This orchestra brings Charlotte musicians together to create genre-bending work

How do you grab the public’s attention and highlight the variety of music being created in Charlotte? Build an orchestra like you’ve never heard or seen before.

Cue Your Neighborhood Orchestra, which matches local composers from styles as diverse as hip-hop and metal with musicians known for classical music and jazz.

Reconceived for the COVID era, the orchestra is collaborating with local choreographers too — everything from aerial fire dancers to Latin ballroom — to create visually stunning music videos.

YNO’s genre-bending work, which debuted at the 2019 Boom Festival, has reemerged this spring with five free streaming concerts. Any donations received go to Roof Above, a local nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness.

Everything stems from YNO founder Elizabeth Kowalski’s vision of what she calls a “Love Revolution,” in which the community supports and invests in local people and causes.

Each concert features songs by local composers in a spectrum of musical styles, which individual music arrangers have adapted for the original artists and orchestra to perform together.

YNO is a project of Charlotte New Music, an organization dedicated to the creation and performance of contemporary music, that composer and Executive Artistic Director Kowalski started 10 years ago.

Although classically trained, Kowalski has immersed herself in the larger Charlotte music scene, playing with and supporting musicians from a variety of genres.

“I just noticed that there were so many amazing musicians but nobody talked to each other,” she said. “The audiences don’t really cross over... a lot of these super talented songwriters are really hidden and nobody knows where to go to find (them) or that we even have amazing, local original music.”

YNO brings these diverse songwriters and musicians together to amplify their work.

Recording during COVID

The last year has been brutal for musicians.

Kowalski wasted more than 400 hours of work planning projects and fundraisers for Charlotte New Music that could not happen in 2020. Some of that lost time and funding has now been redirected to virtual activities, despite Kowalski’s initial reluctance to bring the orchestra online.

“I hate regular livestreams,” she said. She worried about the technical challenges, and how to make an online concert visually engaging.

Then, the pieces started to fall into place. Last December, at a dinner party, audio engineer Terence Ervan mentioned to Kowalski how he’d always wanted to record an orchestra. She couldn’t believe her ears.

Soon after, she stumbled upon some ‘90s rock music videos and an idea clicked: “I was like, ‘Oh my God, dance is huge in these things!’ It’s like such an incredible, visual element.”

She had worked with many dancers over the years and realized they had been hit equally hard by the pandemic. With the orchestra moving online, it made sense to collaborate and go for something spectacular.

Kowalski started assembling her team, from musicians and choreographers to sound engineers and videographers.

YNO recorded all 10 songs over one weekend in a local warehouse. Ensuring everyone’s safety required careful planning, including new procedures and mandatory COVID-19 tests for everyone.

The number of musicians recording at any time was limited to 18, to maintain adequate social distancing. These modifications added a new level of complexity to recording, but safety was an absolute priority for Kowalski.

“It’s scary and surreal,” said bass clarinetist Deanna Glenn, but it also was inspiring to see how art could bring people together, even during a pandemic. She loved playing with musicians from so many different musical backgrounds and making good on Kowalski’s vision to create a product as unique as graffiti on the walls.

“One second I’m playing R&B, the next I’m playing rock, the next second I’m playing jazz,” said Glenn, a UNC Charlotte student, who typically sticks to classical music and marches.

Staying relevant

For singer-songwriter Jae Quisol, this collaboration was “like a dream come true.” His Latin pop-styled song, “Blue Curaçao” was reimagined for string quartet.

Quisol, whose music and activism reflect his identity as a person of color and a queer artist, recently returned to North Carolina.

“I never really participated in orchestra music or classical music growing up in Charlotte,” he said, “and I think right now to build bridges and create programming and be very intentional about inviting people in is what is helping these institutions stay relevant.”

He believes innovative projects like this one create equity and could put Charlotte on the map.

“I’ve lived in San Francisco and Boston and I haven’t seen a project like this one before,” he said.

Crafting experiences

You have to craft something worthwhile to get people interested in contemporary classical and avant-garde music, Kowalski said. She prefers venues like breweries and tattoo parlors over more traditional spaces. Everything she does is to build an appetite for more original music and to develop products in which musicians have ownership.

A forthcoming album, sheet music and merchandise are all part of her vision for promoting YNO and creating more opportunities for local musicians.

“I want average people to find joy in this,” Kowalski said. “I want it to be relevant.”

Want to watch?

Watch archived and upcoming shows at yourneighborhoodorchestra.com. New livestreams will be released Sundays at 1 p.m. on May 16, May 30 and June 13.

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