Iain Forrest and Francis Kang like to blur lines.
Over the summer, the two freshmen founded Eyeglasses, a string-based group that draws influences from both classical and contemporary music. The duo, which performed at the Stamp Student Union’s Friday showcase, met while playing in the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras and the Maryland All-State Orchestra.
The performance featured Kang on piano and Forrest on an electric cello. Though unfamiliar with the setting and new to performing onstage, Eyeglasses attracted a crowd of about two hundred students with covers of Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal,” Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” as well as other pop hits and classical and soundtrack music.
“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Forrest said.
Forrest, a biology major, and Kang, a cell biology and genetics major, are both Maryland residents, and their group is based in Bethesda. They travel throughout Montgomery County, Washington and the greater metropolitan area to perform.
Both musicians are classically trained, and each has more than eight years of experience with his instruments. Forrest, who began training in fifth grade, spends a portion of every summer abroad in Scotland, where he first learned the art of performance. Kang has played piano since he was 6 and cello since he was 8; he played with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra in Carnegie Hall two years ago.
Kang said the pair draws inspiration from artists such as The Piano Guys and 2CELLOS, which cover contemporary pop and rock songs on classical instruments. Similarly, Eyeglasses performs a wide spectrum of genres, including classic rock, movie soundtracks and traditional Italian pieces.
The mission of Eyeglasses is to make classical music relevant again by showing its versatility, Forrest said. Upon its establishment, Eyeglasses took to the streets, busking for a general audience of strangers and passersby. They were also regulars at Positano Ristorante Italiano in Bethesda. Recently, however, the two have taken a more formal approach, booking showcases and weddings.
Now on the campus, Forrest and Kang practice whenever they have the time, usually in Forrest’s dorm room or in the music school’s practice space. The showcase in Stamp’s Baltimore Room was Eyeglasses’ first formal performance, Forrest said.
“In the summer, we played in the streets with just two cellos. We thought we could change it up,” Kang said.
Eyeglasses has two wedding performances scheduled for the near future, one in Baltimore and the other in Mississippi. At both, they hope to continue to foster awareness of classical music’s compatibility with contemporary music.
“Classical music is dying out a bit,” Forrest said. “We want to keep the interest going, and hopefully if we broaden our musical horizons and bring in different musical genres, people will start to realize, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool.’”
