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Friends share their favorite music using playlists. These compilations earned the nickname mixtapes back in the 80′s when they were compiled onto cassettes. Mixtape Series is a new kind of concert series founded by a cellist and two violinists. They splice classical music with genres like rock, electronic and pop finding similarities between harmony, rhythm and mood. Their hope is that audiences will come for one genre and stay for the other.
The (now) four co-artistic directors of Mixtape formed a core ensemble over quarantine and are continuing to create mini mixes and recordings of their favorite tunes ranging from Bach to Radiohead, all using their classical musical instruments. Reporter Polina Cherezova sat down with the four musicians over Zoom to talk about the series.
This story features a sneak peek of their arrangement of Do the Astral Plane by Flying Lotus. A full recording will be released on their YouTube channel sometime in the next few weeks.
You can keep up with Mixtape Series on these platforms: Instagram, Mixtape Series website, and their YouTube channel.
In the meantime, check out their music video for American Yesterday below.