Festival Series audiences will have a chance to experience the virtuosity of world class artists who have the energy of rock stars, when Project Trio takes the stage at 8 p.m. Nov. 22 in Kobacker Hall at Bowling Green State University.
Project Trio consists of Peter Seymour on bass, Greg Pattillo on flute, and Eric Stephenson on cello. Together they are breaking down traditional ideas of chamber music. Blending their classical training with an eclectic taste in musical styles, they make a big impact on audiences of all ages. The genre-defying trio is acclaimed by the press as “packed with musicianship, joy and surprise” and “exciting a new generation of listeners about the joys of classical and jazz music.”
The program will include arrangements of music from Bach to Django Reinhardt to Jethro Tull, along with plenty of Project Trio originals. Selections include Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus,” J.S. Bach/Jethro Tull’s “Bourée,” Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Jam, Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” … now set in Brooklyn, and originals encompassing everything from classical to jazz to rock to hip-hop to salsa.
The Wall Street Journal hailed the trio for their “wide appeal, subversive humor and first-rate playing.” The New York Times has called beatboxing flutist Pattillo “the best in the world at what he does.”
Seymour, Pattillo and Stephenson met at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where they discovered a collective desire to draw new and diverse audiences by performing high energy, top quality music. Using social media to broaden their reach beyond the concert stage and classroom, Project Trio has its own YouTube channel, which has over 80 million views and 96,000 subscribers, making it one of the most watched instrumental ensembles on the Internet.
Highlights of the trio’s 2014-15 season include engagements with the Detroit, Dallas, St. Louis, and Charleston symphonies, the Illinois Philharmonic, and season-opening concerts with the Evansville Philharmonic and WCF Symphony. This season, the group will participate in residencies at Mercyhurst College and Concordia College, as well as performing and leading master classes in schools, universities, festivals and other venues throughout the Germany, Italy and the U.S.
Tickets are $15 for the public and $5 for BGSU students and can be purchased online at bgsu.edu/arts or by calling the Arts Box Office at 419-372-8171.