41 Strings by Nick Zinner

Overview

The members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs really do get around. It appears that every single one of them has a slew of side projects under their belts, throwing your own talentless musical fumbling into stark relief. Now, for this year’s Sydney Festival, one third of the YYYs, guitarist Nick Zinner, bring his latest and most ambitious project, 41 Strings, to the Sydney Opera House for all to envy.

In response to the 41st anniversary of Earth Day in 2011, Zinner composed what is one part classical concerto and another part rock and roll, complete with a generous dosage of drums and synths. The piece, which premiered in New York last year, takes inspiration from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, following the flux and change of the year’s seasons in both brooding and ecstatic measures.

The Australian premiere sees Zinner joined on stage with co-collaborators, Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida, both of whom form the experimental New York-based duo Soft Circle. The string ensemble is rounded out with members of the Australian Youth Orchestra, and will be accompanied by visuals projected onto the roof of the Concert Hall from video artist Daniel Askill. 41 Strings will also be played alongside a companion piece IIII, a drum circle also based on the Four Seasons, lead by Bharoocha who will be the centre of a thunderous twenty drummers.