Nick Revel

I grew up in a tiny town called Wilton, CT, where SUV’s have run rampant. With the help of an extremely supportive family I decided to study viola and practice my way into the Eastman School of Music. I spent four years at Eastman studying with John Graham and other great artists including the Ying Quartet. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Music for viola Performance and now I am taking on the Big Apple to put my skills to the test.

I’ve created a composite career for myself including performing, teaching, composing, and improvising, in short freelancing, in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. I’ve performed in some of the coolest places including Carnegie Hall, Jorgensen Center, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Kilbourn Hall, Eastman Theatre, and Glimmerglass Opera House.

Now I enjoy teaching private lessons, coaching chamber music with the Norwalk Youth Symphony and playing in Allentown and Norwalk Symphonies.

In my free time I study improvisation in jazz, rock, and bluegrass and continue to sharpen my viola chops. Composing music has also become a high priority in my musical studies. I love writing and performing and hope to share my music with as many people as I can.

Projects

March 27th, 2010

Projects and Cool things:

publiQUARTET: publiQUARTET is a string quartet who’s mission is to deformalize classical music, make it our music, and let audiences of any background enjoy it without all it’s typical pretentious bullshit. This group is made up of highly creative and skillful performers including Amanda Gookin on cello, Jessie Montgomery and Curtis Stewart on violins. We’ve started our very own concert series called “Cafe de Concert,” and commissioned several pieces by current NY composers including Joe Phillips and Jorge Sosa to be performed in this concert series. Our next concert will be at Cafe Vivaldi in the East Village on August 28th at 6pm.

Group Therapy: Music runs on emotion. This string quartet, made up of Nolan Robertson and Kiersten Cunningham on violin and Brian Hatton on cello plays with the idea that performance and music can be therapeutic to both audience and performers alike. This year there will be a short 3-concert series with the first concert on December 4th.

Concert Survey

November 12th, 2009

In the beginning of August I played a solo recital in Williamstown, MA in Jimmy Bergin’s afternoon concert series. I had the privilege of playing fantastic music with an incredible pianist by the name of Scott Bailey. In this concert I performed Six Studies in English Folksong by Ralph Vaughan Williams originally written for cello and piano, Romanze for viola and orchestra by Max Bruch, and the Fourth Suite by J.S. Bach.

Cruise Ship Jobs

September 8th, 2009

DON’T DO IT! It’s not worth the slavery; I mean the tendonitis; I mean the effort. Starting on August 22nd at 11:30 AM I have been working for ********* cruises. We have been playing string quartets on the boat. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn. I thought wow, a paid vacation! I was sorely mistaken…

Audience participation

November 1st, 2008

This one focuses on how audience participation at a concert affects the whole experience. These are mostly my personal opinions through my own observations of concerts, so not empirical.

The old Classic vs. Pop deal

October 19th, 2008

So, lots of musicians and critics have been talking about the differences in styles of classical and pop music in current times. I keep on hearing that classical music as we know it is on its way out. Why do you think these two musical worlds are so separate? Why does pop seem to be kicking classical’s ass? Are there any solutions? Should there be any solutions?

Stuff I’ve been up to

October 13th, 2008

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Some Stuff I’ve been up to:
7/31/10
Final show of Euripides’ “Medea,” which I wrote music for.

7/26/10
Just got back from a two week music adventure in Silver Bay, NY. So relaxing and beautiful is Lake George.

7/1/10
PUBLIQuartet concert at 5c in the East Village. We packed the house!

6/29/10
PUBLIQuartet concert in the Gardens in the East Village. Absolutely beautiful!

6/27/10
Played in a week long production of Rigoletto with Zach Kampler and the Buffalo Opera Company.

6/4/10
Held my very first studio recital!

5/23/10
Concluded the 2nd year of NYS chamber music with another chamber music party.

5/5/10
Performed in the Mid-day Music Series at St. Paul’s on the Green in Norwalk, CT. Works by Joan Tower, myself, Robert Schumann, and Fritz Kreisler.

5/2/10
World Premier of my quartet for four violas called “Broken Lines” at the New York Viola Society Concert. Nora Krohn, Liyuan Liu, Brian Lindgren, and myself performing. Christ and St. Stephen’s at 122 W 69th Street.

