2022 DMA Nominee Outstanding Classical Composer — Patrick Grant
My first publicly performed piece was “Cantata for the Easter Mass” when I was 15 years old at the Our Lady of Victory Church in Northville, MI. It was written for soloists, choir, strings and organ. While I’m not a traditionally religious person at all, I have retained this sense of ceremony in all my work ever since. It seeks to find a place in the world. And there is always a feeling of a larger narrative. My work with the Tilted Axes mobile electric guitars project is another branch of this same aesthetic. Some times it asks: What is classical music? Is it an instrumentation or an intention? Is it as the venue it’s performed in or can it be found anywhere? Is it solely a technique or is it what we find beyond it if we know where to look? And yet other times the music aims to say as little as possible. It only asks you to listen with prejudice. One thing I have found to be common to all things “classical”, whether it’s traditional or it’s pushing the envelopes of genres: It seeks to elevate us all by pulling us into the present. Together. And if the composer is from Detroit, it’s also not unusual if it has a mean groove. — Patrick Grant Final Phase DMA Voting closes on March 6th at 11:59pm.
Top row: Patrick Grant, Jeremy Nesse, Surar Al-Gaylani, Noel Marie Rivard 2nd row: Marco Delicato, Jeff Adams, Gael Grant, Dean Western 3rd row: Bob Kaufman, Sean Biggs, Manny Falcon, Alex Lahoski 4th row: Chris Simpson, Sarah Metivier Schadt, Rob Knevels, Mike Balavitch Bottom row: Maggie McCabe, John Lovaas, Jocelyn Gonzales, Chris McGorey
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is commissioned to create
“REEL TO REAL,” a series of three musical processions celebrating
The 60th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival
DEARBORN: The Henry Ford, 20900 Oakwood Blvd., Saturday, March 19, 12 noon – 2pm
DETROIT: The Marche Du Nain Rouge, Cass Corridor, Sunday, March 20, beginning at 1pm
ANN ARBOR: Opening Night of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Tuesday, March 22 at 6pm, Michigan Theater
To mark the opening of the 60th Annual Ann Arbor Film Festival, the festival has commissioned a series of musical processions from Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars.Tilted Axes: Reel To Real is named to mark our return to live events in 2022. The first event is a procession at The Henry Ford in conjunction with their current exhibit Apollo: When We Went To The Moon. The second is an appearance at The Marche Du Nain Rouge. The third event is the main attraction, the opening night of The Ann Arbor Film Festival. The performance will be based at The Michigan Theater and will travel around downtown as a prelude to the evening’s screenings.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is a group of guitarists and percussionists led by post-rock composer/performer Patrick Grant. They perform original music untethered via mini-amps strapped over their shoulders. Since their inception 10 years ago, they have created and performed numerous new music events in the USA, Europe, and Brazil.
Tilted Axes can perform anywhere there are people, excelling in untraditional venues. Its roster of musicians can change from performance to performance, city to city. The musicians learn a common repertoire created by diverse composers and rehearse it in workshops. Its performances are free to the public and are supported through institutional and/or private donations.
The project takes on aspects of spectacle informed by municipal band tradition, avant-garde theater, and world music. It takes music out into the world and seeks transformative situations meant to change community conversation. It is an apolitical organization, but it does support science, arts programs, and renewable energy whenever possible. Tilted Axes works best when it is part of something bigger than itself i.e. festivals, exhibitions, community initiatives, astronomical events.
* * * Go to Tilted Axes’ web site for procession details closer to the day of the events: www.tiltedaxes.com
TILTED AXES: REEL TO REAL performers — electric guitars: Jeff Adams, Mike Balavitch, Sean Biggs, Marco Delicato, Manny Falcon, Surar Al-Gaylani, Patrick Grant (music director), Bob Kaufman, Rob Knevels, Alex Lahoski, John Lovaas, Chris McGorey, Chris Simpson — bass instruments: Jeremy Nesse (chapman stick), Sarah Metivier Schadt, Dean Western (electric bass) — percussion: Noel Marie Rivard (snare leader), Maggie McCabe (high perc), Gael Grant (perc +) and more TBA — movement director: Christopher Caines — production: Jocelyn Gonzales, Melinda Faylor — performance support: Frank Pahl, Anthony Fremont, and others TBA
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is a project of Peppergreen Media and is powered by Vox Amplification courtesy of KORG USA. We thank our performance partners The Ann Arbor Film Festival, The Henry Ford, The Marche Du Nain Rouge, Eastern Michigan University and AMP!,Detroit Guitar in Birmingham, and Grove Studios in Ypsilanti.
We hope that everyone reading this is safe and healthy.
There are two streaming events that are coming up that we wanted to tell you about that can be watched remotely.
EARTH DAY 50 VIRTUAL KICK-OFF
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars is proud to be a part of the Earth Day 50 Virtual Kick-off this Sunday April 19, via a new video commissioned by 350NYC. The event is presented by Earth Day Initiative and March for Science NYC from 4pm to 10pm EDT. The line up includes Al Gore, Senator Elizabeth Warren, actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ian Somerhalder, and others with exhibitions by 350NYC, Climate Clock, and many more. Together we can build a better world.
Patrick Grant is nominated for Outstanding Classical Composer and Tilted Axes is nominated in the same field for Outstanding Small Ensemble. We are honored to be included with so many talented friends and colleagues. The 29th Annual Detroit Music Awards ceremony will be held online for the first time ever at 8pm EDT, also on Sunday, April 19. Tune in for some fantastic surprise appearances and special, never before seen, performances as Detroit celebrates its music community.
