41 Strings at Sydney Opera House

Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeah's fame brought his ambitious 41 Strings project to Sydney's Opera House this weekend. The performance saw him play guitar while conducting an impressive line-up of acoustic and electric strings, ranging from violins to electric bass, with some drums and synths adding further layers

The composition used Vivaldi's Four Seasons as inspiration and was enhanced by visuals from acclaimed video artist Daniel Askill, which were projected onto the roof of the Concert Hall. The performance chronicled the ups and downs of the seasons in a mass of strings and percussion. At times pensive and moody, elsewhere brimming with joy, 41 Strings was beautiful and mesmerising. Zinner looked nervous and a little uncomfortable as he conducted the classically trained musicians that surrounded him (understandably enough - it would be pretty intimidating) but grew into his role as the music soared through the - criminally not sold-out - hall, to huge appreciation from the crowd.

However, while 41 Strings was wonderful, it was eclipsed by the night's first act, which was a special performance of companion piece, IIII, from Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Brian Chase and Soft Circle's Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida (all of whom co-collaborated on 41 Strings). A drum circle was led by Bharoocha and, again, was based on Four Seasons. Bharoocha, Chase and Vida were joined by Ryan Sawyer and Matthew Watson as they led 16 additional drummers. It was jaw-dropping stuff: a delight to the eyes and the eyes, as a stage full of musicians drummed in perfect time, teasing the audience with a composition that started slowly and built to a truly exciting and invigorating climax. This performance was, without question, the highlight of Sydney Festival so far.

Review by Bobby Townsend.

Nick Zinner interview

Bobby Townsend interviewed Yeah Yeah Yeahs' guitarist Nick Zinner for Sydney's Drum Media about his 41 Strings project. Here's what he had to say: 

It's been a long journey for Nick Zinner, from playing tiny, raucous shows with the fledgling Yeah Yeah Yeahs in New York City at the turn of the Millennium, to his self-penned orchestral piece being one of the main attractions at the 2011 Sydney Festival. While the musician has always been ambitious and inventive, it isn't a career trajectory that he gave much thought to, back in the early days. “I didn't think something like this would be possible at all,” he laughs. “It was the furthest thing from my mind.”

However, not only is it possible, but it is very much a reality. With two shows at The Opera House, 41 Strings is a piece written for acoustic and electric strings and percussion and is led by the versatile Mr Zinner, who plays guitar and conducts a four-part classical piece featuring guitars, violins, violas, cellos and bass. Oh, and not to mention three drummers and synths as well. Using the Four Seasons as inspiration, the music chronicles the ups and downs of the seasons and is at times dark and moody with hints of melancholy, while elsewhere full of hope and elation. “Essentially I was asked to create a composition to perform at a free event in New York that was a celebration for Earth Day,” he explains when asked how the idea came about. “It was the 40th anniversary and they just asked me to write anything I liked. I'd always wanted to create something like this. Although I had done a little bit of writing for strings for film soundtracks a few years before and also for Karen [O, singer of Yeah Yeah Yeahs], I'd never done anything that was so open-ended and so big. It just seemed like an exciting project to take on. It was a great opportunity, to spend a lot of time thinking about it and working with those sorts of capabilities.”

And so, after a successful outing in the guitarist's home country, 41 Strings has now been given the opportunity to travel all the way across the world to Australia. It is a privilege not lost on the American. Zinner is generally a quiet, laid-back fellow, but there is an upbeat tone in his voice as he exclaims his anticipation. “I'm so excited and happy about it. It's truly amazing that I get to go over and to be able to perform something like this.”

While he will be taking along a bunch of musicians that performed with him in New York, including Hisham Akira Bharoocha (Soft Circle, The Boredoms), Ben Vida (Soft Circle), Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and string arranger Gillian Rivers, Zinner has also been busy recruiting musicians from Australia. “We're using the Sydney Youth Orchestra and I've been searching for guitar players over the past few weeks.” Fortunately for him, and for the country's musical reputation, it has been a fruitful quest, with plenty of potential candidates throwing their plectrums into the ring. “So far, it's good. It's really good,” he beams. “There are a lot of great guitar players in Australia and I've just been getting recommendations from friends that I have over there. We've pretty much found everybody, which is very exciting.”

So, with the line-up of Team Zinner complete, he arrived a few days prior to his appearance at the Sydney Festival for some serious last-minute rehearsing (as well as a quick DJ set at the Hunting Lodge in Hyde Park). “We're looking at four days, which is good,” he says when talk turns to how much time he will have to turn his hotchpotch collection of talented mates and strangers into a fully-functioning orchestra. “Four days should be good,” he repeats. At first, it sounds as though he is trying to convince himself more than anyone else, but actually, it turns out that he is genuinely relieved at how much time he will have. Four days is double the preparation time he was afforded before 41 Strings' debut in The States. “It's really mostly for the guitar players. When we were doing the New York performance, we only had two days and that was really hectic. Everything about the performance was, like, trial by fire.”

