An extension of the downstairs bar sits on the second floor of Seventh Son Brewing. Windows look down to the brewery on one of the two longer sides of the room, and the other side features windows that face out to the streets below. Sunday night, both sides were equally quiet. The Italian Village area of Columbus, which usually bustles from spring through fall, had given way to a tundra of subzero temperatures, ice, and extra layers of clothing.
The rectangular space within its walls could not have felt further from the outdoor conditions for Chamber Brews’ “inter/cepted” concert, which made total sense. Billed as a concert that “explores what happens when sounds, messages, and intentions cross paths,” it was a source of warmth in the middle of an arctic blast.
Plants hung down from the angled roof and potted between lawn chairs around its perimeter helped patrons forget it was December in Central Ohio. Wooden tables and benches faced a set of four chairs in a semi-circle next to the windows looking out to the frozen side street. Two studio lights faced towards the ceiling, behind the chairs, to accompany the low mood lighting for the full room of listeners.
Chamber brews stage at Seventh Son Brewing. Photo by Thomas Costello
Chamber Brews is a Columbus-based music ensemble that plays classical instruments with a modern twist. Instead of leaning on the traditional composers, the dead European white guys, the group plays pieces by less represented people in classical music. Sunday’s iteration of the revolving group of musicians included director Devin Copfer on violin and hosting duties, along with program director and cellist Sam Johnson, violinist Anita Chiu and violist Daniel Jacobs.
In the previous nine years of Chamber Brews existence, the group played other Columbus venues like the Urban Art Space, libraries and coffee shops but each year they bring their music to Seventh Son Brewing for the annual cocktail pairing concert. Over four pieces that stretched 54 minutes, concertgoers paired each composition with a drink to enhance the experience, and not in the normal way that people use alcohol to “enhance” experiences.
Sunday’s performance featured pieces by four different composers. Mohammed Fairouz’ “Prophesies” started the show. It tells the stories of eight different religious characters from the Quran and Old Testament.
Concertgoer freedom is a highlight of any Chamber Brews performance, compared to the normal arenas for classical music. Johnson laid out the ground rules before “Prophesies.” It was a “the first rule is there are no rules” kind of instruction.
First, the crowd could clap at anytime in the performance. Normally, a conductor of say the Columbus Symphony Orchestra would take offense to any sort of applause before the completion of all movements of a piece. Second, the crowd could get up, move around and get more drinks during the concert.Johnson promised that it would not distract the four musicians.
However the crowd wanted to listen to the music was fine with everyone. There is freedom unknown to many concerts when you attend a Chamber Brews event, although the music left the room in awe.
Seventh Son heard “Prophesies” and the other three pieces weeks prior the event to have time to create the paired cocktails. For the first piece was the non-alcoholic drink that paid respect to its Islamic inspiration, made of cardamom-rose syrup, lemon, blood orange juice, non-alcoholic orange bitters and soda water.
Most of the eight pieces of the composition ended with applause, especially when the playing of Chamber Brews required faster movements accompanied with equally quick body movements from the four musicians. Sometimes, they needed that break to catch their collective breath.
Zachery Meijer, a Granville, Ohio-based composer wrote the next piece. A flute player by trade, string players also play his pieces, like Chamber Brews.
Meier wrote the second piece “Prayer for Tranquility” in response to the tragic Pulse night club shooting in 2016 that resulted in 49 deaths and 53 injuries for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The piece starts the way it ends, with musicians barely making noise as bows slide across the bridge of the violins, viola and cello. Over the 10 minutes of the song, it builds and arcs to represent the pain of loss and honoring victims’ lives.
Chamber Brews shared the applause afterwards with Meier himself. The musician/composer sat in the crowd and heard the quartet’s rendition of his writing.
A drink of the same name paired with the song. It included mezcal, st. Germain, chamomile mint, lemon, frico and soda water. Like the theme of the event and the song, Seventh Son drink creators used chamomile to represent its calm and used mezcal in a non-traditional way, as opposed to the usual overpowering taste of the alcohol usually associated with tequila.
For those who do not listen to this style of music often, the first half of “inter/cepted” was closer to what comes to mind when the term “classical music” comes up. After a brief intermission, Chamber Brews came back for the second half of the night that featured music that does not follow any of the same rules.
“Seventy Chords for Terry,” a 2005 piece that is less reading music and more loose instruction started part two. Experimental artists Pauline Oliveros wrote it as a six-minute showcase of the diversity of sound.
Before the piece, Chamber Brews told the crowd to listen to what was different or the same between the four musicians, especially if it overwhelmed anyone in the audience. Over the six minutes, each of the four musicians have requirements for the type of music they have to play, but it interpreted individually.
That meant at times multiple people would pluck at strings, use their bows or tap on the instruments themselves. Each performance of “Seventy Chords for Terry” is a different experience. The song grabbed attention, and Seventh Son appropriately paired it with a cold brew-infused spice rum cocktail.
Full specialty cocktail list from Chamber Brews Seventh Son event.
“Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector” closed out the show, with its inspiration shared by Copfer. The composer of the final arrangement, Terry Riley, wrote this song not as a group of measures one after another. It 25 different pieces of complimentary music, arranged how the musicians saw fit.
The name of the song and the puzzle-like feeling of it went along with Seventh Son’s Scientist IPA. It’s hard to believe that it was 25 different elements combined because it flowed well through Chamber Brews’ instruments. Through its 13 minutes, the brain goes from listening to the talent of the musicians and wondering how it all works while simultaneously appreciating all of it.
Throughout the night, during a concert that gave everyone the freedom to make it what they wanted, everyone chose admiration and respect.
