After working with artists from all over the Latino world, and investigating the myriad of cultural influences that make up Latino culture, artistic director Eduardo Vilaro is returning to his own roots for Luna Negra Dance Theater’s 10th Anniversary season with the creation of a new work entitled Danzón. The Danzón has been called the official dance of Cuba, and it initially evolved from Haitian contradance. Its current form was created by Miguel Faílde Pérez in 1879, and although the Danzón ... Read More
Mike Marshall is one of the most accomplished and versatile acoustic musicians performing today—well known for his collaborations with the leading artists of our day such as Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, and Chris Thile. Now, this master of the mandolin, guitar and violin, joins forces with the two-time Grammy®-winning Turtle Island Quartet for a series of unforgettable concerts. Together they undertake a musical journey through the American landscape. Various stops along the way include American ... Read More
Given the proper conditions, a work of art can transcend both genre and era, claiming its rightful place in the universality of human expression that justifies the very existence of mankind. Such is the case of John Coltrane’s jazz epiphany, A Love Supreme. Recorded four decades ago at a time when the country was deeply troubled by issues of race and war, Trane’s music was a personal statement of redemption and salvation that struck a chord in the hearts of millions, becoming one of the most ... Read More
Through their exploration of jazz, classical, American roots and world music styles, the Turtle Island Quartet has taken its audiences on a journey through many musical genres, eras, and places – the American landscape, Latin America, Europe, and India to name a few. In this program the two time Grammy®-winning quartet ventures to Electric Ladyland, tackling works by legendary guitarist, songwriter and performer Jimi Hendrix, as well as other compositions reflective of and inspired by Hendrix’s ... Read More
Turtle Island, the double GRAMMY® winning quartet that has re-defined chamber jazz for over twenty five years, is joined by the great jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton in a series of concerts that answers the simple question: What inspires us? This historic collaboration overflows with inspiration. From the moving traditional hymn Wade in the Water to Joni Mitchell’s All I Want to settings of Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and words of Hafiz and Rumi- Poets & Prayers celebrates the muse, in all its ... Read More
The 1949 Pulitzer prize winning film score written by Virgil Thompson provides the inspiration for GRAMMY® award winning artists Michael Doucet and the Turtle Island Quartet to delve deeply into the myriad faces of Cajun music and beyond. Michael Doucet, leader of the famed ensemble BeauSoleil, is one of 12 recipients of the 2005 National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. He has an encyclopedic mastery of this quintessential American music genre and reveals an ... Read More
Singer, songwriter, multi instrumentalist, and actor Nellie McKay joins forces with the two time GRAMMY® award winning Turtle Island Quartet to present a delightfully kaleidoscopic view of the music of Billie Holiday, Billy Strayhorn, and the Weimar cabaret of the 1920’s. While the combination of voice and strings has long been a staple of the classical genre as well as of contemporary music, Nellie McKay’s talents on piano, mallets, and ukulele and Turtle Island’s famed innovative rhythmic ... Read More
The Turtle Island Quartet employs their signature groove-based rhythmic techniques to create brand-new arrangements of cool jazz standards that prove that the line between classical music and jazz is much thinner than one might think. In addition to classics by Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Lenny Tristano and others, the quartet will premiere a brand-new work by founder and violinist David Balakrishnan. Called “Rebirth of the Holy Fool,” this work takes cool jazz as a starting point but borrows ... Read More