1/16/09
Made it onto the New Haven Symphony’s sublist.

1/8/10
Played death metal, funk, an Elvis Tune, tango and more in Tom Swafford’s group, String Power, at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO.

12/19/09
The chamber groups I coach with Norwalk Youth Symphony perform in their first recital of the year.

12/15/09
Performed with Group Therapy and Sydney Skybetter and Associates at the black box in NYU’s Tisch School.

10/28/09
Played in Numinous ensemble with Joe Phillips. Performed his piece “Vipassana” at the Brooklyn Lyceum.

10/6/09
Started shooting with Sex and the City 2. Orchestra scene during wedding.

9/25/09
Returned early from cruise gig (see blog for info)

8/20/09
Leave for Holland America Cruise line gig

8/15/09
Collaboration concert with Sydney Skybetter Dance company and Group Therapy Ensemble at the Tisch School at NYU.

8/3/09
Solo recital in Williamstown, MA. Vaughan Williams, Bach, Bruch

8/1/09
Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra in Kahtona, NY.

6/19/09
Played chamber music in the Adirondacks. Silver Bay on Lake George. Beautiful.

6/1/09
Made assistant principal viola of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra

5/27/09
My very own solo viola recital. Milhaud, Burhans, and Bruch. It’s good to play out.

5/19/09
Jammed out with Jon Sandler at Arlene’s Grocery.

5/18/09
Giant studio recital for Norwalk Youth Symphony’s Lessons in the Schools program. They all did so well!

5/11/09
Performed Motown gig called “Winds of Change” with Lee Summers and Timothy Graphenreed on piano at the Triad Theater.

4/27/09
Another string quartet concert at Fat Cat!

4/25/09
Norwalk Youth Symphony Chamber Music party! Drinks, food, the kids playing chamber music for the parents and NYS directors, it went off with out a hitch. Chamber music at NYS will be up and running next year too.

4/6/09
Played an awesome gig at the Fat Cat in the village. Classical string quartets at a billiards club, how cool!

3/27/09
Gigged with Jon Sandler, singer/songwriter, at the Triad Theater in NY

2/28/09
Gigged with Gerald Goode, singer/songwriter, at Two Boots in Bridgeport, CT

2/14/09
Performed first contract concert with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra

1/18/09
Performed with Bronx Opera Company

12/13/08
First local professional orchestra concert. Norwalk Symphony Orchestra plays Handel’s Messiah…the whole thing my friends, the whole thing…Hey, but it was fun!

12/12/08
I performed solo Bach in a bookstore in Ridgefield, CT - Books on the Common. Odd at first playing in a store while people stroll the isles for holiday book gifts but people seemed to like it. I think I will make a hobby out of performing in unusual venues; now no where is safe from classical music!

11/20/08
Back in good old Rochester, where it decided to start its annual i’m-going-to-snow-everyday-until-everyone-is-completely-sick-of-the-cold-and-depressed. But I played a gig with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. I joined the sub-list last October (’07) but didn’t get called until now… As I’ve said before somewhere, Bartok simply kicks ass, as we rocked the Concerto for Orchestra. My old orchestra rep prof was sitting principal; nice to actually play in the same section as her.

10/31/08
Orchestra of the Bronx concert at Lehman College. If only they would let me keep the ghoul mask that I’ve been wearing the rest of the day on during the performance. Hmm, maybe they will…

10/11/08
Ridgefield Middle School in CT commissioned me to write a chamber orchestra
piece for them to be premiered in the spring concert. The catch is I get to
put in a solo viola part, and I will be the soloist.

10/4/08
Subbed with Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra. Fun concert.

9/21/08
Made section viola of Allentown Symphony Orchestra. Go me!

8/1/08
Just finished Pacific Music Festival in Japan and am getting back today to
NY, quite bleary-eyed, after a 14 hour flight. I suppose there are longer
flights.

6/28/08
Today I leave for the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. Sugoi! Doki doki
waku waku!

6/15/08
My jazz-fusion group, NeoCollage, performs in the Rochester International
Jazz Festival on the Jazz Street Stage right on Gibbs Street. What a
bad-ass gig, so much fun.

5/18/08
I graduate from the Eastman School of Music with a Bachelor’s in Music
Performance for viola. I graduate with honors and the Robert L. Oppelt
Viola Prize.