Chamber Music on the Tab at Northside Tavern

left to right: Greg Noland, Vince Scacchetti, Smiliana Lozanova. Photo by Tiffany Lusht

Right here in River City.

It's called "Classical Revolution" and similar insurrections have broken out in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Cleveland, Portland (Oregon), Reno and Washington DC.

The first shots were fired in San Francisco in the autumn of 2006, when a group of conservatory students met for public chamber music readings in a bar in San Francisco's Mission District that just happened to be called the Revolution Cafe.  From there, the idea spread to other U.S. cities and to places as far away as Berlin, Belgrade and Melbourne, Australia.

Non-profit Classical Revolution is a consortium of similar groups whose mission is:  "to present concerts involving both traditional and modern approaches while engaging the community by offering chamber music performances in highly accessible venues, such as bars and cafes, and collaborating with local musicians and artists from various styles and backgrounds."  (See www.classicalrevolution.org)

One of those places is Northside Tavern, 4163 Hamilton Ave., where the local affiliate meets on the first Sunday night of every month (for a paen to Northside, see "36 Hours in Cincinnati," New York Times, July 19, 2009).  Director Vince Scacchetti founded Classical Revolution Cincinnati last spring.  Their first program was May 10 with string and wind players in concertos by Bach, quartets and quintets by Mozart and Ravel, a duo wind sonata by Poulenc and a splash of tango for good measure.

The original 9 p.m. starting time has been moved back to 8 p.m. for the next CR get together on January 3 at Northside (December's meeting has been canceled because of the holiday crush).  There is no charge for admission and the bar is open all evening.  The music goes on “until they kick us out, basically,” said Scacchetti.

Typically, a CR program begins with prepared sets by a pre-formed group or groups.  The content can be "pretty much whatever folks want to play.  After that we do sight-reading.  I always bring quartet books with me.  A patron once asked for a jazz standard that we actually had quartet parts for."

Viewing Classical Revolution as a “long term project,” the ultimate goal is to attract a younger audience, said Scacchetti.  “That’s the whole idea of doing it in a bar.  I mean we could do an afternoon brunch on Sunday or something, but it’s more the idea of taking it to people and putting it in front of them.  Give them the opportunity.  If they don’t dig it, they don’t dig it.  That’s fine."

   Northside Tavern provides the intimacy to make it work.  The musicians perform in a space to the left, just inside the front door.  There is no stage, and seating is immediately adjacent so the music can be experienced close-up.

   “It gives an aural perspective, of course, but the visual is very different because you’re so close.  It’s really laid back -- in attire and in atmosphere.  People have an opportunity to see that there are other things at work in addition to what their ears are telling them, the communication between the players without  speaking.”

   Patrons can take it or leave it -- listen or not, as they choose.  Scacchetti has seen it both “crazy” and quiet at the tavern.  “When Concert:nova showed up in October, it was shoulder-to-shoulder, and you could have heard a pin drop.  This isn’t necessarily what I’m trying to achieve, because it is a bar, and it wasn’t something that I asked for.  I didn’t get a microphone and say, ‘All right, everybody, just shut the hell up.’  I want people to receive it only if they want to.”

   A native of Youngstown, Scacchetti, 32, majored in music at Ohio State University and earned a master’s degree in viola performance at Miami University.  The prime mover of Classical Revolution, Charith Premawardhana in San Francisco, was a classmate of Scacchetti at Ohio State.  Cincinnati attracted Scacchetti  because of its “extremely vibrant scene for classical music.”

Violinist Tatiana Berman and violist Yael-Natalie Senamaud-Cohen perform Mozart's Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major, K.423 at Northside Tavern November 1, 2009

Concert:nova came directly from their all-Latin concert at the Contemporary Arts Center October 4 and brought CSO principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn and guest bandoneonist Ben Bogart with them.

They play for drinks and “for the fun of it,” said Scacchetti.  “I run a tab for the musicians and buy them beer.”

Everyone works essentially pro-bono, he said.  “I get a little bit of money from the Northside Tavern that I use for printing expenses, but I don’t aspire to make money from this thing.  It’s more about re-defining the perception of classical music in the minds of people who have never listened to it.”

Violist Scacchetti, who works in sales for Amati’s Fine Instruments in Cincinnati, is an active free-lancer as well, subbing with orchestras in the region and performing with The Newbees, a pop/rock band with a four-piece string section (see www.thenewbees.com).

Having done eight programs since May, CR has found a groove in Cincinnati, he said. 

“I see a lot of repeat faces now.  There are definitely some regulars, a good 15, 20 people that show up every sing time.”  As emcee of the programs, Scacchetti has observed audience reaction closely.

“I’ve had some conversations with folks sitting at the bar while people are playing and they’re saying ‘We didn’t know this was going on tonight.  I’m so glad we’re here.’  There was this total rocker guy a couple of years older than me, and he was like, ‘I can’t believe that people are playing classical music at the Northside Tavern and people are responding to it in this fashion.’”

   There is “a different vibe in Northside,” said Scacchetti, who lives in Hyde Park.  “That’s one of the reasons why I wanted to do it here.  I knew there would be the potential for walk-up traffic.  There have been a few times where I’ve been sitting back while somebody was playing and somebody walks in.  The look of disbelief on their face – like, 'What?’  Total surprise.”

Scacchetti calls himself “super-enthusiastic about chamber music” (which, stylistic considerations aside, basically means music for small ensemble with one player to a part).

“Sales is my day-to-day job, but I’m not a tactics kind of guy.  I don’t believe in hounding my customers.  I think the way to do it is to show great enthusiasm.  If I can have a great understanding of what I’m selling, what my competitors are selling and what the customer’s needs are, I don’t have to call and hound them.  They call me.

“I want to have it so together that people will know they can come to the Northside Tavern on the first Sunday of every month and see something great and have a good time, because I’m going to put the effort into it.”