"It has been suggested to me that there is an influence from such people as Phillip Glass and Godspeed You Black Emperor - which is certainly true. But it is an evolution of that school, not merely a member of it... If you are truly not afraid of experimentation, of new directions or of bands that are willing to try something new rather than follow the crowd I'd strongly encourage you to introduce yourself to their music and consider going to one of their upcoming shows."

-Justin Beach, PublicBroadcasting.ca 

In the Press: 2008 / 09:

...from an article in Dilettante Music (Manchester, UK):

Bursting the Bubble: The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra

Date: 22 Jun, 2009

....The resulting music reminds us of a Danish art installation at the Venice Biennale a few years back which consisted of a group of performance artists standing on top of a building, randomly picking up instruments to play for a few minutes before pausing to chuck rubber fish at passers by. (At least we think they were rubber…) Sounds odd, but it was still compelling. For his part, Terauds describes their music as ‘an engaging, wonky mix of classical minimalism, art punk and early Brian Eno-inspired electronica translated into an acoustic medium.’

Not surprisingly, perhaps, the ensemble’s revolutionary appetite extends beyond a rousing challenge to classical norms, and into the heart of sometimes-fierce political debate.

For instance, on 4th June the PRO premiered 'The Torture Memos' at a small club in Toronto, featuring lyrics by John C Yoo, Steven Bradbury and Jay Bybee. If those names don’t ring the right bells, here’s why: they’re not lyricists at all. Instead they’re the authors of the Bush Whitehouse’s infamous torture memos - ‘arguments to keep United States officials from being charged with war crimes for the way prisoners [from the war in Afghanistan] were detained and interrogated’, as the New York Times explained...

The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra:
Truth in the Dark

CD Review in Futureale Magazine (http://www.futureale.com)

It's hard to critique a band like the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra. It would be too easy and disrespectful to label their new CD, Truth In The Dark, as experimental. Truth In The Dark is more than your typical experimental album, full of eclectic sounds and complex notes. I's an album that makes an effort to provide songs which are memorable and can easily find a place on your ipod, sandwiched between an old hit from the Rolling Stones and the latest Madonna single. Despite its eclectic sound, the PRO attempt to have an album that reaches a large audience, rather than a small niche of music fans. Therefore, it is only fair to give a review without the simple cliches that would naturally go with an album like this one.

Truth In The Dark brings together a wide assortment of sound. Each track will incite various feelings and emotions. Composer Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip ensures that every instrument is featured prominently. Bassist Michael Kaler and drummer Mike Rosenthal set the tone and pace for each song. Saxophonist Jennifer Wardle adds the needed punch, while cellist Kerri McGonigle and violinist Alex Cheung provide the direction. Rounding out the group is soprano Kristin Mueller-Heaslip, whose powerful voice is used as an instrument, matching the sounds with words.

Every track can fit in perfectly with a musical or an opera, as they all tell a story using melodic language. However, the album's strength is in its ability to combine a pop sound with a classical orchestra.

Truth In The Dark features tracks that have the make-up of a rock and/or pop song, but are successfully presented through woodwind, percussion and string instruments. Granted, there have been rock and pop songs which have used those types of instruments. However, Mueller-Heaslip's arrangement is recognized as a classical ensemble (integrating the classical and non-classical instruments). Consequently, the two distinct styles: the popish set-up and the classical presentation crash into each other, which leads toward a positive outcome.

For example, the song 'Elevator' has a joyful pop sound with catchy lyrics (written by Karl Mohr). It could easily by covered by any band with a guitar, bass and drums. However, the PRO go the extra mile by giving the track an orchestral arrangement. In the end, 'Elevator' draws similar comparisons to The Beatles' 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'All You Need Is Love' - songs with a pop sound and feel, but accompanied by orchestral instruments. Other notable tracks on Truth In The Dark include 'I Didn't Sleep' and a cover the Ugly Bug Band's 'Let's Fall In Love.'

This is an album that will appeal to all music fans - not just those who enjoy eclectic and experimental sounds. The PRO have made a solid effort by fulfilling a number of musical tastes. After listening to Truth In The Dark, one will find each track memorable and appreciate the musically complex arrangement.

Toronto Star Review of Truth in the Dark
March 12 2008
3.5 / 4  STARS!

