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Carnegie Hall News
Back to Press Release List > 01/31/2008 - Perspectives: Bobby McFerrin, 2008
—PERSPECTIVES: BOBBY MCFERRIN—
VOCAL INNOVATOR BOBBY MCFERRIN COMES TO CARNEGIE HALL
FOR A SEVEN-EVENT PERSPECTIVES SERIES
BEGINNING IN FEBRUARY
McFerrin Featured as a Vocalist, Conductor, Educator, and Creator in Events
Highlighting the Breadth of His Creative Interests
All-Star Collaborators Include Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer,
Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, and Alison Krauss
McFerrin Leads Instant Opera!, a Five-Day Professional Training Workshop
for Singers of Traditional and Non-Traditional Vocal Styles
Beginning in February 2008, ten-time Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin, one of the world’s best-known vocal innovators, comes to Carnegie Hall for a seven-event Perspectives series. An adventurous improviser who moves effortlessly among the worlds of jazz, pop, and classical music, McFerrin has designed his Perspectives to reflect the breadth of his creative interests, performing with such artists as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bassist Edgar Meyer, violinist/vocalist Alison Krauss, pianist Chick Corea, and drummer Jack DeJohnette.
A highlight of McFerrin’s Perspectives is a performance with Voicestra, his 12-member vocal ensemble—masters of interactive group singing and improvisations, drawing on everything from R&B to opera to world music traditions. McFerrin also shares his pioneering ideas with the next generation of musicians and music lovers through a Family Concert and a Professional Training Workshop presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Entitled Instant Opera!, McFerrin’s workshop culminates in a performance of an original, improvised, a cappella work based on the story of the Tower of Babel. Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series is an artistic initiative in which select musicians are invited to explore their own musical individuality and create their own personal concert series through collaborations with other musicians and ensembles.
February 2008
In his first Perspectives event, McFerrin collaborates with contemporary bluegrass violinist/vocalist Alison Krauss and genre-bending bassist Edgar Meyer for an evening of Americana music on Thursday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. This performance marks the first collaboration by these three remarkably one-of-a-kind artists.
A passionate spokesperson for music education, McFerrin shares his enthusiastic and infectious musical vision with the next generation of concertgoers in a Family Concert in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage on Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m. Polygraph Lounge—the zany musical duo of Rob Schwimmer and Mark Stewart—is special guest for this performance. A program of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, Family Concerts are hour-long weekend afternoon concerts designed for children ages 5-12 to experience the joy of attending a live musical performance. All tickets are affordably priced at $9.
March 2008
McFerrin appears with his vocal ensemble, Voicestra, on Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall. Comprised of 12 uniquely gifted singers with broad stylistic experience ranging from jazz and R&B to Indian classical opera, Voicestra serves as a rich palette for Bobby McFerrin’s compositional expeditions. McFerrin founded the ensemble in 1986 to explore interactive group singing, and it has since evolved into a medium for deeply spiritual and powerful improvisations. The music is entirely improvised and takes everything—including the day, time, theater, and audience of the concert—into the performance. Melodies, rhythms and textures traverse from singer to singer, perpetually morphing in reaction to the moment and McFerrin’s instincts.
April/May 2008
On Sunday, April 6 at 2:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, McFerrin conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Fauré’s Requiem with soprano Dominique Labelle, baritone Nathan Gunn, and the Morgan State University Choir, directed by Eric Conway. The concert also includes Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, “Classical”; and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin as well as a cappella improvisations by McFerrin. A conductor since the late 1980s, McFerrin studied with Leonard Bernstein, Gustav Meier, and Seiji Ozawa. He has since led many of the world’s leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
Friend and longtime collaborator Yo-Yo Ma is special guest for a program that features Vivaldi’s Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos and Orchestra, RV 531, on Thursday, April 10 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. In this unique performance of the work, Ma, with his cello, and McFerrin, with his voice, perform the two cello parts with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. The program also includes the Allegro Assai from Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor and Faure’s Pavane in F-sharp Minor—two works in which McFerrin conducts the orchestra and sings as soloist. Additionally, McFerrin performs his adventurous vocal improvisations.
Pianist Chick Corea and drummer Jack DeJohnette join McFerrin for an evening of jazz and improvised music on Wednesday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. Corea, one of McFerrin’s favorite and most frequent musical collaborators, has recorded two albums with the vocalist—1992’s Play, portions of which were recorded live at Carnegie Hall, and 1996’s The Mozart Sessions. With DeJohnette, McFerrin shares a thirst for musical exploration outside narrowly defined genres. McFerrin participated on the drummer’s 1994 recording Extra Special Edition and the two collaborated on a voice/percussion duo at the 2003 Montreal Jazz Festival.
From Monday, April 28 to Friday, May 2, McFerrin leads Instant Opera!, a five-day Professional Training Workshop for singers of both traditional and non-traditional vocal styles presented by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. Twenty young artists, from different singing traditions, will be chosen to work with McFerrin to create Instant Opera!, an original, improvised, a cappella work based on the story of the Tower of Babel with text exploring the origins of language and the celebration of differences. Whether masters of Gaelic, Chinese, or Indonesian folk songs; chanters; or Tuvan throat singers, performers will come together and lead the audience to actively participate in a culminating performance in Zankel Hall on Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
About the Artist
Bobby McFerrin is one of the natural wonders of the music world. A 10-time Grammy Award winner, he is one of the world's best-known vocal innovators and improvisers, a world-renowned classical conductor, the creator of "Don't Worry Be Happy,” one of the most popular songs of the late 20th century, and a passionate spokesman for music education. His recordings have sold over 20 million copies, and his collaborations including those with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea, the Vienna Philharmonic, and Herbie Hancock have established him as an ambassador of both the classical and jazz worlds.
