ARTicles vol. 2 i.2: Playing in the Snow

When, last spring, the composer Paul Dresher began searching for a local ensemble to perform his music for Snow in June, he imagined the task might be difficult. “I needed an accordion player to move the music away from traditional, classical instrumentation,” he says. “The musicians also needed to be versatile, first-rate readers who were very comfortable with American music idioms, and could improvise in them.” For advice about the Boston music scene, Dresher turned to Evan Ziporyn, professor of music at M.I.T. and the composer for this season’s production of Oedipus at the A.R.T. Ziporyn put him in touch with Evan Harlan, founder of the band Andromeda, and Dresher immediately realized that he had struck gold.

Himself a composer and accordionist, Harlan organized Andromeda almost three years ago. He had been arranging twentieth-century musicians’ works for his folk ensemble, Excelsior, and now wanted to create original music that preserved the twang of country and folk. He formed the new group with the violinist Ima Jonsdottir and the guitarist Adam Larrabee, who also plays the mandolin and banjo. They performed as a trio for a year until Harlan extended their range by adding Andy Blickenderfer on the string bass. Blickenderfer filled out the band’s lower tones and gave the group a name that defines its music. The word “Andromeda” does not belong to any one language. As the name of both a mythical figure and a galaxy, it draws different meanings from cultures all over the world. Harlan sees this quality as akin to his band’s music, combining the qualities of a wide range of cultures rather than rooting itself in one. Their versatility is demonstrated on the group’s album, Andromeda4. A somber homage to Dmitri Shostakovich is followed by a spry tip of the hat to Astor Piazolla, an Argentine composer and great player of the bandoneon, a cousin of the accordion. Both songs tell stories, bringing out each subject’s character and playing with his personal styles.

Andromeda usually performs at private homes; Harlan enjoys playing in these small spaces because of their scale and good acoustics. Exchanging the intimacy of such venues for the cavernous Loeb stage will be a new experience for the band. “With professional theatre your aim is to play the music perfectly and repeat it every time,” says Harlan. “When you’re playing with a live band, you’re not necessarily going for the same thing every night you play. You improvise.” Playing music for the theater brings its own kind of spontaneity, as Harlan found in his last role at the A.R.T., conducting the Klezmer Conservatory Band in Shlemiel the First. “In some ways the theatre experience is much more intense,” he says. “The music is not necessarily as difficult as what we might play in a concert, but working with the actors and singers, and not just on our own, brings its own challenges and rewards.”

More information about Andromeda, including audio clips of their work, can be found on Harlan’s website, www.evanharlan.com.

Sarah McDonough is the A.R.T.’s literary intern.