REVIEWS
“When people refer to piano quartets or piano trios, they generally mean a piano and some other stuff — a violin and a cello, say. But the new ensemble Grand Band is a piano sextet in the purest sense: six pianos, and only six pianos. It is an audacious, irresistible idea to have that many pianos onstage at one time. So it’s just icing on the cake when the musicians are as individually accomplished as Vicky Chow, David Friend, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore and Isabelle O’Connell, who formed Grand Band a few months ago and performed for the first time as a group in June as part of the Bang on a Can Marathon. I had never before contemplated New York culture’s decided lack of supergroups, but Grand Band is verily — and I don’t say this lightly — the Traveling Wilburys of the city’s new-music piano scene.”
Zachary Woolfe, The New York Times
"The co-ordination between the ensemble was paramount to anything I had seen before in a chamber ensemble, with a varied programme, lovely stage presence, and divine interpretation. The presentation of the ensemble was also something to behold"
“Such a range of sonorities, such a magnificent din… The Band…made their instruments growl, crash, whisper, and sing, sometimes creating the music of the spheres, ethereal and beautiful… a miracle of ensemble coordination and sonic delight.”
Zaide Pixley, Kalamazoo Gazette
“Last night at the Poisson Rouge, all-star six-piano ensemble Grand Band paid homage to this maverick with a lushly starlit, seamlessly rippling performance of ten Holt’s best-known work, Canto Ostinato…There was a great deal of interplay involved, lots of friendly nods and “take it away” moments between David Friend, Vicky Chow, Paul Kerekes, Blair McMillen, Lisa Moore, and Isabelle O’Connell…..As the piece wound its way out, the individual players’ precision and perfect, Bach-like tempo never wavered…. A performance this good deserves an encore: let’s hope this fascinating and unique band gets the chance to stage it again.”
Gordon Grdina, Lucid Culture
“I saw Ostinato performed live recently at the bar/venue (le) poisson rouge in NYC’s West Village. The performing ensemble, Grand Band, debuted last summer at the Bang on a Can Marathon and is a veritable powerhouse featuring some of NYC’s finest avant-garde keyboardists.”
Meg Wilhoite, Bachtrack
"Konserten i Montclair är magnifik. Publiken stannar kvar en lång stund efteråt för stående ovationer. Själva framförandet kräver inte bara virtuosa pianister, utan även en maratonlöpares uthållighet."
(The concert in Montclair is magnificent. The audience stays for a long time afterwards for standing ovations. The performance itself requires not only virtuoso pianists, but also the perseverance of a marathon runner. )