The Grossman Ensemble—our resident ensemble here at the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition—is home to thirteen musicians with rich lives both inside and outside of the musical sphere. Today, we are excited to continue our "Get to know the Grossman Ensemble" series by introducing you to Theo Ramsey, the newest member of the ensemble. Read on to learn about Theo's love of the banjo, their affinity for gravestones, and more!
You spend a lot of your time outside the concert hall guiding people as they explore their creativity and tell stories through the arts. What projects are you most proud of, and why is this work meaningful to you?
I love working on musical projects like songwriting with people who haven't had much formal musical training. It's fun to see what they gravitate toward and to be able to give them just a little bit of guidance in this direction or that and experience their excitement as they discover what they can do.
One of my favorite projects was a weekly, small-group music class for teenagers that one of my closest friends and I started. We would bring a carful of instruments, let the kids latch onto whatever grabbed their attention, and we'd spend an hour showing them how to play and experimenting with them. We never knew who would show up from week to week, so we'd plan activities that could build on what each kid had done last week or start from scratch with new kids. In our final session, the kids wrote and recorded a short song together. The joy in that room was incredible!
What’s the most inspiring musical performance you’ve seen recently?
Back in 2019, I got really obsessed with the banjo. When the pandemic hit and I wasn't playing much violin (because it made me sad because I couldn't play with anyone), I gave my entire brain over to the banjo, truly doing nothing but listening, reading about the banjo, and practicing, all day. One of the artists I really enjoyed during that period was Kaia Kater, a Grenadian-Canadian banjo player and songwriter. The other night she was in town, and I got to hear her play!
What do you enjoy doing during your time away from your instrument?
My favorite thing is taking walks. I like to spend an hour or two walking at night. I love to sit in my porch rocking chair, make little projects (knitting, hand-sewing, etc.), and let my mind wander. I also like learning about the history of where I live, and about my ancestors' lives. My dad's dad's side of the family is Cherokee, and around the turn of the 20th century they had to register with the U.S. government, which means that now I can go into the National Archives online and read typewritten transcriptions of interviews with them and see copies of their marriage certificates and other family records. My family has photos of two of my grandmother-ancestors who survived the Trail of Tears, and through online archives I've been able to find a couple of additional photos, which I really treasure. More locally, I like to visit cemeteries and study the graves (I have a deep interest in a particular style of 18th-century eastern U.S. gravestone carving), then go to the library and see what I can learn about the people whose graves I saw.
What 3 songs have you had on repeat lately?
A few favorites:
- I came upon this recording of a piece I'd never heard of, by a violinist I'd never listened to, and to me it feels like walking into a secret room or something. I find it so unexpectedly colorful in such an inward way. (Bizet's Pastorale, performed by Zoria Shikhmurzaeva and Svetlana Kokonina)
- Banjo that I can't believe is banjo: Waveland by Noam Pikelny
- And something spooky from Rhiannon Giddens (Black Swan, performed with Francisco Turrisi)
As one of the newest members, what are you most looking forward to about the Grossman Ensemble’s upcoming season?
I'm excited to continue getting to know the other musicians! I'm enjoying how things are starting to feel more familiar and I'm beginning to feel the rhythm of how the group operates and how the season flows. And I'm excited to work with so many new composers. I love how our workshop process gives us a window into different musicians' unique styles of thinking and creating.