In a kindler, gentler timeline, a performance by violinist Johnny Gandelsman of works from his epic “This Is America” to help mark the 250th anniversary of the United States would be a fitting, if perfunctory, celebratory exercise. In the present political moment, it feels downright provocative. Gandelsman, who was born in Russia, raised in Israel, and moved to the U.S. at 17, comes to the local stage as part of the Boston Symphony Orchestra performance series “E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One.” The BSO will bring its banner to the decidedly less posh Brattle Theatre for the first of three free Boston-area performances starting Jan. 21.
Gandelsman is known both for his playing of Bach and for drawing inspiration from fiddling. He has long been part of Yo-Yo Ma’s Grammy Award-winning Silk Road Ensemble, and he received a 2024 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
“This Is America” forms a kind of bridge across generations. Gandelsman initially commissioned and performed solo violin works from 28 composers, ranging from mid-20th century legend Terry Riley, who is 90, to 19-year-old Harvard student Èbùn Oguntola. Conceived as an ongoing project, the setlist for the Brattle will feature some of the latest entries, including Rhea Fowler & Micaela Tobin’s hybrid violin/electronics piece, “A City Upon a Hill?”
Cambridge Day interviewed Gandelsman via email. This interview was lightly edited.
1) Is deep engagement with recognized canonical figures (for example, recording the complete Bach sonatas) required to be considered “legitimate” in the contemporary or classical music scene?
It seems like the two worlds (Classical/Contemporary) are coming closer together, after decades of total separation. I’m not sure if recording Bach’s Sonatas & Partitas and the Cello Suites gives me some street cred with the contemporary crowd, and vice versa. To be honest, I strangely feel a bit like an outsider in both worlds.
2) You’ve described “This Is America” as forcing you to confront the unfamiliar, inspiring feelings of fear, even rejection. You also described a “parental” feeling related to these works. Can you describe a specific example in which you experienced these two different kinds of feelings, and how you responded to this tension as a musician?
Perhaps it’s somewhat natural to feel both. I did have moments of being terrified, when I was asked to do something I have never done before — free improvisation, singing, extended violin techniques I was unfamiliar with, etc.
The embarrassment of not knowing initially led me to judge and even dismiss some of those works. I was fortunate to work with composers who graciously helped me find my own way into their compositions. One of the big takeaways from this project was the painful realization that I was not immune to the very human experience of fearing and rejecting the unknown.
The parental feelings come from being intimately involved in helping each of the 28 anthology compositions come to life. Now that most of them have been performed and recorded, I get excited when I hear other violinists play them. It is a nice feeling to contribute in a small way to the expansion of the violin repertoire — so I do feel a bit like a proud papa.
3) Can you share some insight into how you constructed the setlists, in particular the selections for the Brattle Theatre show?
With 28 works and over four hours of music, there are unlimited ways one could build a setlist.
For each of the three shows, I tried to create something that showed the diversity of compositional styles represented in the anthology, while hopefully resulting in a cohesive listening journey for the listener. The Brattle Theatre program includes some of the more recent works (Gabriel Kahane, Carla Kihlstedt), as well as a couple of works with pre-recorded electronics (Angelica Negron, Rhea Fowler & Micaela Tobin). Rhea and Micaela’s piece, “A City Upon a Hill?” uses recorded audio from the January 6 th , 2021 insurrection — it is a visceral and powerful work, still very much relevant today.
I do hope that audiences will be curious about the entire collection, and either choose to attend more than one performance or seek out the album, which is available on all streaming
platforms, as well as a 3-CD set.
4) The title “This Is America” will sound provocative to some in these days of aggressive nationalist rhetoric. What kind of commentary does the anthology offer on our present political excesses?
The dehumanizing language used by this administration and its supporters to describe anyone who doesn’t look, think, pray or love like them is violent and offensive. It is also banal and old.
This collection of work, which features music written by brilliant composers and musicians from a wide array of backgrounds, stands as a clear repudiation of the false narrative being pushed onto our society, that the USA was/would be at its best when/if it were white, straight and Christian.
5) Are there any updates on future performances or forthcoming recordings that you’d like to share?
I am involved in a beautiful new collaborative project, called “Johnny Loves Johann,” which sets J.S. Bach’s complete cello suites to new choreography by John Heginbotham (Mark Morris Dance Group), Caili Quan (BalletX), Jamar Roberts (Alvin Ailey) and Melissa Toogood (Merce Cunningham/Pam Tanowitz). We premiered a few weeks ago at Carolina Performing Arts (UNC-Chapel Hill), and in April will have a week of performances at the Joyce Theater in New York City.
This project is fun, surprising and quite moving — and the entire creative team is simply extraordinary. I have fond memories of playing the complete cello suites at a sold-out show at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium in February of 2020 — which was the beginning of my journey with these works. Six years later, this music is now a part of me, and I very much hope to share “Johnny Loves Johann” with audiences in Boston and in the Berkshires.
Gandelsman is at the Brattle Theatre Jan. 21. Be aware tickets are no longer available for this show or the Jan. 26 performance at the Vilna Shul in Boston. Tickets are still available for Jan. 25 at Union Church in Boston. More information at E Pluribus Unum: From Many, One.
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