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DPU Global Musician Workshop to feature Grammy winner Fleck June 19-25
Multiple Grammy Award-winner Béla Fleck, who is nominated for two 2016 Grammys, will come to the DePauw University campus as the featured guest artist at Silkroad's Global Musician Workshop.
The event, which takes place June 19-25, which will again be hosted by the DePauw University School of Music.
Fleck will join an all-star GMW faculty, including Sandeep Das (Indian tabla), Abigail Washburn (banjo/vocals mixing American/Chinese styles), Hadi Eldebek (Arabic oud), Gamin (Korean wind instruments), Bruce Molsky (old-time Appalachian fiddle), Balla Kouyate (Malian balafon), Edward Perez (Afro-Latin bass), Shane Shanahan (world percussion) and workshop director Mike Block (multi-style strings).
Fleck is recognized as one of the greatest banjo players in the world, having virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the instrument through his collaborations with artists across a range of musical genres including bluegrass, jazz, pop, rock, world beat and classical.
Fleck has recorded 12 solo albums and numerous albums with other bands and artists. He has won 15 Grammy Awards and has been nominated 30 times and in more musical categories than anyone in Grammy history.
In 2001, "Perpetual Motion," his critically acclaimed Sony Classical recording, won a pair of Grammy Awards, including Best Classical Crossover Album. The album was made in collaboration with longtime friend and colleague Edgar Meyer, a virtuosic bassist and acclaimed composer.
In 2003, Fleck and Meyer co-wrote and premiered a double concerto for banjo, bass and orchestra, performed with the Nashville Symphony. They also co-wrote a triple concerto for banjo, bass and tabla with world-renowned tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, titled "The Melody of Rhythm." In 2011, the Nashville Symphony commissioned Fleck to write "The Impostor," his first stand-alone banjo concerto.
"I always try to work with people who are better than me, so I can learn more," Fleck says.
These days, the multi-genre musician is spending his time working in duos with Chick Corea and Abigail Washburn, in a trio with Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer, in concerts with the Brooklyn Rider string quartet, in collaboration with African artists such as Oumou Sangare and Toumani Diabate and in a jazz collaboration with The Marcus Roberts Trio.
He's appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," "Saturday Night Live," "Sesame Street," "Austin City Limits," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and "CBS Sunday Morning."
Silkroad launched its first Global Musician Workshop on the DePauw campus last June. Its overwhelming success and accolades inspired the organization to begin offering the event annually, with the second workshop to again be hosted by the DePauw School of Music.
Designed as a laboratory where tradition meets innovation, the workshop's mission is for musicians to learn from each other's traditions and incorporate them into their own artistic voices.
On Thursday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m., Fleck will join GMW director Mike Block for a Q&A session in Kresge Auditorium at the Judson and Joyce Green Center for the Performing Arts at DePauw. The conversation will cover topics such as what it means to be a global musician in the 21st century.
Prior to this conversation, Fleck will spend the day with GMW participants leading a 90-minute workshop, in which he will perform and teach, and attending band rehearsals to meet with participants in smaller groups.
"Béla Fleck has been a huge creative force in American music for many years, and by crossing cultural and stylistic boundaries with his music he is also an ideal model of what it means to be a 'Global Musician.' notes Block, who is himself an acclaimed multi-style cellist. "I'm excited for our 2016 GMW participants to have this inspiring opportunity to engage with him on a personal level through workshops and meetings, and also hear him talk about his process and perspective in-depth."
Block will travel to Greencastle in advance of the workshop for a DePauw campus visit on Friday, Feb. 26, which will include an open jam session that evening at Music on the Square.
Applications to attend Silkroad's weeklong workshop -- open to participants 18 and older from any musical background -- will be accepted through April 1 or until all positions are filled. For registration information, visit www.GlobalMusicianWorkshop.com.