Buoyed by the success of the New York shows, Zinner speaks calmly and with confidence about his turn at the Sydney Festival, where he will play and conduct, surrounded by the musicians, who will be, in turn, completely surrounded by the audience. However, when asked about the fact that he will be taking to the stage in the iconic Opera House, his nonchalance is replaced, once again, by genuine excitement. “It's unbelievable. I've never even been inside that place,” he buzzes. “It's a true honour and I feel really lucky to be able to have that opportunity.”

While the clamber for tickets to see 41 Strings from an intrigued Sydney public proves Nick Zinner to be a rather important figure in the music world these days, it seems hard to believe that it has been over a decade since he, Chase and O got together and started creating visceral, thrilling, catchy-as-hell New York punk rock. One wonders whether it feels that long to the guitarist. “Most of the time, no, but sometimes it does. Ten years is a really long time for a rock band. You know, most of them don't even last three years, so it's pretty incredible.” Even after ten years, the desire to keep on evolving and bringing out new material remains strong for the three-time Grammy-nominated trio. “We've been writing on and off for the past year or so. We have also been working on Karen's Stop The Virgens opera and now we're putting our heads together and working on some more Yeah Yeah Yeahs stuff.”

Whether he is exhibiting photos, crafting ambitious live orchestral pieces, working on film scores or collaborating with the likes of Bright Eyes, Scarlett Johansson, Damon Albarn and Santigold, it seems that Nick Zinner always has a hundred projects on the go at once. “I go crazy if I'm not doing something,” he admits. “I've just been writing stuff and I'm scoring a film right now. I did a photo show a couple of weeks ago.” However, the truth of the matter is that, while he is a creative soul, ever wishing to push his own boundaries and try new artistic ventures, he isn't the multi-tasker you might expect. Rather, he focuses fully on each individual project before moving on to the next one. “I feel like, whenever I'm working on something, I try to only work on that. When we're working on Yeah Yeah Yeahs, none of us can do anything else because we're touring or writing or recording and I try to give myself 100 percent to whatever project I'm working on.”

Zinner's dedication to his art bodes well for anyone heading to see 41 Strings at the Opera House. If his back-catalogue of diverse creations is anything to go by, it'll be absolutely fantastic.

41 Strings takes place on Sunday January 22nd at 5.30pm and 8.30pm. More information can be found here, and don't forget a limited number of tickets for both shows will be available at the Tix For Nix box office on Sunday morning.

Regina Spektor at Sydney Opera House

Brooklyn’s clearly talented Jupiter One opened with the kind of songs you would expect to hear playing over emotional montages in angsty TV dramas, with cello and violin tugging at the heartstrings. A bit bland, their set played out like the soundtrack to a marketing executive’s wet dream.

What a long way Russian-born New Yorker Regina Spektor has come since the days of self-recording her albums in one day and selling them at her shows. Shuffling nervously onto stage and talking shyly between songs about painting her nails, hugging koalas and how she says “thank you” too much, the big question of her two nights at The Opera House was whether she would prove to be too indie for such a grand setting or whether she was now too polished an artist to please fans of her edgier early work. Happily, she was neither, and her set segued perfectly between old and new.

Employing Jupiter One on strings and drums to great effect, Spektor mainly sat at the piano, but occasionally strapped on a guitar or sang unaccompanied as she mixed slow ballads with radio-friendly pop and more experimental stuff. The Opera House’s phenomenally crisp and clear acoustics helped carry forth every nuance of the music, as songs from her latest album like the bouncy Folding Chair went down well, while oldies like Us and Sailor Song were greeted with joy by long-standing fans.

Heartbreaking tender ballad Samson remains one of the best songs of the last ten years and commanded hushed awe from the audience but, on this occasion, the highlight was Apres Moi. For someone so softly spoken, Spektor has a massive vocal range and when she ended the song by belting out couplets in Russian, it was jaw-dropping.

Though, on record, her edges seem to have smoothed a little, live, she was as weird and leftfield as ever, using her vocal as an instrument and singing ditties about how “Someone next door’s fucking to one of my songs.” In taking the step to this next level, Regina Spektor proved that it is possible to make intelligent, beautiful music that is accessible while still remaining daring and oddball. The standing ovation she received was of course deserved. This was an enchanting performance in the perfect setting.

Interview by Rob Townsend.
Read Rob's interview with Regina here.