Latitude 49 entering Grammy nomination process

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A musical group featuring a violinist from Strathmore is entering the early stages of the Grammy Award nomination process for their latest album.

Latitude 49, a six-member classical ensemble, is seeking Grammy Award consideration for their album Wax & Wire. The group is composed of Max Geissler (cello), Andy Hall (saxophones), Andy Hudson (clarinets), Jani Parsons (piano), Chris Sies (percussion and electronics) and violinist Timothy Steeves, a Strathmore native and graduate of Strathmore High School, who is also associate concertmaster with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

The group’s music is a blend of genres and time periods, “like if Beethoven, David Bowie and Van Halen had a love child,” explained Steeves. “It’s within the vein of classical tradition, but very much incorporates elements from other music.”

Latitude 49 was founded in 2012 at the University of Michigan, with the goal of advocating for music by living composers, he said. “All of us are classically trained but have a great passion for delivering academic concert music. So, that has been our goal, conditioning and performing those works.”

The group has continued this approach with Wax & Wire, featuring works by multiple composers, including Gabriella Smith, Viet Cuong, Annika Socolofsky, Sies and Sarah Kirkland Snider. The album was conceived in 2017 and recorded in July 2018 through collaboration with Snider, the founding co-artistic director of New Amsterdam Records, which published the album.

The album was produced by Doug Perkins and was engineered, edited, mixed and mastered by Bill Maylone in association with Perkins, as well as Sies. It was released on Feb. 7, 2020.

The group is seeking nominations across three categories: Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Best Engineered Album, Classical; and Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Following entry, the album will be screened for eligibility and placement, and nominated through a ballot process by voting members of the Recording Academy. The dates nominations are announced have not been released, but this typically occurs in November or December, prior to the ceremony held at the end of January, explained Steeves.

The album was entered into the nomination process by a third party, he said. “It’s a privilege and an honour to even have made it this far, to where people are even listening and looking at your work – that’s tremendously exciting for us.”