Innovative String Trio Presents New Work at NYC Concert and Residency Series

Dana Lyn, Charlie Burnham and Marika Hughes present Songs About Communal Living, Thursday April 21, Live at Greenwich House Music School's Uncharted at 46 Barrow Street, NYC.

Composer, violin-viola player and bandleader Dana Lyn's COVID years were undeniably, frustratingly productive. "On one hand, I got a lot of writing done and I tackled some overdue animation work I would never have fit into my schedule otherwise. But as an active musician who is accustomed to and grateful for a full performance life in the city, I really missed playing with people and being a part of the community of artists that develops when you're creating new work. As soon as we were able to meet in person, I reached out to Charlie and Marika to make music together. We've been friends for over a decade, so the project came out of an impulse of recovery."

Lyn and her bandmates, cellist Marika Hughes and vocalist-violinist Charlie Burnham, are all busy and much-in-demand session musicians. Their friendship provided the backbone of this collaboration. "Charlie asked me to write a few duets so we would have some basic structures to play around with," Lyn says. "We asked Marika to join us, which was an organic choice given how much time we spend together, just as friends. The hunger that I had for community during the pandemic imbues this music with a feeling that any listener could relate to as genuine and heartfelt. We're not aiming to impress. We play to engage, firstly with each other and now with our audiences."

This recently-created trio is a step into the spotlight for these superstar side-people. "None of us present as traditionally 'classical' musicians, with all of the baggage and presumption that comes with that label," Lyn tells us. "Charlie hails from a blues and jazz background; Marika and I both were classically trained but ditched that path long ago to become improvisors and creative musicians. I wouldn't classify what I write as 'new music' in the classical sense, and contrary to a lot of contemporary classical music, I still write melodies and harmonies. I also wrote this music specifically for Charlie and Marika, to highlight their respective skill sets, so there is also a great deal of improvisation written into these pieces. I think our notion of a string ensemble is likely to sound different from what many might expect."

"For our Uncharted show, we will be performing a set of my compositions, mostly written during the pandemic. A few of them are meditations on the weirdly quiet New York City landscape we suddenly found ourselves in, but most are explorations of reconnection: being closer friends and co-creators, reclaiming our lives again as social beings and finally back to our roles as live performers. We have plans to record at the end of the summer, so this will give us a chance to try these songs out in front of an audience, some for the first time."

Learn more and purchase tickets at greenwichhouse.org/event/uncharted-dana-lyn-charlie-burnham-and-marika-hughes.