CELEBRITY SERIES

Celebrity Series of Boston
Gary Dunning, President and Executive Director
Presents The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Performers:
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Stuart Duncan, fiddle
Edgar Meyer, bass
Chris Thile, mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan, vocals
on Tuesday, January 31, 7:30pm & 10:00pm
at the House of Blues, Boston

(Boston) Celebrity Series of Boston will present The Goat Rodeo Sessions, with performers Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Edgar Meyer (bass), Chris Thile (mandolin) and Aoife O’Donovan (vocals), on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 7:30pm and 10:00pm at the House of Blues Boston, 15 Lansdowne Street, Boston.

Remaining tickets for The Goat Rodeo Sessions at 7:30pm are $250 VIP package tickets. VIP seating includes a pre-performance buffet dinner and drinks at the private Foundation Room along with prime seating to the 7:30pm performance. Remaining tickets for the 10:00pm show are $25, $40, $60 and $95. All remaining tickets are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by phone at (888) 693-2583 or at The Orpheum box office at One Hamilton Place, Boston MA, 10am-5pm Monday – Saturday.

NCM Fathom and Sony Masterworks will also broadcast “The Goat Rodeo Sessions LIVE featuring Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile,” with guest Aoife O’Donovan, to more than 400 select movie theaters nationwide on Tuesday, January 31 at 7:30pm ET. Event and ticketing information can be found at www.FathomEvents.com. The performance will also be filmed for PBS national broadcast by WGBH.

The Goat Rodeo Sessions is an ambitious and groundbreaking project that brings together four string virtuosos: Yo-Yo Ma,Stuart Duncan,Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. While each artist is a prominent figure in his own music sphere, they have come together as a unified ensemble on a most remarkable and organic cross-genre project. The music, including two tracks with guest vocalist Aoife O’Donovan, feels both new and familiar – it’s composed and improvised, uptown and down home, funky and pastoral and above all, uniquely American.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences, and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Whether performing new or familiar works from the cello repertoire, coming together with colleagues for chamber music or exploring cultures and musical forms outside the Western classical tradition, Mr. Ma strives to find connections that stimulate the imagination.

Fiddler Stuart Duncan’s music has been enjoyed by millions of Country, Americana and Bluegrass music fans for over 40 years via the recording studio and on tour. Even with his distinctive, identifiable style, no two pieces Stuart creates ever sound alike. One of his many strengths is the ability to get inside a simple melody and take it to a whole new level. In the studio he can write out charts, direct arrangements and make a contribution with a fiddle, guitar, tenor banjo, mandolin or any number of specialty instruments.

Bassist Edgar Meyer’s unparalleled technique and musicianship in combination with his gift for composition have brought him to the forefront of a wide variety of musical styles, where he is appreciated by a vast, varied audience. His uniqueness in the field was recognized by a MacArthur Award in 2002.

Mandolinist Chris Thile of the Punch Brothers, has changed the mandolin forever, elevating it from its origins as a relatively simple folk and bluegrass instrument to the sophistication and brilliance of the finest jazz improvisation and classical performance. For more than 15 years, Thile played in the wildly popular band Nickel Creek, with whom he released three albums and sold two million records, and was awarded a Grammy in 2002.

Vocalist Aoife O’Donovan grew up in a musical family, immersed in folk music. She studied contemporary improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music in her hometown of Boston. Most recently, she has performed and recorded with Ollabelle, Sometymes Why, Karen Casey and Seamus Egan, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Christina Courtin and Chris Thile (Punch Brothers).

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