Ethel

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07/30/09 - Ethel Featured in Series of Podcasts on Sequenza 21

05/05/09 - Ethel and Gutbucket Facebooking, Playing at BRIClab

Ethel

Albums

Tour

Biography

ETHEL is four world-class musicians who have come together to create a hot new sound. Bluesy, hard swinging, playful, and fueled by fiery passion, ETHEL defies categorization. This musically omnivorous string band from New York City has been described as "the fiercest string quartet this side of hell," and "the most bad-ass quartet around." John Walters of The Guardian (UK) says, "I wish there were more rock bands who played like ETHEL." ETHEL's irreverence and panache inspires raves from every corner and one thing is certain: ETHEL will keep you riveted to the edge of your seat.

In its seven seasons together, ETHEL has created its own rich playing style -- a fusion of blues, rock, classical, jazz and experimental genres -- that has developed from each member's unique experience in the music world. Members of the group have collaborated with some of today's most compelling artists, including Harry Connick, Jr., Sheryl Crow, Gorillaz, Roger Daltrey, Yo-Yo Ma, Ornette Coleman, and Lenny Kravitz. ETHEL is a favorite at countless festivals and venues around the globe, as well as a ubiquitous presence on the New York music scene. Totally unpretentious and committed to reaching audiences of all stripes, the band consistently receives critical acclaim from major publications, including The New York Times, The LA Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Strings Magazine.

"They are contemporary musicians who through their music portray the sounds they have grown up with and live with in the here and now. They play the blues, they can sound like a great '60s rock group, they evoke Motown - and they can turn on a dime to display virtuosity that any great classical ensemble would envy. The fact that they are a string quartet is almost secondary." - Jeffrey Rossman, Classical Voice of North Carolina

In the spring and summer of 2005, ETHEL performed over 50 shows across the US and Europe with pop/rock legends Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren. This tour set the stage for ETHEL's second Cantaloupe Music CD, LIGHT, due for release in September of 2006. LIGHT features audience favorites from recent seasons and from the 2005 tour, as well as new works by all four members of the band and by noted composers Don Byron, Mary Ellen Childs, Pamela Z and Marcelo Zarvos.

"ETHEL left most of the crowd wondering what they'd just witnessed. These talented non-conformists took the string quartet sound and turned it on its head playing soaring, powerfully bluesy arrangements that left most observers slightly baffled but begging for more." - Ken Oxley, The Newcastle Sunday Sun (UK)

In the summer of 2006, ETHEL returns to Arizona for the group's second year in residence with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project (NACAP) at the Grand Canyon Music Festival. In partnership with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, ETHEL will be working with young composers from the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe, culminating in a featured performance of the students' works at the Shrine of the Ages, Grand Canyon. ETHEL will also take up residence this year at the super-hip New York venue, Joe's Pub, where the group will be performing their own music and collaborating with several innovative musicians and bands, including Jill Sobule, Gutbucket, and Kevin Gallagher's Electric Kompany. In addition, ETHEL will curate an evening at New York's Symphony Space where they will be spotlighting their supporting organization, Ethel's Foundation for the Arts, and its ongoing commissioning, outreach, and educational projects. Other current season highlights include the fan-favorite "In The House of Ethel" at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden (NYC), performances with Gutbucket in Austria and the band's first concert appearances in Australia, at the Melbourne Festival.

ETHEL gratefully acknowledge their supporters: American Music Center's Aaron Copland Fund for Music Performing Ensembles Program, the Amphion Foundation, Arts International DNA, Arts International Fund for U.S. Artists, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Chamber Music America, the Greenwall Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Meet the Composer Commissioning Music/USA, Meet the Composer JPMorganChase Regrant Program for Small Ensembles, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Music Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and The September 11th Fund.