Fringe Atlanta Draws Diverse Crowd to Classical Music

By Dana Goldman

Atlanta, GA – Carly Ott and Jim Wert don't have much in common and have never met. It's not that surprising — Carly's 20 sports a nose ring and studies art at Kennessaw State.

“I really don't listen to the radio. It's broken in my car so I don't listen to that. But I love folksy music, like bluegrass.”

Then there's Jim. He's a middle-aged management consultant who's always been a fan of classical music.

“When I went off to college and heard the blaring of Black Sabbath through the dorm windows, I would turn my speakers outward and blare something from Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony. It's been a lifelong love of mine.”

Lately Jim and Carly have both been making room on their schedules for the same event: Fringe Atlanta.

“Fringe is a concert experience unlike anything else.”

This is 36-year-old Jose Reyes, a graphic designer by day and a founder of Fringe.

“It merges gallery artwork, to djs spinning electronica, to chamber music, to short film in a way we haven't seen at all.”

By having one show that merges multiple art forms, Reyes hopes resituate classical music in a way that makes it more appealing – and relevant – to everyone, including Jim and Carly. So, at Fringe Jim's been learning about electronica, spun by DJ Jennifer Mitchell before and in the middle of the show.

(ELECTRONICA UP BRIEFLY)

Carly's been learning that classical music concerts aren't necessarily boring or stuffy.

“It's a great, fun, cool, hip atmosphere – you would never think that about classical music.”

To appeal to both Carly and Jim, each performance features top-notch classical musicians, such as the Vega Quartet. It's featured at the November 8th show.

(BRING UP VEGA QUARTET)

Before the show, the 300-person audience gets to know the music and the musicians through a short, peppy documentary.

Here's Vega Quartet first violinist Fia Durrett, who's also music director for Fringe – in one of those documentaries.

“I think in the 5th grade we had to have our photo taken with a star that had what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote violinist. All the other girls wrote child psychologist for some reason.”

Reyes believes these documentaries are vital in helping new audiences relate to what could feel like ancient music.

“It's like you're watching the NFL and they're introducing the players and telling you something about them. As soon as you find out he grew up in Mississippi, you're the biggest Brett Favre fan ever because you're rooting for him as he's throwing the football. In the same way, this is what we're doing: By the time they come out to play their instruments you're rooting for them. And soon you begin to engage the music in a way you might not have before.”

That engagement keeps both Jim and Carly coming back to each Fringe concert. They'll both be in the audience on Saturday. Jim and most of the audience will be more casual than they would be at the Symphony but not Carly. She's now listening to classical music in between Fringe concerts but there's something special about going to hear it live.

“How often do you get to go and dress up and hear classical music? It feels like a fancy ball but it's more intimate and more fun than that.”

For WABE news, I'm Dana Goldman.

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The November 8th concert will feature the Vega Quartet playing Beethoven and Bartok. You can find out more about Fringe Atlanta on our website: wabe.org/arts.