George Grella (sepia) low res

george grella: critic-in-residence

George Grella is a critic, musician and composer, and now Galapagos’ very own Critic-in-Residence.

You may be wondering what this is all about, what Critic-in-Residence means in general, and what is means at and for Galapagos Art Space in particular. I’ve been asked this question already, even by other critics and professionals in music. My answer to them, and to you, is: we’ll see.

Robert Elmes contacted me with this idea in the fall, completely improvvisamente, as Italians say so evocatively. We talked abut it, and I was intrigued, by both his views on the problems of sustaining artists in a city as expensive and materialistic as New York, and that he didn’t have a definite idea on what the Critic-in-Residence would be, but wanted to give it a try and see where it went. Improvising is what I’ve always been drawn to as a musician, so how could I say now?

Galapagos is many things, depending on what is filling it at the moment. It hosts art shows, burlesque cabaret, circus acts, lectures and, of course, music. It also has a unique model, in that it supports and sustains selected resident artists, and manages to do so through that same flexible, inventive use of the space. It’s not easy, in fact it seems a daunting challenge, but every time I leave an performance and see the line of colorfully dressed people waiting to get into the ‘nightclub’ portion of the evening, I have the feeling that something is working.

So what am I going to be doing? I think I’m going to be evaluating how well this all works, although that will be subject to change, since this is an ongoing experiment. But first, Galapagos gets far less press coverage than their programming and ambitions demand, and their musical programming has become increasingly expansive. While I’ve been happy to run into Alan Kozinn there, more can be done. And that will be my first step, to write about recent musical performances. Let’s see where it takes us.

See George’s latest Galapagos reviews.

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BIO:

George’s performing experience includes playing jazz, classical and improvised music at CBGB, the original Knitting Factory and Weill Recital Hall. As a composer, he has produced chamber music, opera, electronic music and has created music for dance and cartoons.

He has published music criticism since the mid-1980s, both in print and on the web, and in 2008 founded The Big City, an omnivorous music and culture blog with a devoted following amongst musicians, composers and music writers. Since the beginning of 2011, he has been contributing a weekly column and various features to ClassicalTV.com, and writes frequently for The Brooklyn Rail, Seen and Heard International and Time Out New York. His criticism and analysis includes interviews with Nullsleep, Elliott Carter, New York City Opera’s Artistic Director George Steel, Brooklyn Philharmonic Artistic Director Alan Pierson, and the violinist Hilary Hahn. The second edition of the Grove Dictionary of American Music and Musicians will include almost two dozen of his articles, on subjects ranging from Bob Ostertag and David Garland to the conductor William Christie, the Turtle Island String Quartet and the International Contemporary Ensemble. In 2011, he received a grant to cover Petr Kotik’s bi-annual Ostrava Days Festival of New and Experimental music in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

As far he knows, he is the first Critic-in-Residence at a performing venue, at least in Brooklyn.

See George’s latest Galapagos reviews.