Banjo Icon Béla Fleck and Brooklyn Rider Begin 19-City North American Tour November 10 at New York's Le Poisson Rouge

10.28.13
Béla Fleck, Bela Fleck & Brooklyn Rider , Brooklyn Rider
21C Media Group

On November 10, Béla Fleck and Brooklyn Rider begin the first leg of their 19-city North American tour at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge. Fleck, “the world's pre-eminent banjoist” (Wall Street Journal) and 15-time Grammy Award-winner, has been nominated in more categories than any other artist in Grammy history, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette characterized Brooklyn Rider as “a Beethoven-goes-Indie foray into making classical music accessible but also celebrating why it was good in the first place.” In this ground-breaking collaboration, Fleck and Brooklyn Rider – violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords and cellist Eric Jacobsen – showcase Night Flight Over Water, Fleck’s own composition for banjo and string quartet, which Brooklyn Rider recorded for Fleck’s new Deutsche Grammophon/Mercury Classics album, The Impostor.

Fleck composed Night Flight Over Water with Brooklyn Rider in mind. As he described their work together: “These guys were so good that they made everything I came up with sound amazing – so it was very hard to figure out what not to use. The best part is that I came to realize that I could write virtually anything and they would be able to make it come alive.” The admiration was mutual. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Nicholas Cords, Brooklyn Rider’s violist, about the collaboration:

“The quartet read [Fleck’s] preliminary sketches…then worked closely with the banjoist through the composing process. Mr. Fleck was meticulous, Mr. Cords added, sensitive to phrasing even for instruments that weren't his own. ‘His compositional voice shows that understanding and empathy of what we're doing on our instruments. ... We’ve learned a lot from him, not just musically, but about how to operate in the world,’ said Mr. Cords. ‘He’s an amazing model to look to in terms of career-building, and how to build things in a way no one else has done.’”
 
In addition to Night Flight Over Water, the group will perform new quintet arrangements of works originally recorded by Fleck’s celebrated bands New Grass Revival and the Flecktones; Brooklesca by Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen, arranged for banjo and string quartet; a quintet written in 1984 by Fleck and bassist/ composer Edgar Meyer; and Culai, a five-movement piece written for Brooklyn Rider by Russian-American composer and violist Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin. Culai is featured on Brooklyn Rider’s sixth recording, A Walking Fire, which the Chicago Tribune calls an “attractive travelogue.” Lucid Culture says the album “captures the state-of-the-art New York string quartet at their most animated and eclectic, even by their standards.”

The tour begins at New York City’s celebrated downtown music venue Le Poisson Rouge, in a co-production with Yellow Lounge, and features a set by acclaimed classical guitarist
Milos Karadaglic?, Gramophone’s Young Artist of the Year for 2011 who the New York Times called “one of the most galvanizing instrumentalists to emerge in recent years.”  Next the five musicians head to the first ten cities on their tour, including stops in Indianapolis (Nov 15), Washington, DC (Nov 23), and Toronto (Nov 26). They reunite in early 2014 for a nine-city run, this time including Philadelphia (Feb 1), Seattle (Feb 4), and Las Vegas (Feb 8).

For a complete list of tour dates, please see below.


North American Tour Dates:

Nov 10
New York, NY
Le Poisson Rouge

Nov 12
Akron, OH
Tuesday Musical Association

Nov 15
Indianapolis, IN
Butler University

Nov 16
Danville, KY
Norton Center for the Arts

Nov 18
Birmingham, AL
Samford University

Nov 19
Clemson, SC
Clemson University

Nov 22
Newport News, VA
Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts

Nov 23
Washington, DC
Washington Performing Arts Society

Nov 24
Ann Arbor, MI
University Musical Society

Nov 26
Toronto, ON, Canada
The Royal Conservatory of Music

Jan 29
Worcester, MA
Music Worcester, Inc.

Jan 30
Portland, ME
Portland Ovations

Jan 31
Keene, NH
Colonial Theatre

Feb 1
Philadelphia, PA
Kimmel Center, Inc.

Feb 4
Seattle, WA
University of Washington

Feb 6
Chico, CA
California State University, Chico

Feb 7
Northridge, CA
California State University, Northridge

Feb 8
Las Vegas, NV
Smith Center for the Performing Arts

Feb 9
Ogden, UT
Weber State University