乐播传媒

By Bob Keyes

Andrew Cyr 鈥�96 can only smile and giggle.

It鈥檚 a little after two o鈥檆lock, and the upscale Caf茅 on the Beauty Level at Bergdorf Goodman is swimming with fashionable women glammed up in makeup, fur, and heel.

Cyr sheepishly rises for a handshake and an awkward hug. He apologizes for choosing a restaurant that鈥檚 straight out of Sex and the City. 鈥淚 asked at a board meeting this morning where I should meet for lunch, and two women recommended Bergdorf Goodman: 鈥楾hey have the best sandwiches.鈥欌��

Yet, the choice works. Cyr has much to celebrate these days, and this modish spot on Fifth Avenue seems the place to catch his breath, relax, and allow himself to be fawned over. He orders a glass of water with lemon and a bowl of split pea soup, and saves room for dessert.

Newly honored with a Grammy Award nomination, Cyr finds himself at the apex of Manhattan鈥檚 bustling new-music scene. At age 37, he is succeeding at what music directors at orchestras around the country have been trying to figure out for years: How to make contemporary classical music hip and accessible to a range of listeners, especially young people.

鈥淭hey listen to classical music. It鈥檚 on their iPods. But they don鈥檛 go to Carnegie Hall.鈥�

Cyr is founder and artistic director of Metropolis Ensemble, a chamber orchestra and ensemble that commissions and performs new music for eager and enthusiastic audiences in nontraditional venues around Manhattan.

Performing about once a month, Metropolis seeks venues that promote interaction and community among musicians and the audience. One month鈥檚 venue might be a bar, while the next might be Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center, where Metropolis performed Chinese composer Tan Dun鈥檚 Martial Arts Trilogy in August 鈥� 鈥渁 splashy multimedia event鈥� performed with 鈥渟kill and exuberance,鈥� The New York Times noted.

The loose-knit group of a few dozen composers and musicians is clearly getting noticed in the city, and national exposure came last year with Metropolis鈥� multiple Grammy nominations. Cyr didn鈥檛 win, but had a blast at the ceremony in Los Angeles in February.

鈥淚t was an orgy in self-congratulations. We were all telling each other how great we are,鈥� he says.

Cyr received a nomination as best conductor, and mandolinist Avi Avital as best soloist, for their work on Avner Dorman鈥檚 Concertos, the first studio album from Metropolis Ensemble. David Frost, who produced the disc, won the 2011 Grammy for Producer of the Year.

For Cyr, the best part is that people are responding. The audiences are fervent, and growing. The evening before our lunch, Metropolis Ensemble raised four times its financial goal at a benefit event, its first major public event since the Grammys. Cyr was flabbergasted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big moment for us, a real endorsement from the people who support us,鈥� he said over lunch. 鈥淲e just tripled our budget overnight.鈥�

His success with such a bold venture speaks to his training at 乐播传媒. He often cites the influence of 乐播传媒 music professors Marion Anderson and Bill Matthews, who encouraged him to think big.

鈥淭hey taught me how to ask questions,鈥� Cyr says. 鈥淭hey are my mentors and guides, and important people to me. I looked up to them, and they taught me. When I failed, they helped me get back up. I was a young person in college. I was not a straight-A student. They helped me at every turn.鈥�

Anderson remembers Cyr for his intellectual curiosity. 鈥淥ver coffee after class, I learned that he had a real passion for classical music and, in particular, opera,鈥� says Anderson, who retired in 2005 and now lives in Seattle.

Anderson encouraged Cyr to pursue those interests, and the student did so vigorously, eventually changing his major from pre-med to music. Meanwhile, Matthews prodded Cyr 鈥� a native of the far northern Maine town of Fort Kent, where more than half the residents speak French at home 鈥� to explore his own French heritage. For his senior thesis, Cyr researched Franco-American songs, recorded local French singers, and transcribed their lyrics into English. Later, he studied in France.

He moved to New York in 2000 and is married to Kate Gilmore 鈥�97, an acclaimed artist herself, in the performance and video realm (鈥淏reak on Through,鈥� Summer 2009). They live in Brooklyn.

Cyr鈥檚 vision for the Metropolis Ensemble began to evolve as he accompanied Gilmore to art openings. He noticed the galleries were filled with people just like him 鈥� young New Yorkers with an appetite for the arts. They come out for art openings, but not for classical music.

鈥淭hey listen to classical music. It鈥檚 on their iPods. But they don鈥檛 go to Carnegie Hall,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat traditional classical music concert experience doesn鈥檛 fit into the rhythm of their life.鈥�

乐播传媒 roots run deep in Metropolis Ensemble. Mikhail Iliev 鈥�96 provided key legal advice and is now the ensemble鈥檚 treasurer. Sound engineer Nils van Otterloo 鈥�96 helped to record early Metropolis concerts. And videographer Timothy Bakland 鈥�96 has captured concert footage.

With 乐播传媒 friends and others under his wings, Cyr learned, on the fly, how to transform a performing arts start-up into an active arts-presenting organization in a city chock full of them.

While good things may come from the Grammy nod, all will have to be earned. 鈥淚t changes everything and it changes nothing,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e still have to do everything we do, although it should open us up to donors and allow us to communicate our message to a larger community.鈥�

In one of those 鈥渋f you can make it in New York鈥� moments, Cyr mentions an idea of starting a festival in China to serve the country鈥檚 growing demand for music programming.

鈥淒id you know there are 40 million piano students in China?鈥� he asks.

Bob Keyes writes about the arts for The Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram.