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On April 28 at 8 p.m. at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Nu Deco Ensemble will perform for the final time this season. Longtime local treasures whose value cannot be properly understood or articulated, Nu Deco celebrates, reimagines and collaborates. What they have done for Miami has been transformative. Massive credit to Juilliard Graduates Jacomo Bairos and Sam Hyken, the hearts and souls of this movement.
It’s a shame that I have never seen or written before about Nu Deco. Since their 2015 debut at the Light Box, Nu Deco has held court at the Bandshell, The Colony, the Arsht and so on. Always adventurous and courageously experimental, whenever opportunities arise, Nu Deco pounces.
So when I saw Allen Stone on the bill, my interest was piqued. Maybe it came from childhood memories of the Righteous Brothers, an Average White Band concert I attended in London, or Hall & Oates that triggered interest in this show. It could’ve been remembering my hometown Magnificent Men or hearing Motown’s Rare Earth sing Get Ready. In any case, before Amy Winehouse, there were others like Allen Stone; I was one of them. Whether Nu Deco understands or cares about this is irrelevant, but Stone will bring the blue-eyed soul for which he has been praised since coming out of Western Washington many years ago.
It is no accident that Nu Deco will not rest on its laurels. Repeatedly, every scheduled performance puts respect and fascination on view, whether interpreting Daft Punk, or Prokofiev, or OutKast, or Pink Floyd, or the Isleys, or the Beatles, or the Beach Boys. Disparate guests like Bilal, Madison Cunningham, Masego, JP Saxe, Wyclef, Ben Folds, and Robert Glasper make every event a classical amalgamation bordering on revelatory brilliance; Nu Deco is way ahead of us. This time, a tribute to our own oft maligned yet deeply beloved Lauryn Hill is on the bill. Few artists have been praised and crucified as much as she. Nu Deco will surely be more tribute than condemnation.
This program will also feature the world premiere of an orchestral commission from composer Derrick Hodge. Originally from Philadelphia, Hodge is a singer/songwriter/producer who has worked with hip hop royalty, including stars such as Common, Q Tip, Kanye (let it go), and Timbaland to name a few. The recipient of two Grammys, Hodge held down the bass when Robert Glasper covered Nirvana classic “Smells like Teen Spirit.” Also on the bill is “Symphonic Metamorphosis” by genre-bending German composer Paul Hindemith.
If you have a passion for orchestral music, nobody does it like Nu Deco. Their education and outreach alone allows Miami Dade students access to performances and resources. If you want to know more, go here: info@nu-deco.org.
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