about her worst day ever, and a third audience member told a tale about what happened to him earlier that day – he and his wife had cooked brunch for a family friend, went running and biking in Prospect Park and had a sushi dinner.

To each story, Block and the other musicians improvised a unique song on the spot.

GALA/NYC shows will be performed twice a month starting in September. The May preview shows are performed every Saturday at 8 p.m. The final May preview show will feature music from artists including Kevork Mourad, an artist of Armenian origin who was born in Aleppo, Syria, and Kaoru Watanabe, who plays Japanese and Western flutes and Japanese taiko drums.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. For more information, go to www.galanyc.com.