The Chieftains

Friday, February 28, 2020, 8pm Zellerbach Hall The Chieftains Tonight’s performance will be performed without intermission and last approximately 90 minutes. Cal Performances’ 2019–20 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. 17 ABOUT THE ARTISTS his year marks The Chieftains’ 58th an audience of over 1.3 million, and in 2011, as anniversary. Since 1962, they have won six part of the historic visit to Ireland of HRH Queen Grammy Awards and been highly recog- Elizabeth II. In 2012, marking Th e Chieft ains’ Tnized for reinventing traditional Irish music on 50th anniversary, they were awarded the inaugu- a contemporary and international scale. Th eir ral National Concert Hall Lifetime Achievement ability to transcend musical bo undaries to blend Award at a gala event in Philadelphia hosted by tradition with modern music has established the American Ireland Fund “in recognition of them as one of the most renowned and revered their tremendous contribution to the music in- musical groups of our time. dustry worldwide and the promotion of the best As cultural ambassadors, their performances of Irish culture.” have been linked with seminal historic events, To celebrate their 50th anniversary, The such as being the fi rst Western musicians to per- Chieft ains once again invited friends from all form on the Great Wall of China, participating musical styles to collaborate on their most recent in Roger Water’s Th e lW a performance in Berlin album, Voice of Ages. Featuring some of mod- in 1990, and being the fi rst ensemble to perform ern music’s fastest rising artists (Bon Iver, Th e a concert in the Capitol Building in Washington, Decemberists, and Paolo Nutini among them), DC. In 2010, their experimental collaborations this album is proof that their music transcends extended to outer space, when Paddy Moloney’s not only stylistic and traditional boundaries, but whistle and Matt Molloy’s fl ute traveled with generations as well. NASA astronaut Cady Coleman to the interna- Th e Chieft ains are never afraid to shock tional space station. purists and push genre boundaries and the Although their early following was predomi- trappings of fame have not altered their love nantly a folk audience, the range and variation of of, and loyalty to, their roots; and they are as their music and accompanying musicians quickly comfortable playing spontaneous Irish sessions captured a much broader audience, elevating at local pubs as they are headlining concerts at their status to that of fellow Irish band, U2. Carnegie Hall. Aft er 58 years of making some In Ireland, they have been involved in many of the most beautiful music in the world, Th e major occasions, such as Pope John Paul II’s visit Chieft ains’ music remains as fresh and relevant to the country in 1979, when they performed to as when they fi rst began. 18 PLAYBILL.

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