The View From Bernal Hill with Madeline Tasquin + Amaranth: Chamber Jazz, Odd-Meter Soul, and Classical String Quartet

The View From Bernal Hill brings forth a hearty amalgam of odd-meter rock, chamber jazz harmonies, and hip hop lyricism. With French-Vietnamese composer Camille Mai, Argentine guitarist Nahuel Bronzini and Seattleite bassist Schuyler Karr at its core, The View’s songwriting lies at the crossroads of dread and beauty, chasing psychological and spiritual extremes. The group has been performing in San Francisco since 2012 with a rotating cast of percussionists, string players, MCs, and other guest musicians. After touring the West Coast and releasing We Are No Beautiful Children, their first EP, in 2013, they are currently recording a full length album and preparing a tour of Europe.

The View From Bernal Hill are resident artists at the Red Poppy Art House!

Singing in both English and French, Canadian-Californian Madeline Tasquin’s songs dip from jazz-tinged folk to odd-meter soul, to twisted pop ballad and delicately dark fairy-tale. Raised in Northern British Columbia by her opera singer mother and Austrian gold-miner father, Tasquin began playing the piano as soon as she could reach the keys and developed an acute sense of melody and harmony by singing on long car trips with her mother and two younger sisters. In her teenagehood, Primus and Mr.Bungle played on repeat alongside Rachmaninoff, Satie and Chopin. She returned to her musical roots through an unexpected relocation to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, after completing a degree in Architecture in Sydney Australia.

Since the 2012 release of her EP Another Trip Around the Sun, Madeline has spent her time developing and touring a repertoire that leans closer to soul and blues than the orchestral-pop flavor of her debut recording.  In “The Acorn and the Oak,” a romantically wandering melody reminiscent of a Chopin nocturne is woven through a driving blues ballad in compound meter.  In “Twinkle Twinkle Little Satellite” she quotes the familiar nursery song melody and then corrupts it in chromatic fashion, resolving into a doo-wop anthem about relativity.  The thread that ultimately weaves it all together is a nimble 3-octave voice that adapts gracefully to the musical whims, and her disarmingly big, bold and heart-driven stage presence

Amaranth presents musical experiences that draw from a wide range of genres and the diverse influences of all four players. Their dedication to performing traditional music is equally matched by a passion to promote new music by composers from all walks of life. Since its inception at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2013, Amaranth has regularly commissioned emerging and established composers to write new works for string quartet. The group has also become a frequent collaborator of a number of local favorites, such as The View from Bernal Hill, Madeline Tasquin, and Kendra McKinley.

Catch The View From Bernal Hill here.

Learn more about Madeline Tasquin here.

Admission: $10-30. Doors at 7:00pm. Show at 7:30pm. All ages welcome.
Tickets will not be sold in advance for this event. Please arrive at the Red Poppy when doors open to purchase tickets.

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