CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - When jazz bassist Lawrence Gray and violinist Stefan Milenkovich perform music by Bach this weekend, it won't be a straight-up, standard interpretation of the music. The duo will improvise on a classical composition in a Friday evening concert, "Baroque-n-Roll."
Gray and Milenkovich, both professors in the University of Illinois School of Music, and other faculty members and students will perform at a free chamber music festival this weekend in downtown Champaign. In its sixth year, the chamber music festival DoCha takes place April 10-12 at the Orpheum Children's Science Museum.
"We really look at DoCha as community enrichment, by bringing positive energy through music to everybody. It's about giving back to the community," said Paul Redman, the executive director of DoCha and the executive assistant dean for administration in the U. of I. College of Fine and Applied Arts.
It also provides another outlet for performances by School of Music faculty members, allowing music students to perform alongside their teachers and gain experience on stage. And it offers a different take on Baroque music.
"We're trying to do pieces that are exciting, or (perform) a non-conventional playing of it," Redman said.
There have been a few times in Gray's wide-ranging career, which includes performances with musicians ranging from jazz greats to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, that the genres have been mixed, but improvisation on classical pieces is relatively rare and perhaps even a bit controversial, he said.
"It's definitely different. Most of what I do is somewhere under the umbrella of jazz," or more recently, avant garde or experimental music, Gray said. But he's got a background in classical music and has played works by Bach and other classical composers for 40 years.
The chamber music festival features musical events for all ages, including some aimed specifically at children. Young People's Concerts on Friday and Saturday will teach what makes a melody through a comical musical play. Evening performances include more classical works on Saturday and "Songfest," a vocal performance, on Sunday.
DoCha is also an opportunity for the community to hear the performers in a different setting than Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
"Chamber music is music in an intimate setting," Redman said, adding it originated in people's homes as a sort of house concert. "We try to make it inviting and have a house concert on a slightly different stage. From a faculty perspective, it's an opportunity to give back to the community, get out in a different venue, and for joining and collaborating with people they may not have an opportunity to because they are all busy doing other things."