‘Why Not?’ Leads yMusic to Contemporary Pinnacle
CJ Camerieri has done pretty well for himself since spending a single summer as a trumpet fellow at the Music Academy of the West in 2002. The Juilliard grad who also plays French horn, arranges, produces and composes, not only co-founded the contemporary classical ensemble yMusic in 2008, but is perhaps even better known as the brass player for Paul Simon (both on tour for the legendary singer-songwriter’s Stranger to Stranger and In the Blue Light albums) and Bon Iver, winning two Grammy awards with the latter.
But if Simon and the indie pop band have brought him a measure of fame in the pop world, yMusic has actually pioneered a configuration for chamber music that didn’t previously exist, blending trumpet, flute, clarinet, violin, viola and cello.
“The entire ethos of yMusic was musical personalities over instrumentation,” Camerieri explained. “We wanted these six people to play music together (even though) when we started there was literally no music for the ensemble. We are super proud of the repertoire we’ve built through commissions and our own writing and it’s exciting for us to see this instrumentation become more and more popular.”
Indeed, yMusic has collaborated with a number of contemporary composers, including a long-maintained relationship with Gabriella Smith, the Berkeley native who has been called “a composer with an ecologist’s soul.”
“We feel like the luckiest group to have this relationship with one of the greatest composers alive,” Camerieri said. “We always look for someone who is going to push the boundaries of what has been done before, unpredictable, but in an approachable way. We want to bring our audiences in, not push them away – but to do so in a way that is completely new. Gabriella perfectly embodies this principle.”
yMusic has also broken new ground by collaborating collectively with Simon, Bon Iver, Bruce Hornsby, Ben Folds, John Legend, and The National, among other pop entities. Such pairings were part of the reason the sextet started the ensemble.
“We were growing frustrated with the way ‘classical musicians’ approached these sorts of collaborations,” Camerieri said. “They often acted as if the music was beneath them whereas we felt so privileged to be working with these important and culturally relevant artists. All of these artists approached us based on how much they loved our records of classical music. Their interests were perfectly coalescing around the sounds and textures we were most excited to create.”
When yMusic makes its local debut in the final concert of this season’s MAW Mariposa Series on March 10 at Hahn Hall, the ensemble will offer the Santa Barbara premiere of Smith’s new work “Aquatic Ecology,” described as an invitation to the listener to commune and connect with the fragile beauty of the natural world threatened by climate change. The piece consists of raw and processed field recordings of underwater environments, from coral reefs to tidepools, freshwater marshes to the open ocean, that are blended with yMusic’s acoustic performance.
Asked to describe Aquatic Ecology, Camerieri noted “We haven’t started rehearsals yet but I do know you’ll be in for a treat as she’s such a genius composer.”
Four of the other five pieces on the program – the whimsically titled “Three Elephants,” “Whosay,” “Cloud,” and “The Wolf”– are drawn from yMusic’s latest album, a self-titled work that represents its first full recording of the ensemble’s own compositions. It was actually at Simon’s urging the ensemble – specifically on an off night from his farewell tour that featured yMusic – began to create its own music.
What stands out is that they do it together.
“From a popular music perspective, there is nothing compelling about a group writing music together,” Camerieri said. “But in the classical composition world what we do is super unique. We start with nothing and do all of the writing with everyone in the room together. It often starts with someone asking, ‘What was that sound you made while you were just warming up? or ‘What happens if you….?’ Then we are off to the races. We are proud to say we’ve finished every single idea we’ve started.”
The entire Mariposa program will be a sea of change from what the trumpeter played over the summer at Miraflores in 2002, back when contemporary music didn’t receive much attention here. But MAW still had an impact.
“I have wonderful memories from my time (including) playing a lot of chamber music which has been a cornerstone of my entire career,” Camerieri said. “The lessons learned that summer have proved invaluable. I am so excited to be back for the first time in over 20 years.”
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