Greg Saunier, drummer for the band Deerhoof and one of the composers commissioned for the Brooklyn Rider Almanac, credits the group with “sneaking classical music out of museum jail.” In part, this is a result of cross-genre and cross-cultural collaborations: recent performances have included the likes of Irish fiddler Martin Hayes; mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter; saxophonist Joshua Redman; famed banjo star Béla Fleck, with whom they recorded the 2013 DG/Mercury Classics album The Impostor; and kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, whose 2008 recording, Silent City, also featured Brooklyn Rider. But the group finds inspiration beyond the realm of music as well, as the Almanac aptly demonstrates. Like the group’s name, the project was inspired in equal parts by the cross-disciplinary vision of Der Blaue Reiter (“The Blue Rider”), the pre-World War I Munich-based artistic collective, and the exploding array of cultures and artistic energy found in the group’s Brooklyn home. The Almanac composers were drawn from the most diverse corners of the music world, ranging from jazz icon Bill Frisell to Wilco’s Glenn Kotche, and each was further asked to choose as an inspiration a figure from any discipline, resulting in a smorgasbord of influence that knows no artistic boundary, musical or otherwise. As the Boston Globe put it: “The Almanac is both an all-over-the-map stylistic tour and a treatise on present-day quartet writing. It’s also a lot of fun, and Brooklyn Rider sounds passionately at home in everything.” In addition, the music of the Almanac anchors a revolutionary multi-disciplinary project of the same name. This summer saw the premiere of new Almanac choreography by Pam Tanowitz, Matthew Neenan, and Lil Buck at the Vail International Dance Festival set to live performances by the group.

Brooklyn Rider violist Nicholas Cords elaborates on the pairing of the Almanac with Schubert’s quartet:

Brooklyn Rider: 2015-16 winter engagements

Oct 25
Brooklyn, NY
National Sawdust
Brooklyn Rider presents “Johnny Gandelsman Plays Bach”
(Beginning of BR residency at NS)

Nov 17
Greenville, PA
Con Spirito Concert Series at Thiel College
David Johnson Memorial Chapel
MOZART: Clarinet Quintet (with Benjamin Fingland, clarinet)

Nov 19
Little Rock, AR
Chamber Music Society of Little Rock
Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts

Nov 21
Middletown, CT
Wesleyan University
Crowell Concert Hall

Nov 22
Rhinebeck, NY
Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society
Church of the Messiah

Jan 12
New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Friends of Music
Dixon Hall

Jan 14
Denver, CO
Newman Center Presents
University of Denver

Jan 16
Bozeman, MT
The Ellen Theatre

Jan 17
Missoula, MT
Missoula Symphony Association Cabaret Series
Top Hat Lounge