By Margit Resch
Look at the picture of this trio. Those musicians are having fun! And so will you when you come to listen to them on Fripp Island, Sunday, February 2nd at 5:00 pm. Actually, you may want to come earlier, because oftentimes young aspiring musicians from Beaufort schools show off their talents for us at 4:30 pm, before the concert, and it is a pleasure listening to them display their skills and instruments. Call the number at the end of this article for more information about this Fripp Island Friends of Music program.
But back to PROJECT Trio, an ensemble of three virtuosic composers and performers, who hail from Brooklyn, New York and play genre-defying music ranging from baroque to nu-metal, and who adopt pretty much every musical style imaginable.
Reviewers like Gramophone Magazine praised the trio’s performances as being “packed with musicianship, joy and surprise” and “exciting a new generation of listeners about the joys of classical and jazz music.” The Wall Street Journal hailed the trio for their “wide appeal, subversive humor, and first-rate playing.” Wide appeal, indeed. PROJECT Trio has impressed audiences with their performances in twenty-five countries on four continents and in most of our United States. They will impress us, no doubt.
As you can tell from the picture, the trio consists of a flutist, a cellist and a double bass player, each recognized for his remarkable accomplishments.
Greg Pattillo is a beatboxing flutist. A flutist plays the flute, of course. But beatboxing? What is that? Well, you just have to come to the concert and experience beatboxing. All I will tell you is that beatboxing is a complex and demanding vocal art form that requires technical skill, creativity, and physical control and comes in many variations, depending on the artist.
Pattillo earned his B.A. and M.A. from the Cleveland Institute of Music and was a student of Joshua Smith, the principal flutist of the Cleveland Orchestra. He has been praised for his creativity in combining beatbox and flute, and for his work as an arranger and composer who infuses his compositions for flute and for PROJECT Trio with elements of jazz and hip hop. Among his remarkable accomplishments is the unusual award he received in 2007 from—you won’t believe it—the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s “Music Under New York” program, which, among other things, allows Pattillo to play music in the subway.
Eric Stephenson is one of the most innovative and versatile cellists in the profession. His style ranges from classical to jazz to rock and folk. Eric, too, earned his degrees, with honors, from the Cleveland Institute of Music. He served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Aspen Festival Orchestra from 1999-2004. He has appeared as a soloist with the Cleveland Institute of Music Symphony Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado, and on and on.
In 2006, Eric moved to NYC where he has performed with countless ensembles. But he spends most of his time with PROJECT Trio, which he co-founded. Composing and recording is a huge part of his life. He has engineered and mixed two PROJECT Trio albums and premiered two works for trio and orchestra. In his spare time, he enjoys biking around Brooklyn and playing the tenor sax.
Peter Seymour is the co-creator, manager and bass player of the trio. Like Greg and Eric, Peter earned his BA from the Cleveland Institute of Music, but received his Master of Music degree from Rice University, where he studied with Paul Ellison. After his education, Seymour went to play with a multitude of world class orchestras, including the New World Orchestra and the Houston Symphony, in famous concert halls like Severance Hall, The Concertgebouw, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. As an educator he organizes and performs in more than 100 school concerts a year.
The trio’s extensive repertoire consists of its members’ original compositions and arrangements in styles including classical, jazz, rock, hip-hop and blue grass. The trio is also active in music education and, through a nonprofit organization, offers workshops and concerts in schools around the world. According to Wikipedia, PROJECT Trio is one of the most viewed chamber music ensembles on the internet with over 70,000,000 combined views on You Tube.
PROJECT Trio has performed in concert halls, clubs and classrooms around the world, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. They have toured Hong Kong, Australia, Europe, Canada and over 35 states in the US. You can listen to their music on a variety of albums they released and on other recordings.
And, lucky you, you can experience PROJECT Trio right here in your neighborhood, on February 2nd at 5:00 pm, in Fripp Island’s Community Center, 205 Tarpon Boulevard. The concert is presented by Fripp Island Friends of Music and supported by the SC Arts Commission. Attendees get a free pass at the Fripp gate. Tickets at the door: adults $30 and free for students, thanks to the Peg Gorham Memorial Fund. You are invited to join the musicians at a complimentary reception after the performance, catered deliciously by Harold’s Chef Services.
Do you have questions? Do you want to become a member of FIFOM to save money on tickets and support FIFOM’s missions? Email or text Vanessa Peñaherrera at vandy116@gmail.com or (704) 807-0255. And go to frippfriendsofmusic.com for information about our upcoming concerts and whether you should come early for a little concert before the big concert.
