07.20
Sorry for the mess! Under construction!
live at the Wavelength Series @ Sneaky Dee’s – December 9 2007
from left to right: Alex Cheung, Michael Rosenthal, Kristin Mueller-Heaslip, Michael Kaler
photo by Duncan MacDonell
December 2007:
Review of ‘Truth in the Dark’ in Eye Magazine:
“Supported by cello, violin and saxophone, Kristin Mueller-Heaslip’s operatic delivery is the focus of this chamber-pop ensemble. The PRO players successfully meld Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip’s dramatic, arrangements into concise little rock rhythms. Benjamin weaves together overlapping hooks into a rich harmonic tapestry, and the rhythm section occasionally steps out from behind the arrangements, as on their cover of Wire’s ‘Comet’.”
- David Dacks
Our favourite guest poet! Spencer takes over at Wavelength – December 9 2007
photo by Duncan MacDonell
At the CD release show!
photo by Kirk Wheeler
November 2007:
Review of Truth in the Dark in Now Magazine
“The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra, an esoteric six-piece chamber ensemble, aren’t likely to be booked at the Four Seasons Tea Room.
The PRO are a challenging brew of classical, art rock, opera and punk, which looks nightmarish on paper but occasionally works. Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip’s arrangements are unique and uncompromised, taking on music snob favourites like Wire and Brian Eno as well as Kurt Weill. His band, violinist Alex Cheung, saxophonist Jennifer Wardle and rhythm section Michael Kaler and Mike Rosenthal, competently keep up with each song’s shifting shape and form.”
-Benjamin Boles
Wavelength Magazine, December 2007: An interview with Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra:
The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is something of an anomaly; classical music that’s inspired as much by David Byrne and Wire as Schubert. Also: they hate classical music crowds and shows. Composer Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip explained to Ryan McLaren why “high art” sucks and playing it safe is bullshit:
Some excerpts:
“I used to write concert music for some of the contemporary classical groups around Toronto. Eventually I realized that the performers are almost unanimously cynical and obscenely mercenary, the ensembles were culturally and artistically stagnant, the concerts boring, and that the fifteen tweed-wearing droolers who’d show up to them weren’t the ideal audience for my music. So I gave that up and formed the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra.”
…
“We live in an extremely conservative culture, and the associations between space and expectation is really tight. People like to be comfortable and safe — they like to know that in Context A they can anticipate Stimulus B. In a culture where individuals capable of making independent value judgments on their personal experiences are rare, people tend to want to know in advance precisely what to expect so they can research it and decide whether they ought to like it or not ahead of time — and thereby avoiding the embarrassment of having to think for themselves and potentially disagreeing with their friends.”
…
“…we’re constantly playing venues where the audience is mostly people who listen to rock or folk or hip hop: generally, anything but what they’re about to hear. We don’t ask our audience to indulge us with their polite attention — if we had to ask, what we’re doing would be a waste of time.”
You can read the entire interview Right Here!
August 2007: John Terauds
for the Toronto Star:
(full article)
“The composer is more a 21st-century incarnation of the 19th-century Romantic who wants to have as many people as possible hear what he has to say in music.
Everything the band performs is by the composer’s hand. It is an engaging, wonky mix of classical minimalism, art punk and early Brian Eno-inspired electronica translated into an acoustic medium.
“You can hear Franz Schubert, Philip Glass and David Byrne,” says Mueller-Heaslip about his musical aesthetic. There is something caustically off-balance at work, too – an echo of Kurt Weill’s ironic voice from Weimar-era Germany. “I see what I do as an extension of the chamber Lieder-salon world. I work with a small, mobile force, like Chopin and Schubert.”
Mueller-Heaslip and many of the band members lived in the Parkdale-High Park neighbourhood when the band formed two years ago. “I was composing and working as a bicycle courier at the time.”
The “revolutionary” aspect of the band’s name comes from Mueller-Heaslip’s desire to break through the invisible barrier around contemporary classical music. Like many young artists and listeners, the composer thinks the new music scene is too insular.
Unlike many fellow sonic warriors, you won’t find Mueller-Heaslip onstage at one of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra’s monthly gigs at the Tranzac Club or Clinton’s. He is the creative force, leaving performing to wife Kristin (soprano voice), Alex Cheung (violin), Kerri McGonigle (cello), Jennifer Wardle (soprano sax), Michael Kaler (bass) and Michael “Rosie” Rosenthal (drums).”
-John Terauds
Live at the Tranzac Club (October 18 2007)
photo by Kirk Wheeler
Photo from the Toronto Star (August 23 2007):
From left to right: Mike Rosenthal (drums), Kristin Mueller-Heaslip (voice), Michael Kaler (bass), Alex Cheung (violin), Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip (composer), Jen Wardle (sax).
August 2007 : Public Broadcasting.ca
“It has been suggested to me that there is an influence from such people as Phillip Glass and Godspeed You Black Emperor – which is certainly true. But it is an evolution of that school, not merely a member of it…
…If you are truly not afraid of experimentation, of new directions or of bands that are willing to try something new rather than follow the crowd I’d strongly encourage you to introduce yourself to their music and consider going to one of their upcoming shows at the Tranzac Club.”
-Justin Beach
The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra in Performance at Mitzi’s Sister (Toronto)
July 10 2007
left to right: Kerri McGonigle (cello), Alex Cheung (violin), Michael “Blitz” Kaler (bass), Kristin Mueller-Heaslip (voice),
Nick Fraser (filling in on drums), Jen Wardle(sax). Photo by Serge Chubinsky
June 2007 : Exclaim Magazine
“Take new music opera, reduce the instrumentation to a manageable and mobile six-piece group and play bars, not stuffy, self-important venues for the self-appointed intelligentsia, and you’ve got a handle on the ‘revolutionary’ part of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra. Founded in 2006 by composer/lyricist Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip, the group has two strings, soprano saxophone, drums and bass, and soprano vocalist Kristin Mueller-Heaslip.
The eponymously-titled EP features 4 representative pieces from the ensemble’s considerable repertoire. The first song, “Imposter”, based on lyrics by darkster Karl Mohr, features a melodic line passionately delivered by Kristin over Reich/Glass-like ostinato string lines. Soprano saxophonist Jennifer Wardle’s crystal clear tone imbues “Recurrents” with a glistening sheen as string lines form a tapestry of shimmering patterns.
In a musical genre known for feeding from government grant troughs, the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is making a bold and courageous statement by bypassing established outlets and playing for audiences where they go to have fun and a little adventure. What a concept!”
-Glen Hall
The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra
performing with Camille Greenstein, aerialist
at Labspace Studio
May 5 2007
March 31 2007:
The Arts Now Podcast
hosted by Ella Cooper and Amil Niazi
“…they do classical reworkings of Brian Eno: See Them Play!”
-Amil Niazi
