L-R Ranaan Myers, Charles Y0ung & Nick Kendall of Time For Three – Courtesy of TF3 Used with permission.
Performing music representing various eras styles, eras, and traditions of Westen music, the Grammy-winning Time For Three (TF3) is most well-known for mixing Americana, modern pop and classical in a repertoire that defies convention and boundaries. Artists in residence at the ISO from 2009-2019, the trio returns to perform with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by German maestro Kevin John Edusei, on Friday, Sep. 29, 8 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 30, 5:30 p.m., at Hilbert Circle Theater in downtown Indianapolis.
Classically trained musicians. the group consists of Charles Yang (violin, vocals), Nicholas “Nick” Kendall (violin, vocals) and Ranaan Myers (double bass, vocals). They are performing a concerto titled “Contact,” composed by Kevin Puts. Other pieces performed by the ISO include Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony and Beethoven’s overture to Goethe’s Egmont.
Recently I chatted with the members of TF3. All of whom were at different locations, in a Zoom call. Below is an edited transcript of our conversation.
Tell me about TF3′s history with ISO.
Ranan: The late Richard Ford of Wabash became a fan before we knew who he was and we discovered his wonderful philanthropy and support and he endowed the concertmaster position of the ISO, Zach DePue. Richard hired us out for a couple of events, and it led to us going to play with the ISO and it was a very cool first encounter. I believe it was New Year’s Eve concert and it was a bash, and everybody had so much fun. There was a great after party and we got to know the orchestra and everyone who worked behind the scenes such as supporters, patrons, and fans. We were accepted into this beautiful family. That began here a discussion into a ten-year residency we had.
How long are you guys on the road each year?
Nick: Well, at this point, look at how much we are at home. So, it averages out to about two and a half weeks a month. We are very busy which is so amazing, and we feel so lucky. If you could have told Charles, Ranan and me when were back in school practicing our Mendelssohn, Brahm’s and experimenting that we would be this busy playing with symphony orchestras like the great ISO, playing original music written and us playing our music for audiences coming to the theatre to hear us, we would have laughed at you. “That is such a joke. That will never happen.” But it is such an amazing opportunity we do not take for granted any moment of the day to be able to have careers and feed our families.
Do you all have families?
Charles: I have my parents. I am the only one who is not married with kids. Ranaan has two beautiful boys, and a wife and Nick has a beautiful wife and with a beautiful little girl that just finished potty training, but I am not ready for that yet (laughs).
When you founded TF3 was intentional to attract younger audiences?
Ranaan: When we did our first show, there was an enthusiasm, from my point of view, that I had not experienced up until that point of my performing life where the energy seemed unusual for a classical event. There was hooting and hollering and yelling and screaming and they were just enjoying themselves. There was this this energy which felt like a welcoming into a living room vibe vs the formality of the performer blockaded from the audience and more important than the experience itself. TF3 became about the experience and the music breaking downs those barriers in those incredible concert halls we have such a rich history and tradition with.
I remember the first time I went on stage at the Curtis Institute of Music called Field Hall. I was going out for first the holiday show to play kind of a joke song with another bass player who was playing a guitar and singing, and we were dressed up with like hillbillies and sang “Feliz Navidad” and I thought “I have to be out of my mind to go onstage the first time like this.” And I felt like 80,000 butterflies in my stomach. And then we went out and whole audience, dean and the conductor of the school, embraced and loved it. I think it was the next year that Time for Three did the same thing on that stage and it was that same type of energy.
I think presenters and CEOs looked at us and said “These guys are younger, playing all these different styles of music. We might be able to utilize this to create this revolving door for a younger audience. At the ISO it was the beginning of the conversation and we inherited “Happy Hour.” It was a role to lean into the younger professionals and to create, hopefully, a revolving door to carefully crafted, curated programming that would be a bridge between what the orchestra musicians were used to, and what the audience is used to, without alienating either world, to bring them altogether. So, when they heard the Mahler for seven minutes of the experience and they would come back to and check out the whole 106-minute musical experience. To some degree that was very successful.
Was there any data or tracking that suggest you were attracting young people?
