ChamberLab is dedicated to tunneling under the wall that separates classical music from … well, from all the other music in the world.
Founded by Chris Black in 2010, it is the first alt-classical concert series in Tucson, Arizona, bringing new concert music to new audiences, in strange venues, and from unlikely sources.
The composers have backgrounds in punk, jazz, country, indie-rock, and many other forms of traditionally D.I.Y. music, generally unaccustomed to setting notes down on paper.
The performers are classically trained, world-class musicians from the TSO, U of A, and other professional performance groups.
The venues are nightclubs, independent movie theaters, Ethiopian restaurants, and non-traditional concert spaces in general. The audience is sometimes as new to concert music as the composers are.
ChamberLab began as a one-off concert in 2010 for double string quartet and contrabass, featuring young musicians from the U of A, University High, and other local schools. Composers included Chris Black, Howe Gelb, Gabriel Sullivan, Dante Rosano, Marco Rosano, Tony Rosano, and other local performers, as well as Austin-based composer Graham Reynolds, of the Golden Arm Trio.
The concept was rebooted as a quarterly concert series in 2012, and this forthcoming concert will mark the one-year anniversary! We’re very pleased to revisit Cafe Desta, the Ethiopian restaurant at Five Points, with its beautiful, large room and fantastic sound for live acoustic music.
ChamberLab -- Tucson's Alt-Classical, DIY Chamber Music Series -- is celebrating its first anniversary with a special concert at Cafe Desta. This concert will be recorded by Craig Schumacher of Wavelab for a live album!
For one year, ChamberLab has been on a mission to tunnel under the wall that separates classical music from every other kind of music in the world. In the past year this series has grown into something truly wonderful. It's time to step up and show off what we've done and to make a record of it in the process. This is our victory lap!
Please visit our Indiegogo campaign at left to learn more and be a part of the celebration. Reserve your seats and sign up for copies (both digital and physical) of the finished live album!
We’re planning a concert in August of 2013, and we’re thrilled to let you know that muralist & performance artist Joe Pagac will be a part of it! What and how? The ChamberLab composers are writing music inspired by Joe’s paintings, without telling him which paintings, and then Joe will paint new works of art inspired by the music inspired by his paintings! And he will do it live, on stage, during the performance. Art becomes music becomes art. We are very, very excited by this show, and can’t wait to see what the new works of art look like next to the previous works that inspired them, once-removed …
