How did The Bentley Project come to life, and what inspired you both to combine the sounds of harp and guitar?
The Bentley Project, is a marriage/music duo. Before Mark, I was a professional French horn player and quite honestly, Once I performed with Roger Daltry, played in the orchestra doing his rock opera Tommy, watching him awesomely work the huge crowd , and then Georgia on my Mind with Ray Charles, I knew I couldn’t top this on French horn. So, I decided to pursue piano/ harp. For my wedding gift, Mark bought a replica of a 1500’s Italian Baroque triple harp and the rest is history. Mark was and is a fabulous classical guitarist and studied with the best in the world like Pepe Romero and Christopher Parkening. As I grew on the harp, we started realizing how primevally beautiful the harp and guitar are together. He patiently waited for me to grow and in 2018, we decided to try an album of music friends said they would love for us to record and music Mark plays that I wanted to capture. We came up with the name The Bentley Project to allow us freedom to do multiple genres. Given our love for all kinds of music, we wanted the name to reflect that this is an ongoing project with many lanes to explore. I love playing/improvising New Age the most so personally, this will continue to be my main interest in exploring.
Theresa, with your background in classical music and a diverse array of instruments, how do you approach blending traditional and contemporary elements in your compositions?
With learning multiple instruments, dancing flamenco, loving Van Gogh, and reading poetry, all the disciplines compound into something that you can’t have without each piece in the recipe. I also have so much music listening time(70’s rock, new age, classical music, bluegrass, Celtic) and French horn, harp, classical/jazz piano and voice training in my head It all had a synergistic effect that has all come out as this album. I observe literally everything I hear down to our creek running on our land. (It’s on track 4 of the album!) or the rhythm of the train in our small town. As for blending, I pull my most favorite parts from each discipline and put them together for something new. For example, I call Kind as the Shade an “Ambient Tone Poem”. The core idea is borrowed from the classical world, Richard Strauss and his tone poems. I love them all so thought why not use it here and tell the story of the poem that inspired this album By John Neihardt but with an ambient twist. Thus, I guess I wanted to create a new genre of “Ambient Tone Poem”? Why not…
Mark, your experience as a guitarist spans multiple genres. How has your versatility in classical and acoustic guitar shaped the sound of The Bentley Project?
As a trained classical guitarist, You can do nearly anything that is asked of you. It’s a bit like learning ballet then you can springboard into any dance with that foundation. When Theresa asks me to play an idea, I can approach it anyway she would like. For example, on our single Eventide, she wanted acoustic guitar but play it like a classical guitar. It resulted in a unique sound that fit the song perfectly. She says she loves my tone the most so she writes for it. My Whisper to You was all about that concept for her.
Can you tell us about the creative process behind your compositions? Do you primarily collaborate or is there a specific role each of you plays in the songwriting and production?
We definitely have unspoken defined rolls. I am the dreamer and Mark is practical. I come up with the ideas or something inspires me. I use my phone constantly to capture a sound or portion of a song/progression I really like. I never know when that will catch me. Once that happens I start working on the song. Then I bring Mark into the process to make everything I do better. We do all recording, mixing and mastering. Mark has an incredible ear to hear the tiniest sounds that need to be adjusted or fixed. Sometimes I can get him to write with me (like My Whisper to You on the album) and it is always incredibly beautiful but I usually have to pull that bit out of him. I am always glad he allows me to push that! Anything regarding recording that I struggle with, he seems to always have an answer.
You both have extensive performance experience, from symphonies to engagements with artists like Roger Daltrey and Ray Charles. How does performing as a duo differ from these larger-scale engagements?
For me, this has been a huge adjustment. With big orchestral engagements, a French horn player can hide fairly easily in the back of the orchestra(with the exception of solos). That is what I was use to and never being the center of attention as an instrumentalist. I am happy that way but with harp, I have had to learn how to handle performing as a soloist or in the duo. No hiding. That was a shock to me but getting more use to it. As for Mark, classical guitarist are generally on their own or a duo/quartet. For most of his performing life, Mark was in a guitar duo so this is not much different for him except I have pulled him into writing music.
