Classical-crossover trio entertained Baker Theatre with mashups and a spontaneous battle between two violinists.
Although the Time for Three performers play classical instruments, it was not a regular classical show.
Instead of playing their instruments traditionally, the performers tapped, plucked and pounded on the instruments to create different sounds.
Time for Three, a classical-crossover string trio, performed in Baker Theatre as part of the Performing Arts and Concert series Monday night. About 100 tickets were sold, Matt Thomson, assistant director of student activities, said.
The night kicked off with violinist Zach De Pue, violinist Nick Kendall and double-bassist Ranaan Meyer on stage performing a mashup of Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” and Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
Meyer took a moment after a few songs to introduce the audience to everything the night had in store.
“We look at music like one big wonderful exploration,” he said to the audience. “When you’re in the Time for Three land, the Time for Three creative space, it really is like that.”
The group continued on with “U.F.O” by Coldplay, a song that has inspired the group, Meyer said. But before the group began playing, there was some teasing as De Pue began tuning his violin.
“It was tuned when I bought it,” he said, causing the audience to chuckle.
The laughter continued later in the show when they tried to “set the mood” with Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song that the younger audience would know from the Shrek soundtrack, De Pue said.
Meyer began to play, but quickly stated he was playing the wrong song. De Pue hid his face behind his violin laughing as Kendall bent over holding his stomach. It was a few moments before the three contained themselves to play the piece.
The trio played its instruments differently from a classical musician. Meyer tapped, pounded and plucked the bass to create more percussive sounds while De Pue and Kendall plucked their violins — either holding it in the normal position or even like one would hold a ukulele.
De Pue and Kendall decided to do something they commonly did when they played in college, Kendall said. The two battled on stage with J.S. Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins.” Meyer took a moment to watch while his arms hung loosely around his bass, but eventually, he jumped right into the battle.
The trio ended with its rendition of Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” Each member had a singing role and at one moment, Meyer yelled out “Yeehaw” to the crowd.
The musicians waved their bows to the crowd before exiting off the stage with smiles still on their faces.
Jayson Wollmann, a junior studying MIS in business analytics, said attending the show was incredible because he was able to see a group who loved performing so much.
“I think they did a great job combining classics and new pieces but then throwing in their own twist,” Wollmann said. “There is a lot of cover string orchestras and groups out there but nobody entertained me as much as that group.”
Earlier on Monday, Time for Three played for students in Glidden Hall. Zack Weese, a senior studying violin performance, saw them play and was able to listen to the talk about their lives.
“I felt a stronger relation with them since I saw them before the show,” he said.
Kendall said it was empowering to be able to be able to inspire and share the group's experience with the students, and to bring that energy to the stage.
“Tonight we were really playing for the music students to show them what it can be,” he said. “It’s about working really hard but at the end of the day, it’s about having fun, having a great time and sharing the experience with other people.”
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