It was a real treat tonight to be introduced to two very talented conservatory trained professional musicians who play, of all things, the Melodica. One of them, Tristan Clarke, is the grandson of Doug and Connie Clarke. It captivated the Skyline audience with a very musical, enjoyable, and fun evening.
From WQXR’s Blog: “The Melodica Men’s mission is simple: to spread the “pure, unadulterated joy that is the melodica.” After several incredibly adorable videos featuring everything from music from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to Stevie Wonder, their latest video, an arrangement of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, has made the internet go bananas. The video was posted on Facebook this week and received 1.5 million views in a little over a day.
The charm of this most recent video is just how freaking good the music making is. Both conservatory-trained musicians, Joe Buono and Tristan Clarke are extremely accomplished brass players: Buono has won several competitions as a bass trombonist and Clarke is the new principal trumpet of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. They were simply playing around with melodies from Stravinsky’s piece and, after a few root beer floats (NOT a euphemism) and studying the score, they produced this sugar-induced masterpiece of melodica pyrotechnics.”