Fairmont books 2 Intriguing Acts

By Don Thrasher, Contributing Writer 7:32 PM Thursday, March 4, 2010

It’s not unusual for schools to receive accolades for academics, athletics or the arts. However, few are recognized for booking unique concerts like Fairmont High School, which has welcomed national acts such as Rockapella and the St. Olaf Orchestra.

“It’s a great thing to be in Kettering,” Fairmont choral director Brody McDonald said. “The community, the school and the parents facilitate all of this stuff. It’s artistic heaven over here.”

Next week, two notable concerts hit Fairmont’s Performing Arts Auditorium: the Section Quartet on Wednesday, March 10, and Sonos on March 12. While one is a vocal group and the other a string ensemble, the two Los Angeles-based acts take similar approaches to adapting contemporary songs.

“We’ve had classical soloists and an orchestra from Minnesota, but we haven’t had anything quite this genre-bending, for lack of a better term,” Fairmont orchestra director Richard Wright said.

The Section Quartet tours, releases its own albums and composes film scores, but is also an in-demand session group for big-name stars like Kanye West and The Foo Fighters.

“They’re a string quartet, but their instruments are modified so they can be electric,” Wright said. “Their appearance is still of traditional instruments. They don’t look like they’re playing electric guitars under their chins. It’s really relatable for my students to see them playing their instruments in a very new and unique way.”

The Section Quartet tackles everything from Led Zeppelin to The Strokes, while Sonos covers groups as disparate as The Jackson 5 and Fleet Foxes. Radiohead is one act both groups have tackled.

“Radiohead is so complex compositionally, so I think it’s easy to find a lot of room to make that stuff interesting,” Wright said. “That’s definitely common ground, but both groups have pretty eclectic tastes as groups.”

Unlike the high-energy vocal groups Fairmont frequently books, Sonos takes more of a choral approach.

“It’s almost like the thinking-man’s a cappella,” McDonald said. “A lot of my kids can really relate to that because they listen to that emotional, angst-ridden indie music. There’s a lot of club music today, and then there’s this sort of introverted, soul-searching music and Sonos has tapped into that side.

“We don’t see this as just an opportunity for high schoolers, but as an opportunity for the entire surrounding community,” McDonald added. “We want to try to do our little bit here in Kettering to keep Dayton vibrant and appealing for people who move to here. Let’s get in there and revitalize the whole area.”

Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.