Morningside Resident Brings Classical Music to Next Chapter Books
Six Mile Strings members Yuri Popowycz, Alycia Wilder, Tom Sullivan, and Natalie Frakes. Image courtesy of Sarah Williams
When Jay and I dreamed about opening a neighborhood bookstore, we envisioned book clubs, author events, poetry, art, and music evenings. Last month, we had the joy of welcoming neighbors to our second bookstore concert, featuring Six Mile Strings, a quartet of friends and educators breaking boundaries in music. What a blast!
Violist Alycia Wilder is one of Morningside’s own. She and her husband, Matt Mollison, moved into the neighborhood nearly four years ago expecting their daughter (who brightens our Saturday storytimes!) The timing was perfect, Wilder says, to find their home here on the east side before starting a family. Today, their living room is the scene of jam sessions and family dance parties to all kinds of music.
Wilder has been making music since she was five or six and began playing piano. In the fifth grade, a music teacher chose the viola for her, and she liked it so much that she traded ivory keys for strings and never looked back. She loves the warm and weighty sounds of the instrument and how you can go from high to low, hanging between the violin and cello, enjoying the best of both worlds.
On Aug. 17, she and the ensemble’s three other members, Yuri Popowycz, Natalie Frakes, and Tom Sullivan, played a crowded house at Next Chapter Books. The quartet’s classical repertoire includes the works of Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Schubert, among others. They also play fast and fun Danish String Quartet pieces and contemporary classical music.
But the ensemble doesn’t limit itself to classical gigs. You can hear Six Mile Strings on recordings ranging from jazz to folk to Detroit Techno. They’ve worked with Detroit legends Waajeed, Amp Fiddler, jessica Care moore (Detroit’s Poet Laureate), Jon Dixon, Sheefy McFly, and Charles Trees.
“We try to do a little bit of everything,” says Wilder. “We all love the classics, of course. I mean, we're all classically trained musicians. But we also played something from our album [“Up North”], which was written four years ago. It's brand new. We know the composer, and he's still writing new things.”
“So, not just playing music from dead people,” she adds, “which that stuff’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it's not the only thing going on, right?”
At Next Chapter Books, the musicians embraced a chill environment that Wilder says invites people to hear music they might not otherwise think is for them and where the ensemble could have fun. The group has also performed in venues like Music Box at the Max and the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit and in outdoor concerts around the greater Traverse City and on the Leelanau Peninsula.
Wilder recently played at the Detroit Jazz Fest, performing in ensembles to the music of Alice Coltrane and accompanying award-winning jazz drummer Brian Blade and jazz bass player and composer Kyle Eastwood.
Beyond playing high-profile opportunities, it's Wilder's and fellow musicians' mission to change what enjoying classical music looks like.
“The classical world is still kind of viewed as just this stuffy environment that's really expensive, and you have to be absolutely silent and have perfect decorum all the time,” she says” and none of us really like that.
“The concert at your bookstore was such a different thing than what people think classical music is. All we want to try to do is just bring that more.”
As Next Chapter Books celebrates its one-year anniversary this month, we’re thankful for the many special events we’ve been able to host with and for our community. We hope you’ll stop by and celebrate this milestone with us during E. Warrenfest on Sept. 14 from 4-9 p.m. - take in the posters of all the fun events we’ve had this year! We look forward to spending many more community nights with you enjoying good books, art, and music.
Next Chapter Books is located at 16555 E. Warren. Open hours: Tues., Wed., and Fri. 11-5, Thurs. 11-7, and Sat 10-5. Find upcoming events at nextchapterbkstore.com and on Facebook and Instagram at Next Chapter Books Detroit.