Chalk this one up as a major win for the performing arts: The previously vacant Fremont School in Midtown Sacramento is currently undergoing a $6.5 million transformation to become the E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts. When completed, Raley Studios will house a number of local organizations, including the Sacramento Ballet, Alliance Française de Sacramento, Brazilian Center for Cultural Exchange of Sacramento and McKeever School of Irish Dance. Through an unprecedented agreement with the Sacramento City Unified School District, Raley Studios will also host countless local students by providing summer camps, internship opportunities, tickets to events and scholarships for students to interact with professional artists in a studio environment.
This past Monday, June 29, 2015, more than 50 community leaders, supporters of the arts and local school children gathered at the site for a ground breaking event that included a tour of the construction and performances by future tenants.
“The transformation of Raley Studios is part of the downtown Sacramento renaissance, breaking new ground and bringing music, dance and theater to a collaborative space,” said Richard Rich, Board President of Raley Studios. “Arts matter. Not only what it does to the spirit, but arts can lead economic development, foster lifetime learning, and make the Sacramento region more competitive attracting innovative businesses.”
Raley Studios is scheduled to open in January 2016 and is located at 2420 N Street. The project is being funded by two $2.5 million from the City of Sacramento and approximately $1.5 million in private donations. Follow along as the building transforms at Raleystudios.org, @RaleyStudios on Twitter, or at Facebook.com/raleystudios.
The Perlick-Molinari Brothers Break the Boundaries of the Horn Section with French Horn Rebellion
What happens when you cross a classically trained French horn player with a dude who knows how to drop mad hot beats? Band geeks gone wild, of course!
The self-proclaimed “geeks,” brothers Robert and David Perlick-Molinari, founded French Horn Rebellion in 2007. The duo was inspired to explore their musical yearnings with a brand of plucky, ’80s-inspired electro-pop after producing MGMT’s “Time to Pretend.” Yes, that MGMT hit that reached No. 3 on Rolling Stone’s Best Songs of 2008.
And while FHR is a Brooklyn-based outfit by way of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, they’ve spent plenty of time in Sacramento: last December they rocked the house at LowBrau, they recently wrapped up a collaboration with the Sacramento Ballet and current indie-rock darlings HAERTS for the video “Swing Into It” and in July they’ll make an appearance at THIS, the MARRS Building corridor’s Second Saturday street party. Suffice to say, FHR’s got nothing but love for Sacramento.
“Well, I think it’s just the scene that’s going on in Sacramento, and from what I’ve noticed around the country, it really just takes a couple people to bring people together,” Robert, the younger Perlick-Molinari brother, explained to Submerge in a recent phone interview. “There’s a trend across the United States, which I’ve noticed, that a lot of towns are going local, getting local food, local restaurants, not chains—chains aren’t valued as much as they used to be, and places like LowBrau are kind of like the trend of the future, so to speak.”
Robert received an early education in music at the age of seven when his older brother TJ, now a lawyer for the family custom beer tap business in Wisconsin, thrust the French horn upon him, which he embraced feverishly. By the time he was in college he was a full-on musical impresario. But it was when he spent the summer interning at his brother David’s music studio in New York that he realized he wanted to rebel against the notion that classical musicians were bound to the orchestra pit.
“Rebellion is to say, that hey, French horn players around the world, you don’t have to sit in an orchestra, in the horn section and play music that’s on the page in front of you,” Robert explains. “We can do anything—we have way more power than we think. [So, I thought] yeah, I don’t really want to play Mahler anymore. I don’t want to listen to a conductor. I’m just gonna go make dance beats with my friends, and that’s French Horn Rebellion.”
A mix of driving, electronic beats and a hefty serving of camp and wry humor, FHR’s music isn’t your garden variety dance music. The brothers have dubbed their evolving sound as Next Jack Swing—funky with a classical music twist. Because when you’ve played the French horn since you were 7 years old, ascended the ranks in the pit to first chair French horn player as a sophomore in the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra and have had the honor of fisting your horn (yes, a common term for achieving certain notes by inserting your fist into the bottom of the horn’s shaft) next to some of the best in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, it’s not something that is easily forsaken for pop-music notoriety.
“I still play in some community groups, for sure, to feed the urge,” Robert explains. “But, at least playing at a high level, I guess I do miss that—that was pretty amazing, like playing with the Chicago Civic Orchestra was a real experience. But what you trade off for that is, [for instance], I was deejaying in Washington, D.C. and I’m playing my French horn and like 300 people are losing their minds on dance music; dancing and having fun. I think that’s so much more visceral and more fun than classical music, which is usually older people in a quiet room watching some guys in a tuxedo.”
Robert is getting used to this gig—spinning records to a heaving crowd of dance freaks, busting out his French horn periodically to ignite the crowd into a music-induced frenzy. But these days it’s largely a one-Perlick-Molinari operation.
“We don’t actually go on tour together anymore,” Robert explains of his brother’s absence from the live shows. “He’s a full-on studio man now. So, he…makes the beats with me, but he doesn’t actually participate in the live shows anymore.”
In between running a studio and a record label, managing the band business, preparing for a 26-date tour of North America and recording a new single with Spencer Ludwig, the trumpet player in the group Capital Cities who also frequently plays alongside DJs, the brothers Perlick-Molinari are gearing up to record a compilation album while hashing out all of those details around a musical war room table involving the brothers and a new management company.
“We’re in a little bit of a strategic war zone, of how we’re going to release this music at this point,” Robert explains sheepishly. “I can’t give any specific dates, but we will have dates soon.”
FHR is slated to play THIS Second Saturday Block Party on July 12, 2014 with Goldroom, Sunmonks, Gentleman Surfer, Be Calm Honcho, DJ Shaun Slaughter and Adam Jay. For more info, visit Facebook.com/frenchhornrebellion or Facebook.com/thismidtown.
Sacramento Ballet’s co-artistic director Ron Cunningham’s 25th Anniversary Season will kick off Oct. 18 through 21, 2012 with Romeo and Juliet at the Community Center Theater (1301 L Street). Founded in 1954 by Barbara and Deane Crockett, the Sacramento Ballet is undeniably one of the region’s finest arts companies. Cunningham took over as artistic director in 1988 after Ms. Crockett had retired two years prior, and in 1989 Cunningham was joined by his wife Carinne Binda and the two became co-artistic directors. Ever since, according to their website (http://www.sacballet.org/), “Cunningham and Binda have successfully chosen ballets that balance public appeal with works that stretch and develop the artistic capabilities of the dancers.” Cunningham’s Romeo and Juliet will not be seen again until the 2017 season, so don’t miss your chance to see what he himself calls “the absolute best choreography of my career.” The Oct. 18, 19 and 20 performances start at 7:30 p.m., with Oct. 21 starting at 2 p.m. Ticket prices range from $17 to $70, so even budget-minded individuals should be able to see this masterpiece. Two hundred-plus period-inspired costumes, beautiful sets and scenery, pageantry, swordplay, drama and amazing choreography tell the story without words. Trust us, you’ll be left with goosebumps (and maybe tears) after feeling the emotions these dancers can bring out of you. For more information on how to become a season subscriber or to purchase individual tickets, visit http://www.sacballet.org/.
Sacramento Ballet’s Beer & Ballet just got tastier this year with its new sponsor Ruhstaller, “Sacramento’s beer since 1881,” being added to the mix. Sip some fresh and delicious brews (or there is wine and soda too) while you watch edgy new works that were created by the dancers themselves up close and personal! It all goes down at Sacramento Ballet’s studios at 1631 K Street, it’s an intimate setting where you feel like you’re sitting in on a rehearsal. It’s very informal, so if ballet is something that has typically scared you off in the past, Beer & Ballet is for you. Submerge recently attended a program similar to this where we got to see a few routines up close and it was amazing. You can see the sweat rolling off the dancers limber bodies, and it’s really easy to tell how much fun they’re having when you’re sitting 15 feet away from them. Tickets are $35 and that includes two drink tickets. Learn more at http://www.sacballet.org/