"There are performers around the world who demolish conventional wisdom by proving there doesn't have to be a chasm between classical and pop, that you can write and perform intelligently without resorting to sonic abstraction.  Toronto's Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is a shining example of that approach in this twelve-track debut.  Most songs are new, others are arrangements of pieces by the likes of Brian Eno and Kurt Weill. 

Composer/arranger Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip is a master of texture, using voice, violin, cello, bass, sax, and drums to inventive effect.  Kristin's soprano vocals and wide expressive range alternately glide and grate, depending on the mood.  Top Track: "Truth in the Dark" by both Mueller-Heaslips."

-John Terauds  

Concert Review:
No Shame w/ Jane Vain & the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra: February 7 2008 @ the Drake
Two-Way Monologues
February 2008


 Alex Cheung's violin work on this song and throughout the entire set was nothing short of brilliant. It makes you cognisant of how much power that instrument holds when someone knows how to wield it properly. Kristin's voice does take some adjusting to; she belts out the lyrics with so much energy that it can almost be abrasive at first. Give it time though, you'll come around. Later in the song, Jen Wardie takes an opportunity to shine with her saxophone stylings. It's like an indie-pop opera and I can't get enough of it.

The level of musicianship and creativity that you got for five bucks this night from this band alone might be impossible to duplicate in this city. I sat there, completely fixated on the stage with that wonder that you get when you're a child and something has just shook the world beneath your feet. Even the covers that this band plays have been given such a robust backdrop that they are more original than a lot of bands' actual orginals."

- Dan Wolovick

Concert Review:
The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra in concert at the Tranzac Club (Jan 16 2008)
Exclaim! Magazine
February 2008

"...selecting wonderfully obscure and diverse material to reinterpret, the group tackled Toronto composer Karl Mohr's 'Elevator' to excellent effect. I actually preferred this rendition to the original; the soaring cello and violin of Adriana Pera and Alex Cheung are more suitable than keys for the song's haunting glory and Kristin's theatrical and operatic voice is a perfect fit... with radical reinterpretations from Brian Eno to Wire and a collection of engaging originals, it was an interesting musical experience I'm eager to repeat."

Top of the CIUT radio charts!  November 07 - February 08

Review of our new record Truth in the Dark
Exclaim! Magazine
February  2008

"Composer Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip and live-in lyricist Kristin Mueller-Heaslip have created a curious cottage industry, a mini-opera company with one diva and a five-person orchestra... drummer Mike Rosenthal is key to making the ensemble come alive, as his interesting, off-centred fills in the title track and his relentless pounding on the leader's arrangement of Wire's 'Comet' demonstrate.

The group's moving from unison to counterpoint provides plenty of interest for even the casual listener... While the PRO aren't everyone's cup of tea, they make challenging music for listeners looking to expand their musical palate."

- Glen Hall

Campaign to Save The Parkdale Food Bank
Inside Toronto
January 2008


',,,Benjamin Mueller Heaslip, Parkdale resident and a member of Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra, held a music marathon fundraiser at the Cadillac Lounge on Queen Street.  Entry to see the twelve acts who performed was by donation and Mueller Heaslip said about nine hundred dollars was raised.  Mueller-Heaslip said he couldn't stand by and do nothing while a staple in the community closed:

"I used to live right across the street from it and I would see people coming and going.  It has been in the community for a long time," he said. "I think about how the economics of the neighborhood have changed and how there is a lot more money in Parkdale than there used to be... so to see a food bank close now would have been a real disgrace."'

-Erin Donovan

Bold Approach Breathes New Life Into Classical Music
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 - Nigel Hannaford in the Calgary Herald

However, a few weeks ago, this space dealt with the sort of music that can pay its own way, with no top-ups from the Canada Council. I jested that if classical music was to rescue itself from its socio-economic isolation-- its audience shrinks, as it ages -- it would have to rebrand itself as something risque, to be enjoyed in seedy little rock-clubs where it's best to sit near an exit, with one's back to the wall. Only when it could make it without a grant, could it once more be considered an expression of contemporary culture.

But, irony is hard these days. There's nothing so off-the-wall that somebody else hasn't thought of it, or done it.

Thus, I got a letter:

"You might be interested to know here in Toronto, my ensemble/band the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra actually does what you've described - in this case keeping the musical and technical materials of classical music while dropping the cultural conventions... classical music happens in a bubble: the conventional view is that it needs to be protected from criticism (or any response at all, really) from anyone not entirely invested in the world of classical music. The understanding is these external views will create a pressure that will compromise, or destroy, this music. This is rubbish. What I do now means putting this music outside the bubble and -- this is important -- running a massive risk of failure or rejection. But without this risk of failure, there can be no real success."