With a four-octave range and a vast array of vocal techniques, McFerrin is no mere singer; he is music's last true Renaissance man—a vocal explorer who has combined jazz, folk, and a multitude of world music influences, including choral, a cappella, and classical music, with his own ingredients. As a conductor, McFerrin is able to convey his innate musicality in an entirely different context. He has worked with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.
'Unconventional' is a good word to describe McFerrin’s career. Those familiar with McFerrin's shows, whether as conductor or vocalist, know that each one is a unique event that resonates with the unexpected. He is a rare artist who has the ability to reach beyond musical genres and stereotypes for a sound that is entirely his own. As one of the foremost guardians of music's rich heritage, he remains at the vanguard with his natural, beautiful, and timeless music that transcends all borders and embraces all cultures.
Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives
Now in its ninth season, Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives series is an artistic initiative in which select musicians are invited to explore their own musical individuality and create their own personal concert series through collaborations with other musicians and ensembles. Other artists presenting Perspectives during the 2007–2008 season are conductor Valery Gergiev and pianist Yefim Bronfman.
Previous Perspectives artists have included conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim; conductors Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas, and David Robertson; violinist Gidon Kremer; cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Martha Argerich, Emanuel Ax, Maurizio Pollini, Peter Serkin, Mitsuko Uchida, Leif Ove Andsnes, and Pierre-Laurent Aimard; soprano Dawn Upshaw; bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff; the Emerson String Quartet; Senegalese vocalist Youssou N’Dour; Brazilian singer-songwriter Caetano Veloso; and experimental rocker David Byrne.
Program Information for Perspectives: Bobby McFerrin
Thursday, February 21 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
BOBBY MCFERRIN, Vocalist
ALISON KRAUSS, Violin/Vocals
EDGAR MEYER, Bass
Crossing genres and redefining the possibilities of the human voice, Bobby McFerrin teams up with acclaimed vocalist Alison Krauss and the unparalleled master of the double bass, Edgar Meyer.
Tickets: $23, $28, $37, $52, $68, $76
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Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
CARNEGIE HALL FAMILY CONCERT: BOBBY MCFERRIN
Bobby McFerrin, Vocalist
Polygraph Lounge
Pre-concert activities begin at 12:30 p.m.
Family Concerts are sponsored by Bank of America, Carnegie Hall's Proud Season Sponsor.
Carnegie Hall Family Concerts are made possible, in part, by generous endowment gifts from Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse, Jr., and the Henry and Lucy Moses Fund.
Programs of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall are generously supported by the City of New York: Office of the Mayor, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York City Council; and by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Tickets: $9
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Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
BOBBY MCFERRIN, Vocalist
VOICESTRA
A virtuoso display of vocal improvisation by 12 gifted singers with broad stylistic experience, ranging from jazz to R&B to Persian classical to opera.
Sponsored by KPMG LLP
Tickets: $48, $60
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Sunday, April 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S
Bobby McFerrin, Conductor
Dominique Labelle, Soprano
Nathan Gunn, Baritone
Morgan State University Choir
Eric Conway, Director
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, "Classical"
MAURICE RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin
BOBBY MCFERRIN A Cappella Improvisations
GABRIEL FAURÉ Requiem, Op. 48
This concert is made possible, in part, by an endowment fund for choral music established by S. Donald Sussman in memory of Judith Arron and Robert Shaw.
Tickets: $24, $29, $38, $54, $71, $79
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Thursday, April 10 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
BOBBY MCFERRIN, Vocalist
with special guest Yo-Yo Ma
Orchestra of St. Luke's
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH Allegro Assai from Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A Minor, BWV 1041
GABRIEL FAURÉ Pavane in F-sharp Minor, Op. 50
ANTONIO VIVALDI Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos and Orchestra, RV 531
BOBBY MCFERRIN A Cappella Improvisations
Sponsored by Ernst & Young LLP
Tickets: $37, $46, $61, $86, $113, $126
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Wednesday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage
BOBBY MCFERRIN, Vocalist
CHICK COREA, Piano
JACK DEJOHNETTE, Drums
Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
Tickets: $23, $28, $37, $52, $68, $76
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Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
BOBBY MCFERRIN YOUNG ARTISTS CONCERT
Programs of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall are generously supported by the City of New York: Office of the Mayor, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York City Council; and by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Tickets: $15
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The Bobby McFerrin Perspectives series is supported, in part, by The Rockefeller Foundation's New York City Cultural Innovation Fund.
Perspectives concerts are made possible, in part, by a generous grant from The Alice Tully Foundation.
Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
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Ticket Information
Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street. Tickets may also be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or online by visiting www.carnegiehall.org.
In addition, for all Carnegie Hall Corporation presentations taking place in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, a limited number of partial-view seats, priced at $10, will be available beginning at noon on the day of the concert. The exceptions are Carnegie Hall Family Concerts and gala events. These $10 tickets are available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Carnegie Hall Box Office only. There is a two-ticket limit per customer.
A limited number of student/senior citizen discount tickets, priced at $10, may also be available for some Carnegie Hall events. They are on sale at the Box Office beginning at noon until 1 hour before concert time. Student/senior discount tickets for some Weill Recital Hall events are available at the Box Office one hour before the performance. Please call CarnegieCharge for ticket availability.
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