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Rhys Chatham
on bringing A Secret Rose For 100 Guitars to Brum
Rhys Chatham is a composer, guitarist and trumpet player from Manhattan who’s credited with
‘altering the DNA of rock music’. For over thirty years, Chatham has composed music for
orchestras of electric guitars, combining classical compositions with the drive and rhythms of
hard rock. His latest composition, A Secret Rose For 100 Guitars, receives its UK première as
part of Frontiers Festival. What’s On recently caught up with Rhys to find out more...
Tell us more about A Secret Rose. What
should audiences expect?
A Secret Rose is an orchestral piece written
for one hundred electric guitars, bass guitars
and drums. I’m a classically trained musician
and didn’t really discover rock music until I
saw a gig by The Ramones in 1976 at the
New York club CBGB. From then on I went
about merging the minimalist style of
composing I was used to with the rock’n’roll
music I loved. I started out composing for
three guitars. By the 1980s, I’d worked my
way up to one hundred. That many guitars
playing together produces an amazing
sound. Anyone who likes rock will enjoy this
music.
The piece is performed by one hundred
guitarists, many of whom have been
recruited especially for this event. How
did you find that number of performers?
I’ve created guitar orchestras all over the
world. I put together a small team of
musicians and technicians and we then work
with a local promoter, who puts out a call for
guitarists. Anyone can apply, as long as they
can play; it doesn’t matter if they’re amateur
or professional. My team then reads through
the applications and checks what kind of
guitars people have, as some kinds work
better with our amps than others. We’re
usually over-subscribed. In Birmingham,
we’ve had one hundred-and-sixteen
applications, I think.
How do you go about teaching one
hundred guitarists a piece of music in
three days?
Well, you have to remember that I’m a
minimalist composer, so the actual piece
isn’t that difficult to learn. The complicated
bit is putting all the separate parts together! I
split the guitarists up into three groups, each
of which learns the piece with a guitarist from
my team. After two days of playing
separately, we bring everyone together for a
final day of rehearsals. It’s intense; three
days is not a long time to learn seventy
minutes of music.
I expect the guitarists have a great time,
though?
I hope so - and, of course, they’re the stars
of the show. It’s uncommon for guitarists to
have the chance to play in an orchestra, but
it really is such a powerful way of learning
and enjoying music. I’ve seen many new
groups form as a result of people meeting in
our orchestras. One Portuguese man met his
wife in our orchestra, and they’ve now been
together for over seventeen years!
Over your long career, you’ve worked and
hung out with some unusual and
incredible people. Do you have any
particular stand-out memories?
I remember when Brian Eno came onto the
scene I was in, in New York in the 1970s. He
had his own label and he asked me to be
part of a recording he was doing. Alas, I
stayed out too late the night before and
clean forgot all about it. I’ve regretted it ever
since. New York then was such an exciting
place. You could earn your keep from a few
nights working in a bar or waitressing, and
devote the rest of your time to music and art.
Things are so different for young artists these
days.
Rhys Chatham presents A Secret Rose at
Birmingham Town Hall on Sat 7 June.
www.whatsonlive.co.uk 11