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Classical Music in a Club Setting? You Bet!

ClassicAlive concerts are performed at World Cafe Live.

While many people still attend concerts in traditional halls, classical music is also being played in more informal settings - and in combination with different types of music. WRTI’s Susan Lewis investigates LiveConnections, which conducts programs at World Café Live in Philadelphia and Wilmington.

LEWIS: Hearing great music performed up close can be a life-changing experience. That’s the premise of LiveConnections, where Melinda Steffy is general manager.

STEFFY:  We focus a lot on collaborations with musicians across genres and try to push the boundaries of music, so it's both very compelling and very accessible for a diverse range of people.

A Bach prelude, for example, might be played straight, then again in a jazz style.

LEWIS: This philosophy drives three programs: Bridge Sessions, in partnership with other organizations,  presents interactive performances for adults with special needs and groups of students.  ClassicAlive is a concert series for the general public with classical music performed with other genres in an intimate setting. Curator Mary Javian says the concerts expand the boundaries of repertoire, collaboration, and atmosphere.

JAVIAN: We’re bringing classical musicians of a very high level into a club. Asking them to perform while  people might have a drink, or might have a meal. But what we find is that the audiences are extremely engaged, because they’re getting an experience they wouldn’t have otherwise.

LEWIS: A third program, Live Studio, aims to use state-of-the-art video technology to connect underserved populations who cannot make it to the venue.

Coming up on February 24th: ClassicAlive presents Project Trio - a trio of bass, cello, and flute influenced by classical music, hip hop, and jazz, along with musicians from Friends Select School.

LiveConnectionsSLLF.mp3
Find out more about how musicians and audiences are approach concerts of mixed genres in an intimate club setting. Listen to Susan’s interview with Mary Javian and Melinda Steffy.

Susan writes and produces stories about music and the arts. She’s host and producer of WRTI’s TIME IN online interview series, and contributes weekly intermission interviews for The Philadelphia Orchestra in Concert series. She’s also been a regular host of WRTI’s Live from the Performance Studio sessions.