CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS

Saturday, August 24, 2013, 8pm Hearst Greek Theatre

The Goat Rodeo Sessions Jeremy CowartJeremy

featuring

Yo-Yo Ma with

Aoife O’Donovan vocals

Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage.

Cal Performances’ 2013–2014 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

CAL PERFORMANCES 5 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS

he many-faceted career of cellist Yo- In demand as both a performer and a , Chris Thile, of , is a mandolin The most recent evidence of Mr. Duncan’s TYo Ma is testament to his continual search Edgar Meyer has formed a role in the music virtuoso, composer, and vocalist. With his broad cross-genre expansion is , for new ways to communicate with audiences world unlike any other. Mr. Meyer’s technique outlook that encompasses progressive bluegrass, his collaboration with Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and musicianship, in combination with his gift classical, rock, and jazz, Mr. Thile transcends and Yo-Yo Ma. During the creative course of and renewal. Mr. Ma maintains a balance be- for composition, have brought him appreciation the borders of conventionally circumscribed this recording, Mr. Duncan has opened his tween his engagements as soloist with orches- by a vast, varied audience. His uniqueness in the genres, creating a distinctly American canon mind not only musically, but to a broader con- tras worldwide and his recital and chamber field was recognized by a MacArthur Fellowship and a new musical aesthetic for performers and cept of composition as well. music activities. His discography includes over (aka “genius grant”) in 2002. audiences alike. In addition to his work on The When not active in the studio or on tour with 75 , including more than 15 Grammy As a solo classical bassist, Mr. Meyer has Goat Rodeo Sessions, which won two Grammy others, Mr. Duncan can be seen and heard with Award-winners. released a concerto with the Saint Paul Awards in 2013, Mr. Thile was recently awarded the , with which he Mr. Ma serves as the Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra, featuring Bottesini’s a MacArthur Fellowship. has been a contributing member since 1985. The Silk Road Project, an organization he founded Gran Duo with Joshua Bell, Mr. Meyer’s As a soloist, Mr. Thile has released four al- band has won two Grammies, multiple IBMA to promote the study of cultural, artistic and in- Double Concerto for Bass and Cello with bums, as well as performing and recording ex- and SPBMA awards, and has toured globally tellectual traditions along the ancient Silk Road Mr. Ma, Bottesini’s Bass Concerto No. 2, and tensively as a duo with fellow Goat Rodeo col- to the Middle East and China. Together, they trade routes. Since the Project’s inception, more Mr. Meyer’s Concerto in D for Bass, as well as laborator, double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer, continue to be an outstanding representation of than 60 works have been commissioned specifi- an album of three of Bach’s Unaccompanied and eminent mandolinist Mike Marshall. In classic in America—as relevant cally for the Silk Road Ensemble, which tours Suites for Cello. The Sony Masterworks record- 2011, Nonesuch Records released the Grammy- today as when they started. annually. Mr. Ma also serves as the Judson and ing The Goat Rodeo Sessions, where Mr. Meyer nominated Sleep with One Eye Open, an im- Joyce Green Creative Consultant to the Chicago joined Mr. Ma, mandolinist Chris Thile, and passioned collaboration-conversation between Aoife O’Donovan is best known as the lead Symphony Orchestra’s Institute for Learning, fiddler Stuart Duncan, was released in 2011. Mr. Thile and guitarist Michael Daves. Mr. Thile singer of and as a member of the Access and Training. His work focuses on the Collaborations are central to Mr. Meyer’s has also collaborated with a pantheon of musi- folk noir trio Sometymes Why. The stunning transformative power music can have in indi- work. His CD and DVD of original material cal innovators from multiple genres, including versatility and appeal of her voice brought her viduals’ lives, and on increasing the number and written and recorded with Chris Thile was re- Béla Fleck, , Brad Mehldau, and to the attention of some of the most eminent variety of opportunities audiences have to expe- leased on Nonesuch in fall 2008, following Hilary Hahn. names across roots, classical, bluegrass, and jazz rience music in their communities. their extensive tours together. His previous For more than 15 years, Mr. Thile played and led to collaborations across a wide variety Mr. Ma was born in Paris to Chinese par- performing and recording projects, including a in the wildly popular band , with of genres, with everyone from ents who later moved the family to New York. trio with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor, have which he released three albums, sold two mil- to Dave Douglas. Aoife (pronounced “ee-fuh”) He began to study cello at the age of four, at- been widely acclaimed. The latter trio collabo- lion records, and was awarded a Grammy in steps to the fore this summer with her debut tended the Juilliard School and in 1976 gradu- rated for , which was released 2002. Punch Brothers released their latest al- solo album Fossils, produced by Tucker Martine ated from Harvard University. He has received in 1996, soared to the top of the charts, and re- bum, Who’s Feeling Young Now?, in 2012 on (My Morning Jacket, Tift Merritt) on Yep numerous awards, among them the 2001 mained there for 16 weeks. The trio toured ex- Nonesuch. This summer, Mr. Thile releases Bach Roc Records. National Medal of Arts, the 2006 Sonning tensively in the and was featured Sonatas & Partitas Vol. 1, also on Nonesuch. Prize, the 2008 World Economic Forum’s both on The Late Show with David Letterman Crystal Award, the 2010 Presidential Medal of and the televised 1997 Inaugural Gala. Joining Multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan has built Freedom, the 2011 Kennedy Center Honors, with Mr. Ma and Mr. O’Connor for a second upon his bluegrass roots to become an art- and the 2012 Polar Music Prize. Mr. Ma serves time, , the follow-up to ist who defies categorization and surpasses the as a U.N. Messenger of Peace and as a mem- Appalachia Waltz, was released in March 2000 limits of any specific genre. The consummate ber of the President’s Committee on the Arts and won a Grammy Award. sideman, Mr. Duncan has lent his particular & the Humanities. He has performed for eight Mr. Meyer began studying bass at age five taste and tone to countless artists and projects. American presidents, most recently at the invita- under the instruction of his father and contin- Whether trading dizzying instrumental licks tion of President Obama on the occasion of the ued his studies with Stuart Sankey. In 1994 with the likes of Béla Fleck and Jerry Douglas, 56th Inaugural Ceremony. he received the Avery Fisher Career Grant and or adding complimentary fills for vocalists Alan For additional information, see www.yo- in 2000 became the only bassist to receive the Jackson and Barbara Streisand, Mr. Duncan has yoma.com, www.silkroadproject.org, and www Avery Fisher Prize. Currently, he is Visiting found a professional “home” both in the studio .opus3artists.com. Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy and on tour. From to Panic at the of Music and at the Curtis Institute of Music Disco, Mr. Duncan’s playing and influence can in Philadelphia. be heard among many of today’s top hit-makers.

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