A Six String Odyssey: Guitar Ensemble Debuts Original Works at Exchange LA

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Guitarists Hewitt, Grgic, Menn, Piacentini + violinist Sonia Lee, cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher & pianist Vivian Fang-Liu blend genres @ packed LA show

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On September 6, The Six String Symphony took over Exchange LA for a performance of music from its debut album, A Six String Odyssey, featuring compositions and arrangements by 2x Grammy award winning composer and producer, Kitt Wakeley. Additionally, guitarists Russ Hewitt and Giovanni Piacentini each contributed one of their original compositions to the evening. The concert was ambitious, exhilarating and, at times, simply great fun. It also made a convincing case for the ensemble's description of its music: 'classical music for a contemporary audience.'

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The evening opened with Jazzical pianist Joel Martin performing the music of the great Armenian composer Komitas. Martin approached the music with sensitivity and a clear affection for its folk origins. The set was an inspired choice, quietly introducing one of the evening's central ideas: music can remain rooted in a particular tradition while continuing to speak to new listeners. Martin's signature jazzy approach to classical music was on full display as he greeted the audience with his unique rendition of Bach's Prelude in C-Major leaving this listener with the sense that this Jazzical version was what Bach intended all along.

From there, The Six String Symphony embarked on their Odyssey in a big-hearted, melodic and wonderfully-theatrical concert. There was no shortage of virtuosity, but the technical brilliance was never the whole point. What stayed with the listener was the pleasure these musicians seemed to take in playing together and the directness with which the music reached the audience.

At the center of the "Odyssey" were the four superb guitarists: Russ Hewitt, Mak Grgic, Gretchen Menn and Giovanni Piacentini. Each brought a completely different personality to the stage especially in their individual solos, and together, they showed just how wide the expressive range of the guitar can be. There were passages of real tenderness, plenty of rhythmic drive and more than a few displays of breathtaking technique. Yet the evening never felt like a parade of soloists. The four guitarists listened to one another, traded ideas and allowed their individual styles to become part of a larger musical conversation.

They were joined by violinist Sonia Lee, cellist Tess Remy-Schumacher, pianist Vivian Fang Liu, bassist Christian Fabian , and percussionist Daniel Venz, along with a string ensemble and the Sterling Ensemble Los Angeles who successfully transformed their singing voices into an enriching textural element in the orchestra. Conductor Michelle Jensen held the many puzzle pieces together with both authority and flexibility, giving the soloists room to breathe while maintaining a clear sense of direction for the concert and providing an overarching musicality to the entire evening.

Lee and Remy-Schumacher brought warmth and expressive weight to the ensemble, sometimes picking up the guitarists' melodic lines and sometimes answering them with a very different kind of sound, highlighted by Lee's fiery solo in 'The Six String Storm' and Remy-Schumacher's heartbreakingly beautiful solo in 'Seven'. Fang Liu added elegance and momentum at the piano, especially in her showstopping duo-piano solo. Fabian and Venz were strong and responsive presences on bass and drums/percussion, maintaining the show's heartbeat while bringing it solidly into the contemporary realm. That said, even at its biggest and loudest, the performance retained the feeling that these musicians were actually listening to one another.

Exchange LA turned out to be just the right setting. The building has a grandeur of its own, but it is also unmistakably a contemporary Los Angeles club. That tension suited the music, as A Six String Odyssey does not sound as though it belongs exclusively in a concert hall, nor does it abandon the structure and scale associated with classical music. It occupies a space somewhere in between, and the audience seemed entirely comfortable meeting it there.

The phrase 'genre-bending' is used so often that it has nearly lost its meaning. In this case, however, it fits. The Six String Symphony is not trying to dress classical music up as something trendier. It is drawing upon the freedom, energy and sounds of the present while holding on to classical music's scope and musical substance.

The Los Angeles concert was an impressive introduction to A Six String Odyssey and an exciting beginning for the ensemble. By the end of the evening, the boundaries between concert music, contemporary instrumental music and live spectacle no longer seemed particularly important. What mattered was that the music worked, the performances were terrific and the audience clearly wanted more.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/A-SIX-STRING-ODYSSEY-Showcases-Guitar-Ensemble-at-Exchange-LA-20260916)._