Five Banjo Masters Perform Together and Create Music Magic
March 24, 2006
Enjoy a night of instrumental music magic when five talented banjo players team up for an original concert produced and presented by the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State. The Banjo Summit, featuring Béla Fleck, Seamus Egan, Mike Seeger, Tony Trischka and Buddy Watcher, is scheduled for 8 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Eisenhower Auditorium.
Innovative, to say the least, The Banjo Summit's five fine pickers have made an impact on banjo lovers around the world. They represent a range of styles, including everything from gospel, bluegrass and Celtic to classical and jazz. The concert is presented in conjunction with Picturing the Banjo, a spring 2006 exhibition at University Park's Palmer Museum of Art.
Tickets for the concert are on sale now at $34 for an adult, $16 for a University Park student and $24 or a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; HUB Robeson Center Information Desk, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays; and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
The banjo, which is used in many different cultures, originated in Africa and has played an influential role in transforming traditional folk music. The banjo's original purpose was background rhythm for dancing, singing or storytelling. These five musicians have shown the banjo's adaptability to all forms of music and will showcase it as they collaborate.
Picturing the Banjo features media, paintings and other representations of the banjo's roots from Africa to modern times. George Trudeau, Center for the Performing Arts director, saw the Palmer Museum of Art exhibition as an opportunity for collaboration. "Picturing the Banjo seemed like a natural partner with a performance event," he says.
Fred and Denise Wood sponsor the concert. Radio station 93.7 The Bus
is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, sponsored by the Center
for the Performing Arts Community Advisory Council, provides insight from
a visiting artist or local expert and is free for ticket holders in the
Eisenhower Auditorium Conference Room one hour before the performance.
The Banjo Summit: Artist Biographies
Tony Trischka helped the Center for the Performing Arts put together the concert's stellar lineup. Time called Trischka an "urban bluegrass whiz" because he stretches the boundaries of traditional banjo music. "He is the godfather of what some call the new acoustic soul," writes a New York Times reviewer.
Béla Fleck has truly shown the flexibility of the banjo with his style ranging among bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock, world beat and gospel. Many listeners know him as the man who changed the perception and sound of the banjo. On a recent tour of Africa, Fleck collaborated with artists from Gambia, Uganda, Tanzania and Mali.
Seamus Egan, popular for co-writing Sarah McLachlan's Grammy-winning song "I Will Remember You," is a member of the Irish-American band Solas. "Seamus Egan and Solas make mind-blowing Irish folk music, maybe the world's best," writes a Philadelphia Inquirer critic. Egan was named Traditionalist of the Year by the Irish Echo, the youngest person to ever win the honor.
Mike Seeger's performances are "clean and crisp as any acoustic music now being played," observes a writer for Rolling Stone. Known for his energy and variety, the six-time Grammy nominee's style possesses the texture of true rural music. True Vine, his signature style, grew from hundreds of years of British tradition blended in America with ancient African folkways.
Buddy Watcher, a former featured banjoist in Fred Waring's Pennsylvanians, has traveled the world performing in more than a dozen countries. Thrilling audiences in Carnegie Hall, Watcher has "elevated American's premier folk instrument to a level of concert legitimacy," notes a New York Times critic.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379