NEW: Bobby McFerrin Coming to Providence
Monday, March 26, 2012
A capella singing legend Bobby McFerrin comes to Providence this spring with FirstWorks. Photo: Steve Jurvetson.
A cappella legend
McFerrin's solo a cappella concerts have achieved a near-legendary status and have mesmerized audiences from the Far East to the Hollywood Bowl to La Scala. With remarkable technique and a skill for playfully sparking audience participation, he has carved out a unique place in contemporary vocal performance. The Los Angeles Times writes, “Bobby McFerrin’s greatest gift to his audience may be changing them from spectators into celebrants and transforming a concert hall into a playground, a village center, a joyous space.” With a comedian’s sense of timing, an unrestrained zany streak, and an infectious love of every genre of music, McFerrin creates a new kind of concert—not a “performance” but a communal sharing and celebration of music. For his FirstWorks concert, Bobby invites special guests bassist Jeff Carney and pianist Dan Nagel to the stage.
The power of the voice
Relying on the simplest of human instruments—his own voice, McFerrin is able to conjure a virtual universe of sounds, at turns a blackbird, an operatic soprano, a Martian, and a bebop trumpet. McFerrin is no mere singer; he is a vocal explorer who has combined jazz, folk and a multitude of world music influences—choral, a cappella, and classical music—with his own ingredients. “Music for me,” McFerrin says, “is like a spiritual journey down into the depths of my soul. And I like to think we’re all on a journey into our souls. What’s down there? That’s why I do what I do.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“Every one of Bobby McFerrin's solo concerts is an unrepeatable event, “ says Kathleen Pletcher, executive artistic director of FirstWorks. “FirstWorks is thrilled to present this singular musical talent, one that otherwise you would need to travel to Boston or New York to experience. FirstWorks will also connect Bobby McFerrin with 150 music students across our state in a musical Circlesongs workshop on stage at The Vets.”
"You get them singing, and you knock down all the walls..."
"Singing in community is especially powerful," says McFerrin. "You get people together and get them singing, and you instantly knock down all the walls—the creeds, the gender, age and race differences, everything. You're all one at that point, lifting your voices."
McFerrin is one of the great personalities of the global music scene. He is renowned as much for his voice and its singular range as for the spectrum of his activities. There is not a form of jazz and jazz-pop that he has not explored, and his collaborators range from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to pianist Chick Corea to comedian Robin Williams to filmmaker Jack Nicholson.
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