He credits jazz great Chick Corea as a key mentor. After being commissioned to compose for the Kronos Quartet, he was asked to join as its cellist.
Paul Wiancko has lived the double life of composer and performer for a long time. Deeply inspired to excel at both by the late jazz giant Chick Corea — with whom he collaborated — Wiancko often looks at his calendar to calculate the percentage of time he was spending on each endeavor.
“I’ve been trying to find a balance between playing cello and composing for the last 10 years,” he said, speaking from a park in San Francisco. “It has been a constantly shifting prioritization. But right now, it’s pretty perfect.”
Earlier this year, Wiancko, 44, was invited to be the new cellist in the revered Kronos Quartet. The groundbreaking group was launched in 1973 to break rigid rules in classical music and boldly expand its parameters.
Fittingly, Wiancko will be featured this week at La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest as both a cellist and composer. His first concert will be Wednesday at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center’s Baker-Baum Concert Hall.
“San Diego was an important part of my childhood,” Wiancko said. “I’m very excited to return. I’m not sure I’ve ever performed there before.”
During Wiancko’s SummerFest debut, the spirit of Corea may be present. In 2011, as a member of the Harlem Quartet, Wiancko was a part of Corea’s monthlong 70th birthday celebration at New York’s famous Blue Note club.
“Each night when it came time for my big improvised cello solo, Chick would give me the hand signal to take a longer solo than I had the night before,” Wiancko recalled. “Those were some of the most nerve-wracking, terrifying moments of my life, but something in my brain chemistry changed.
“We had many great conversations backstage. We talked often about the genius of the classical music greats who were a huge influence on Chick. Our common ground got me thinking that we don’t need boundaries between jazz and classical.
“After that tour I quit the Harlem Quartet and dove into composing.”
‘The Great Americans’
Wiancko was born in San Clemente and raised by his now-deceased father, Gene, and his mother, Hiroko, an amateur violist. He and his family traveled down here for concerts by the San Diego Symphony and to visit the zoo and eat fish tacos.
“It’s great to play a concert near where my family lives. My mother is 79 and she will definitely be there.”
Wednesday’s concert, “The Great Americans,” begins with Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-Sharp Minor. It will be played by the acclaimed Takács Quartet, with SummerFest Music Director Inon Barnatan on piano.
One of the first female composers to make a name for herself in America, Beach was limited by her husband — who didn’t want her to perform publicly. After his death in 1910, she became successful as both a pianist and composer.
“Amy Beach was the first female whose music was played by an American orchestra,” Barnatan said. “It’s a lush, beautiful romantic piece. Takács is championing her.”
Also on Wednesday, Richard O’Neill and Wiancko will play Wiancko’s own composition, American Haiku for Viola and Cello.
“American Haiku made me fall in love with Paul’s music,” Barnatan noted. “It’s an exploration of the different facets of his background. American, Japanese, all the things that inspired him in his music. It symbolizes an American hodgepodge of histories and music melding together.”
Wiancko wrote American Haiku shortly after his pivotal collaboration with Corea.
“The process of writing the piece was simultaneous with my figuring out who I am as a composer,” Wiancko said. “Chick might be the most overt influence you hear in the piece.
“It’s a bit of mess stylistically! It bounces everywhere between all these different flavors, loosely held together by the harmony — and the fact that it’s a viola and cello duo.”
The Wednesday concert will close with Dvořák’s “American” string quartet, played by Takács. After the concert, the audience is invited to a celebratory toast to the 37th SummerFest.
‘This is insane!’
Wiancko is a resident of Ohio, where his partner, violist Ayane Kozasa, teaches at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. But these days he spends much of his time in Kronos’ home base of San Francisco or on tour. The other members of the quartet are violinist David Harrington, who founded the quartet, violinist John Sherba and violist Hank Dutt.
“Every month,” Wiancko said, “I think: ‘Am I really in the Kronos Quartet?’ This is insane! I’m having an incredible time and David, Hank and John are lovely humans.”
Two other SummerFest concerts this week will highlight Wiancko’s playing or writing.
On Friday, he will play Klein’s Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello with violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley and violist O’Neill.
“Klein’s trio is an incredible piece,” Wiancko said. “I relate to him as a composer — his approach to rhythm and harmony is similar to mine. It’s quite emotional music, playful, human and vulnerable in a way I appreciate.”
On Sunday, the “Promises, Promises” concert will highlight Wiancko’s Closed Universe for Solo Cello, Piano Quartet and Glockenspiel. He will play glockenspiel and cello, while the solo cello will be played by San Diego favorite Alisa Weilerstein.
“Oh, I love her! Alisa’s fantastic,” Wiancko enthused. “She commissioned me to compose some of her solos for her (multi-year) Fragments project. We’ve performed several times at the Spoleto Festival.
“Inon has been telling me about SummerFest for a long time. It’s all about the people for me, so I can’t wait to play with my friends and artists who I’ve never worked with before. I’m excited to come and hang out with everybody.”
SummerFest: “The Great Americans,” Paul Wiancko
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla
Tickets: $41-$80
Other SummerFest concerts featuring Paul Wiancko
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla
Tickets: Friday: $48-$90; Sunday $43-$85
Phone: (858) 459-3728
Online: theconrad.org
Wood is a freelance writer.