On September 25-30, Baruch Performing Arts Center presents an exclusive performance by the acclaimed ensemble Stick & Bow. The Montreal-based marimba and cello duo takes the listener on a musical tour of Latin America, performing works by Astor Piazzolla, Hector Villa Lobos, Julio De Caro, Arturo Marquez, and more. More info online at Baruch.cuny.edu
Classical Music Communications: How did you meet?
Stick & Bow: We met at McGill university, somewhere in the middle of our Masters degree.
We don’t recall exactly when or how we met… We just remember doing a recording of a beautiful piece by Luna Pearl Woolf called Suspense (a silent movie to which she wrote music) and already being friends. We had a lot of mutual friends.
CMC: When and how did the notion of playing together as a professional duo under the name Stick & Bow come about? What made you believe that this combination would work in the long run?
S&B: We first played together in the piece I’ve mentioned above. Then, Krystina commissioned a new theatrical work for violin, cello and percussion to Luna Pearl Woolf which was our first big musical collaboration. We workshopped it at The Banff Center for the Arts, alongside the composer and a stage director, and we decided to present it for the first time at the end of that artistic residency. But the piece was too short for a full concert (40 minutes) so we played the only piece we knew that existed for marimba and cello, Mariel by Osvaldo Golijov, a stunning work.
The feedback from both these works was always very positive, so we decided to explore further.
Also, Krystina lived in France and Juan Sebastian in Canada for 7 years. And for this part of the answer, we can’t hide that we are a couple! We had to be creative and find ways to see each other without having the budget to pay for plane tickets every time. So we found shows and performing opportunities that would permit us to play together.
In March 2018, the Biennale Musique en Scène de Lyon, with whom Krystina had already collaborated in 2016, commissioned us a new show! It was a big motivation to prepare a full length program for marimba and cello. In that same period, we also played 10 shows in France and Italy (March 2018) and the feedback was always very positive!
We then organized our own show in May 2018 in Montreal and that is where we met Barbara Scales from the agency Latitude45arts. From that point on, the duo Stick&Bow has become our most important artistic project, at our pleasant surprise. We still have many projects separately, but this is the core of our work.
For the “long run”, I think the fact that almost no repertoire exists for this combination is a huge motivation. We work with living composers to try and build/create a body of works and we constantly arrange new works! The program for Isla\Baruch is a mix of exactly that! Mainly our arrangements of works we love and some commissions. It’s a very hard but rewarding process to arrange music. We have discovered our instruments in such a different, new, refreshing and surprising way thanks to that type of work.
CMC: Is there already a canon of works for marimba and cello? Or do you have to arrange most of the music you play? Do you have a systematic way of working out these arrangements?
S&B: No, there is hardly any music for our duo, so yes we arrange and commission most of our works. Arranging is a complex thing and we don’t have one way to go about it. If we need to learn the music by ear (more in folk-pop music) it’ll usually be Juan Sebastian that’ll have a first go at the structure and then we’ll work together. When we work from scores, it’s usually the other way around, where Krystina does a first draft and then we work together.
The fact that we are only two is a huge advantage for arranging since we can really test and try out as we go! We couldn’t do that if there were six of us for example!
CMC: Tell me about your concert program at Baruch Performing Arts Center, which takes the listener on a tour of Latin America and Spain. How are the pieces you chose for each country representative of that place?
S&B: This is a very special program for us. I'm from Quebec and Juan is from Argentina and this program brings us to explore all the cultures that separate our own and unite them.
Our plans, for the 2022-23 season, already included a Latin-American program and thanks to Baruch, we simply started digging in the repertoire ahead of time! There is such a rich and diverse cultural heritage from Latin America and it’s really a pleasure to explore some of it!
We have chosen, for this specific program, to showcase works from across the continent inspired by folk traditions. Whether it’s a Bambuco from Colombia, a danzon from Mexico (a rhythm originally from Cuba) or a chacarera from Chile, we wanted to showcase the variety of styles. We’ve also decided to present some of the works we love the most from different regions such as Gracias a la Vida by the Chilean composer Violeta Parra, such a powerful piece that resonates for both of us.
CMC: What special challenges do you face during the pandemic? What other projects have you initiated since the pandemic began?
S&B: Before the pandemic, we had 2 professional videos. We now have 14!... and there’s a bunch more coming out.
One of the major outcomes of the pandemic is definitely going digital. And to be honest, it’s not simple. It’s a challenge to play for a virtual crowd. There’s no feedback, no human connection and it doesn’t feel perfectly in line. It also takes a lot more time and logistics behind every contract that was planned, which is another big challenge! We don’t say this to complain, we know we are super lucky to be playing and making videos, it’s simply the reality behind it.
Projects are mainly up in the air for the moment because of the situation. We are creating a new multidisciplinary show this upcoming November that will be touring in France in 2022 and we have a new show around David Bowie’s music in December. After that, we must admit that the year 2021 will be complex and we’ll have to be patient since things will have to move slowly for some time! We are really hoping to be able to present a new Tango Nuevo program alongside Gustavo Beytelmann (Piazzolla’s pianist!) for Piazzolla's 100th anniversary in 2021, but we will see how things move along before we get our hopes up!