....People want music that's safe, and they know what they're going to get.  That's why they invest in Bach.  But to invest yourself in forming new works requires a totally different spirit - risk.  If the genre is going to go on, it has to engage beyond the little group already interested.  It's  not for me to pick winners and losers, but as somebody who's part of that shrinking, aging, fan base for classical music, I wish anybody luck who can take it off publicly funded life support.

In the Press: 2007

December 2007:

 November 2007:

"The Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra, an esoteric six-piece chamber ensemble, aren't likely to be booked at the Four Seasons Tea Room.

The PRO are a challenging brew of classical, art rock, opera and punk, which looks nightmarish on paper but occasionally works. Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip's arrangements are unique and uncompromised, taking on music snob favourites like Wire and Brian Eno as well as Kurt Weill. His band, violinist Alex Cheung, saxophonist Jennifer Wardle and rhythm section Michael Kaler and Mike Rosenthal, competently keep up with each song's shifting shape and form."

August 2007: John Terauds
 in the Toronto Star:

"The composer is more a 21st-century incarnation of the 19th-century Romantic who wants to have as many people as possible hear what he has to say in music.

Everything the band performs is by the composer's hand. It is an engaging, wonky mix of classical minimalism, art punk and early Brian Eno-inspired electronica translated into an acoustic medium.

"You can hear Franz Schubert, Philip Glass and David Byrne," says Mueller-Heaslip about his musical aesthetic. There is something caustically off-balance at work, too - an echo of Kurt Weill's ironic voice from Weimar-era Germany. "I see what I do as an extension of the chamber Lieder-salon world. I work with a small, mobile force, like Chopin and Schubert."

Mueller-Heaslip and many of the band members lived in the Parkdale-High Park neighbourhood when the band formed two years ago. "I was composing and working as a bicycle courier at the time."

The "revolutionary" aspect of the band's name comes from Mueller-Heaslip's desire to break through the invisible barrier around contemporary classical music. Like many young artists and listeners, the composer thinks the new music scene is too insular.

Unlike many fellow sonic warriors, you won't find Mueller-Heaslip onstage at one of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra's monthly gigs at the Tranzac Club or Clinton's. He is the creative force, leaving performing to wife Kristin (soprano voice), Alex Cheung (violin), Kerri McGonigle (cello), Jennifer Wardle (soprano sax), Michael Kaler (bass) and Michael "Rosie" Rosenthal (drums)."

August 2007 : Public Broadcasting.ca

"It has been suggested to me that there is an influence from such people as Phillip Glass and Godspeed You Black Emperor - which is certainly true. But it is an evolution of that school, not merely a member of it...

...If you are truly not afraid of experimentation, of new directions or of bands that are willing to try something new rather than follow the crowd I'd strongly encourage you to introduce yourself to their music and consider going to one of their upcoming shows at the Tranzac Club."
                                                                                                     -Justin Beach

March 31 2007:

The Arts Now Podcast
hosted by Ella Cooper and Amil Niazi

"...they do classical reworkings of Brian Eno: See Them Play!"

-Amil Niazi

June 2007 : Exclaim Magazine

"Take new music opera, reduce the instrumentation to a manageable and mobile six-piece group and play bars, not stuffy, self-important venues for the self-appointed intelligentsia, and you've got a handle on the 'revolutionary' part of the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra. Founded in 2006 by composer/lyricist Benjamin Mueller-Heaslip, the group has two strings, soprano saxophone, drums and bass, and soprano vocalist Kristin Mueller-Heaslip.

The eponymously-titled EP features 4 representative pieces from the ensemble's considerable repertoire. The first song, "Imposter", based on lyrics by darkster Karl Mohr, features a melodic line passionately delivered by Kristin over Reich/Glass-like ostinato string lines. Soprano saxophonist Jennifer Wardle's crystal clear tone imbues "Recurrents" with a glistening sheen as string lines form a tapestry of shimmering patterns.

In a musical genre known for feeding from government grant troughs, the Parkdale Revolutionary Orchestra is making a bold and courageous statement by bypassing established outlets and playing for audiences where they go to have fun and a little adventure. What a concept!"
                                                                                            - Glen Hall