The Bentley Project has a unique style that mixes elements of folk, classical, and new age music. How do you balance these diverse genres while maintaining a cohesive sound?
I have such enjoyment for the impressionistic period of music and see the original New Age movement (Windham Hill, Andreas Vollenweider for example) and Phillip Glass, stemming from that period. That is the lens I ran everything though as I wrote this album. I can use a Celtic type melody but it had to lay on top of the dreamy Windham Hill type sound.
In your performances, you invite audiences to ‘listen with intent.’ What does that phrase mean to you, and how do you encourage this deeper connection with your music?
Listen with intent means create your own mental story as you listen and fully experience the music. Or, learn the artist story about the music. Great musical art is so much more and worth the effort of learning each song’s meaning. They always have a story of some sort. Science has confirmed the health benefits of this type of listening as well!
You’ve performed across the U.S. and Europe. How have these international experiences influenced your music, and what do you think audiences from different cultures appreciate most about your sound?
Europe was such an incredible place to perform. They universally have a deep appreciation for live classical music(and it’s variations which our music fits into) and encourages its nurture. I have a harpist friend in Germany, Nadia Birkenstock, who is experiencing great success and she has been such a role model for me. She has been deeply embraced and is helping to expand harp music around the world. The track, Language of the Hills is probably somewhat inspired by her and what is happening in Germany by having a single instrument harp song that is complete and beautiful on the album. Here in our Kansas City, Missouri culture, we have fantastic music that is just exploding! There is a growing subculture as well that we would fit into. The audiences are not huge yet but I am hoping The Bentley Project can help expand it more. People here always love to hear us play but it is so different for them generally it is like a new life experience they didn’t know they needed emotionally. They are always surprised at the calming effects. I love playing at the farmer’s market here and seeing the reactions. People immediately calm and smile at me. That’s what I want to grow in my culture. I have been told there “ I make it feel European”. I see that as a great compliment!
You both have strong academic backgrounds in music and business. How do these two aspects complement each other in your work with The Bentley Project?
I would say the simple answer is we both fully understanding each other’s language in music and business. Neither of us could do what we do if our partner did not have the complementary pieces that we each have.
To create something like Kind as the Shade, our ability to communicate as you are creating something new was invaluable and helped us to pull greatness from each other that wouldn’t happen if we were not together.
What can fans expect from The Bentley Project in the coming year? Are there any exciting new projects, collaborations, or performances in the works?
Projects:
We have spoken about Mark doing a Classical Guitar Spanish Dance album( which he is magnificent at).
I actually have many ideas stirring in me. I have time freedom as there is no one to give me constraints. I can fully allow my internal artist do her thing and let it grow organically as it did with Kind as the Shade. Regarding my current ideas, I really enjoy fantasy stories. (Earth’s Fragrance Remembered(Eolyn) is a perfect example of this showing up in my music.) Eolyn is a magical character that I just loved. I thought it might be fun to do another tone poem on the Tales of the Fae or a fantasy album about this character . With my harp, I can be as magical with this as I want! I also have a collection of hour long sleep songs that are part of my Sanctuaries series. We have a baby in the family and she loves to sleep to them. Especially Peaceful Waters. So, I am planning to build upon that. Lastly, with Kind as the Shade being inspired by a poem, I may start a New Age Poetries collection of music. As I find a poem that inspires me, I can start building upon this collection idea. Poetry is generally how I write music. Poems first then the music. I have always worked that way.
Performance: We have a couple coming up this spring one private and one public. Our public concerts tend have sections: music from 500 years ago on replicas of early instruments , a folk section like Spanish dances, and now of course some new age music to introduce ideas like running my harp through a guitar shimmer pedal like on track 8, Language of the Hills. At our concerts, we tell stories about each song and the multiple instruments which helps the listener to “listen with intent”.
Listen At : thebentleyprojectmusic.com