Charles: Let me address that. I joined the band after they had already started the ISO residency program after a couple of years, so I came into the band and one of the first shows was with the ISO and I got to witness the fandom that classical group with a community. We walked on stage with a new member, and everyone is cheering and came out to the clubs afterwards to hear us. It was just so cool to see that, and I had never experienced it. We played the Hi-Fi in Fountain Square. I don’t know about the stats, but I could tell just by just by the response we got.
So, you feel TF3 has made a difference in the classical music world?
Ranaan: Yes, I think the thing that we proud of is that when we play with orchestras and talk to our friends who teach at conservatories around the country, we learn that their students already know how to improvise, chop or play blue scale or have played in bands, and are getting into these conservatories on Bach and Mozart and Beethoven. It is kind of not new anymore so 20 years later this sort of vocabulary and what young musicians are doing is not much of a rarity anymore; I think that is exciting and so I think that is the answer to your question. That is, he big standout. The ten years with the ISO was pivotal with us because it was with Zach and then Charles and TF3 has always been about three individuals coming together because we bond incredibly well musically. There is a way of grooving, there is a way of spinning our sound together. We went through a time with Zach really building those bridges and the very specific purpose of combining popular commercial music with the most incredibly famous classical music and fusing those together. When Charles joined it turned into a different artistic group and our artistic horizon shifted and we wanted to be less artistically involved in other people’s music and wanted to dig more vertically into what the three of us could create as an original band as an original sound. Thus, started this incredible journey after leaving the Indianapolis Symphony, of original compositions being written for us and it so cool now to be returning to such a familiar place and with such a familiar orchestra and hall. We know every inch of that building and to come back in this new way and this new way is with this new concerto by this new composer Kevin Puts having his name all over the place. He is so successful and for us to be part of it creating this piece for Charles, Ranaan and me and our sound, we feel validated for this kind of work. It’s weird work, yet great work and receiving Grammys for TF3 and Kevin this cycle.
Are you constantly brining in new composers to write for you?
Charles; That’s the goal. We really dug deep. When you have a new member in the group, we say this all the time but the “DNA changes.” So, you must adapt to that, and you must find a new sound of what that group is, and we have really had time to do that. We are constantly writing. We wrote our first film score during the pandemic for Robin Wright’s “Land”, so we really know each other now so when a composer writes for us, or we go to a composer because we love their sound, we really try to implement our sound as well.
What are some of your favorite gigs?
Ranaan: Other than the ISO and the Circle Theatre which is the best audience in world we did have the opportunity to play solo at Musikverein which is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic. Lately Nick, Charles, and I after being barely separated for five months finally had three weeks when we were not together. It gave me, and I am sure the guy’s too, time to think. I was thinking about finish line goals for TF3. Why are we doing this whole thing?
Nick: Are you retiring dude? (laughs)
Rannan: No time soon. (laughs)
What can audiences expect to hear at your concert?
Charles: We will be playing the piece called “Contact” from our album “Letters from The Future” that won the Grammy. That is the meat of it.
Will you see a lot of friends while you are in Indy?
Nick: We’ll be going to a lot of schools because that is part of our mission. I don’t know the schedule yet but there is family I am close to who lost someone, and I haven’t been able to see them. I was in the Indy Violin Competition when I was young sg in 1997 and they were my host family, so I hope to see them and that is just one example of how deeply rooted TF3 is rooted to the 317-area code.
I think it also meaningful for us to be returning in this series. We are not coming back in the Happy Hour format and now. This is us exploring this love we have discovered between the three of us and Kevin and the orchestra, this new way of making music. With our incredible love of sharing, it is always going to be inviting the audience and collaborators, whoever we are working with, the conductor into our conversation on stage. It is always going to be that way, but this is a new side to us. This is piece is very passionate and epic and very cinematic. Without giving away too much, there is a surprise element to how we start the whole experience and elements that occur throughout the entire piece. It is exciting to return home but in a new way. It’s like coming back home from college and showing your parents what you have done. It’s very sincere.
It sounds like you are expanding your brand.
Raanan: Every year with the ISO we played every series, the classical subscription we series, the Pops series, we did Yuletide one year, we played Connor Prairie, we played for all sorts of religious organizations around the area and what was unique about it was that we could chameleon into these different environments. Once again, this upcoming concert with the ISO is yet another opportunity in our whole evolution to come and do something special.
For tickets and information about this weekend’s concert featuring TF3 visit indianapolissymphony.org.
