Two friends on different musical paths reunite
R.E.M. alum and violinist pal to perform new hybrid of rock, classical with TSO
Mike Mills and Robert McDuffie met in the choir of the First Presbyterian Church of Macon, Ga. Mills’ parents were in the choir and McDuffie’s mother was the music director.
The two friends went on to very different music careers: Mills, mostly self-taught, played bass and composed music for three decades with alt-rock band R.E.M.; Juilliard School-trained McDuffie became a classical violinist.
Their paths unite again Friday at Roy Thomson Hall in the world premiere of Mills’ Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO).
McDuffie asked Mills to tackle a concerto more than a year ago with the request to “write half an hour of music for rock band and violin. That sounded interesting, so I said, ‘Let’s try it,’ ” Mills said from his home in Athens, Ga.
“It is a hybrid that’s not been done before.”
Those who heard the music liked it, and the next thing Mills knew, concert dates were appearing on his calendar, starting with Toronto, followed by Rome and Aspen, Colo., this summer. A fall tour throughout the U.S. is in the works.
Mills’ rock band includes John Neff and William Tonks on guitar and Patrick Ferguson on drums. McDuffie will play solo violin with the support of the symphony’s strings section.
It’s an unusual hybrid, Mills said, as most classical/rock combinations involve adding orchestras to music already written. For example, the London Philharmonic has done a classical version of R.E.M’s work. But composing original material for a rock band and orchestra to play together is something new.
“I’ve been writing songs for a long time,” Mills said. “I kind of wait for something to emerge from the primordial ooze. I make noise until I hear something I like.”
His composition starts and ends with high energy “so you grab the attention of the audience and then leave them on a high note, musically.”
His aim, he said, was to create “mo- ments of joy and moments of beauty.”
TSO music director Peter Oundjian, who is conducting the 10 p.m. Late Night concert, which opens with Beethoven’s Eroica, called Mills’ composition “rollicking” in program notes.
“Mills’ vast experience in rock translates into an engaging concerto, with a (violin) solo part that comes across like a thrilling guitar solo,” he wrote.
This is Mills’ first performance with the TSO and first concert in Roy Thomson Hall, although he performed in Toronto many times with R.E.M., including Massey Hall and the Horseshoe Tavern.
The music of R.E.M. will be played by the15-piece Massey Hall Band at 8 p.m. before the Late Night concert in a free performance on Roy Thomson Hall’s patio. The event also features an after-concert party in the lobby, presented with Pride Toronto.
McDuffie, who debuted with the TSO in 1992, is founder of the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in Macon. Philip Glass dedicated his second violin concerto, The American Four Seasons, to McDuffie, who gave the world premiere of the work in 2009 with the TSO.
The poster for this TSO event, a black and white drawing of Beethoven, was created by secretive graffiti artist ANSER.