Time for Three returns to Wichita Symphony with Grammy winning concerto
When the trio Time for Three played with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra a decade ago, its performance included works by Igor Stravinsky, Katy Perry, Mumford & Sons and Leonard Cohen.
In its first trip back (after crowd-pleasing dates with the WSO in 2013 and 2014) since then, the string trio of two violins and a double-bass will be back next weekend performing their collaboration with composer Kevin Puts, “Contact,” which was on the album that won the the group the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.
The process for the concerto took 2 and a half years, including a pause for the pandemic.
“It’s a patient, long process, but it’s like courting each other,” violinist Nick Kendall said from his home in Philadelphia. “We knew Kevin’s music and Kevin did his due diligence by spending a lot of time with Time for Three. He came to a lot of our live shows and got to understand what our unique qualities are.
“Contact” was commissioned by six orchestras nationwide, and while Time for Three was Puts’ inspiration, the composer and the trio got together as often as they could.
“It was a very open conversation,” Kendall recalled. “He basically said, ‘What do you guys want? What do you guys feel like you need in your vast repertoire?’ It’s just so amazing to have that open kind of conversation with a living composer.”
As much as they enjoy playing Mozart or Brahms, Kendall said, they couldn’t text them for advice or interpretation.
“It’s so amazing to have a master composer be so open,” he said.
The process began with an improvisational music session by the trio, who all began with formal classical musical educations and branched out their interests into rock, pop, country and bluegrass music.
Puts would send pieces of the concerto to the trio, who would perform it during soundchecks while their manager recorded them for the composer.
“It’s very conversational and very back-and-forth,” Kendall said. “He ended up making this perfectly tailor-made suit for us, and it’s been amazing.”
Time for Three was ready to debut “Contact” in Philadelphia and San Francisco in the summer of 2020, but COVID delayed its debut for an audience. Instead, the trio performed the work with the Philadelphia orchestra, with masks for those not playing with their mouths, and it was recorded for YouTube.
Kendall and bass player Ranaan Meyer were the charter members of Time for Three when it formed in 2003, with violinist Charles Yang succeeding original members in 2019.
All of those who have played in Time for Three, Kendall said, have had similar childhood experiences with classical music education in their early years, and other genres of music seeping in as they got older.
“All of us in our younger years, despite that focus, played in some sort of band,” he said. “We were using the tool of improvisation at a very young age playing different styles of music, everything from jazz to straight-up rock bands to folk music bands. When you’re so focused on these core masterworks, it was hard for us, but it was great for us. We wanted to find these moments where we could let down our hair and have these jam sessions.”
The Jan. 25 WSO concert also includes Duke Ellington’s “Martin Luther King” suite from his “Three Black Kings,” and selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
Time for Three is at work with Joyce DiDonato, a Kansas native and mezzo-soprano, on a song cycle written by Puts based on Emily Dickinson poems.
They plan to record them in February, premiere them in a concert in Austria this summer and base a tour around the pieces in the summer of 2026.
“It’s so beautiful and we’re so lucky,” Kendall said.
WICHITA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, FEATURING TIME FOR THREE
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25
Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas
Tickets: $10-$85, from wichitasymphony.org, the symphony box office or 316-267-7658