In our last update, we announced some upcoming performances and new grant funding. As with so many others, our live performances and site specific events have been put on hold during this current crisis. We will be updating you soon with news of rescheduled performances and new projects.
On a brighter note, we would like to welcome Nora Elbayoumy to Peppergreen Media in her administrative role. Nora comes to us via Alchemical Studios where she works as the Technical Facilities Manager and we look forward to utilizing her Stage Managing skills for our future productions.
Outstanding Small Ensemble – Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars
Outstanding Classical Composer – Patrick Grant
The Detroit Music Awards FINAL BALLOT is now open! If you are a registered member of the DMAs, please consider the impactful music that Tilted Axes Detroit has created for our community when casting your vote.
I wanted to share news of recent nominations and an award that were received in the past week.
Part of my identity as an artist has been that of being a passionate cultural ambassador for my home town of Detroit and of the bounty of musical innovation that continues to pour forth from its people.
I’m honored that I have been able to create a number of large-scale multidisciplinary musical events there with friends and musicians I know.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars as a project is a mystery to a lot of people. Is it rock, world, or classical music? Actually, if you take a step back, it is all of these things and more tied together in kind of Gordian knot. It also combines art, science, and theatricality in all of its presentations.
The work we do in Detroit continues to resonate via Phase 2 nominations in the Detroit Music Awards. If you are, or know a registered member of, the Detroit Music Awards, please take a moment to find out more about Tilted Axes and of the continued positive impact we’ve had on a number of Detroit communities since 2013.
“Composer/performer Patrick Grant and Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars will collaborate with the Michigan Science Center to create a new musical work to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the First Lunar Landing.
This new music will get its premiere in the planetarium and at various points around the center as part of the 27th Annual Concert of Colors in Detroit, MI the weekend of July 12th, 2019.
More details will be announced at the Tilted Axes Detroit: New Again relaunch event at Third Man Records Cass Corridor during the full moon equinox, Wednesday, March 20th ca. 6pm.” #AllSystemsGo
POST-ROCK COMPOSER PATRICK GRANT RETURNS TO DETROIT WITH HIS TILTED AXES: MUSIC FOR MOBILE ELECTRIC GUITARS PROJECT IN A TRIO OF PERFORMANCES COLLECTIVELY BILLED AS “TILTED AXES DETROIT: NEW AGAIN” AT THIRD MAN RECORDS CASS CORRIDOR, THE HENRY FORD, AND THE MARCHE DU NAIN ROUGE.
On Wednesday, March 20th (The Full Moon Equinox) The 18-plus musicians of Tilted Axes Detroit will assemble at 5:30pm at Third Man Records Cass Corridor at 441 W. Canfield, Detroit, MI to mark the project’s return to the city. Third Man Records was founded by Jack White in 2001 with locations in Nashville (2009) and in the Cass Corridor (2015). At this event, Tilted Axes director Patrick Grant will welcome visitors at 5:58pm, the minute the season transitions from winter to spring. A short in-store performance by Tilted Axes will follow. Then, during the 6 o’clock hour, Tilted Axes Detroit will perform a musical procession around the neighborhood to celebrate and promote their upcoming appearances at The Henry Ford (3/23) and the Marche Du Nain Rouge (3/24). The group will reconvene at Third Man Records Cass Corridor to complete the performance. This event is free and open to the public.
On Saturday, March 23rd at 1:00pm, Tilted Axes Detroit will appear at The Henry Ford as part of Make Something: Saturdays. The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a sprawling history museum complex located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, and was named a National Historic Landmark in 1981. The museum’s Model I Theme for March is “Collaborate”. In honor of that theme, Patrick Grant will premiere new compositions that emulate an assembly line in full swing during a Tilted Axes procession throughout the museum. The event is open to museum visitors, no extra tickets required. The Henry Ford, 20900 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI, (313) 982-6001.
On Sunday, March 24th at 1:00pm, Tilted Axes Detroit will participate in the 10th Annual March Du Nain Rouge. Every March around the Equinox, thousands of revelers gather for a parade through Midtown Detroit to celebrate their city. At 12:00 noon, the crowd gathers at the corner of Canfield and Second, right next to Traffic Jam & Snug, for a celebration of Detroit with live entertainment. At 1:00pm the Tilted Axes procession will join the parade down Second to the Masonic Temple. This event is free and open to the public.
More about Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars: Tilted Axes was created in 2011 by Detroit-born, NYC-based composer/performer Patrick Grant. Tilted Axes cuts musical pathways through the urban landscape, turning neighborhoods into their own sonic narratives. Since its inception, Grant has produced a number of Tilted Axes processions in various cities upon three continents. In 2013 Grant brought Tilted Axes to his hometown of Detroit and created a version of the project with a core of local musicians. They have performed in partnership with the DIA, WDET, the Charles H. Wright Museum, The Detroit Historical Society, the 2015 Concert of Colors, and other area sponsors.
Since Tilted Axes Detroit’s last area appearance in 2015, Grant released an award-winning album of Tilted Axes music as well as other works, one of which was nominated for a Detroit Music Award in 2018.
TILTED AXES DETROIT is a project of Peppergreen Media, sponsored by Vox Amps/Korg USA and local partnerships with Third Man Records Cass Corridor, The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, and The Marche Du Nain Rouge, with additional support from the DIME Detroit Institute of Music Education, Third Wave Music, and generous private co-producers and tax deductible donations made through our fiscal sponsor Fractured Atlas.
The MMiXdown 