VIOLINIST/COMPOSER DBR BRINGS NEW SOUND TO GPAC
1/07/09
VIOLINIST/COMPOSER DBR BRINGS NEW SOUND TO GPAC
Known for blending his classical music roots with a myriad of soundscapes, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) will display his unprecedented creativity at the Germantown Performing Arts Centre on Sunday, February 22 at 3 p.m.
DBR has carved a reputation for himself as a passionately innovative composer, performer, violinist, and band leader, blending violin music with rock and hip-hop in a ground breaking fusion of contrasting cultures and instruments. Performing with the SQ Unit from his group The Mission, DBR will perform A Civil Rights Reader, a series of quartets with DJ in tribute to five civil rights leaders: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, Maya Angelou and Rosa Parks.
WHO: Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)
WHEN: Sunday, February 22 at 3 p.m.
TICKETS: Single tickets are $25, $30, and $35, plus handling fee, and are available now by calling (901) 751-7500 or online at www.GPACweb.com.
Box Office Hours: Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. and noon on day of performance. All major credit cards accepted.
WHERE: Germantown Performing Arts Centre
1801 Exeter Road
Germantown, TN 38138
CONTACT: For more information or to arrange an interview with the artist(s), please contact Carrie Corbett at (901) 751-7501 or carrie@gpacweb.com.
IMAGES: See attached
ARTIST WEB: www.dbrmusic.com
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:
Having carved a reputation for himself as an innovative composer, performer, violinist, and band leader, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) melds his classical music roots with his own cultural references and vibrant musical imagination.
As a composer, his works range from orchestral scores and chamber pieces to music for film, the theater, modern dance, and electronica. In 2007, DBR premiered One Loss Plus, the first of three works commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) for their Next Wave Festival. Showcasing his wide-ranging eclecticism, One Loss Plus is DBR's evening-length, multimedia work for electric/acoustic violin, prepared/amplified piano, electronics, and video. His latest orchestral work and second BAM commission Darwin's Meditation for The People of Lincoln is a musical setting of a pocket play by Daniel Beaty that explores an imagined conversation between Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln, and the political relationship between England, North America, and Haiti. Following its New York premiere in October 2008, Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln moves to the University of Connecticut as a special celebratory concert February 12, 2009 - the icons' shared bicentennial anniversary of their birth.
DBR has collaborated with an array of orchestras and chamber ensembles. Recent performances and commissions include: Five Chairs and One Table, a commissioned work for Imani Winds premiering at Carnegie Hall in 2009; WE MARCH!, a guitar concerto that premiered with Eliot Fisk and the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra; The Tuscaloosa Meditations, one of the first commissions of a Haitian-American composer by the University of Alabama composed in honor of Vivian Malone Jones; Voodoo Violin Concerto, a virtuosic handling of DBR's Haitian heritage premiered by the Vermont Youth Orchestra; Double Quartet: The Kompa Variations, an exploration of Haitian kompa music for the Providence String Quartet and a student quartet which premiered at the First Works Providence festival; and newly commissioned works for the Florida Youth Orchestra, Ahn Trio and Claremont Trio. Other projects include original scores for theater and film. DBR has composed music for Daniel Beaty's play Resurrection directed by Oz Scott, the feature television segment E:60 Homeless Basketball which broadcast nationally on ESPN, and two soon-to-be released documentary films, Off and Running by Nicole Opper, and Strange Things by Alexandria Hammond.
From Australia's Sydney Opera House to Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, DBR continues to premiere and perform solo and chamber works off of his debut international solo album etudes4violin&electronix (Thirsty Ear Recordings) in a worldwide tour with Elan Vytal aka DJ Scientific. Described as a "demonstration of unquestionable virtuosity and commitment to the violin's expressivity" (All About Jazz), the album showcases a unified dialogue between DBR and artists from today's contemporary musical landscape including Philip Glass, Ryuichi Sakamoto, DJ Spooky, and DJ Scientific.
As bandleader of DBR & THE MISSION, a young, multi-cultural ensemble, he presents an electrifying show described as "an evening of chamber music with the accessible feel of a rock concert" (Albany Times-Union). Touring nationwide since 2004, DBR & THE MISSION made its international debut at Australia's 2008 Adelaide Festival.
DBR serves as Artist-in-Residence of the Starbucks-sponsored Seattle Theater Group and as Music Director of Seattle's More Music @ The Moore program for the third consecutive year. Additional positions have included: Chair of Composition/Theory at the Harlem School of the Arts; The Van Lier Composer-in-Residence with the American Composers Orchestra; Artist-in-Residence at Arizona State University (2003-2006); Assistant Composer-in-Residence at the Orchestra of St. Luke's and founder of the OSL.s Young Composers Development Program; Music Director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company; and Rankin Scholar-in-Residence at Drexel University.
Proving that he's "about as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets" (New York Times), DBR.s accolades range from being voted as "America's Assignment" on the CBS Evening News, to receiving praise as one of the "Top 100 New Yorkers" (New York Resident), "Top 40 Under 40" business people (Crain's New York Business), one of the entertainment industry's "Top 5 Tomorrow's Newsmakers" (1010 WINS Radio), and spotlighted as a "New Face of Classical Music" in Esquire Magazine.
A native of Margate, Florida, DBR's career blossomed when he studied music as an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, completing his masters and doctoral work at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of Pulitzer Prizewinning composer William Bolcom.
About A Civil Rights Reader:
Composer/performer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and the string quartet unit of his band, DBR & THE MISSION, perform A Civil Rights Reader program; a collection of his string quartet "portraits" of civil rights leaders. A Civil Rights Reader celebrates iconic figures of the American civil rights movement. "Rich in cultural references, elegant in form, and demanding in technique," these five soul-inspiring string quartets are influenced by DBR's civil rights heroes: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Maya Angelou, and Rosa Parks.
As a young composer dedicated to creating "revolutionary" music, DBR believes there's a tradition of black composers looking at their own history. "I could have just easily written six string quartets that had nothing to do with civil rights, but there's something provocative, relevant and timely about creating music that stands out, so that musicians as well as audience members think about what civil rights means for them." As a Haitian-American living in Harlem, where Powell helped create America's civil rights legislation, DBR brings an added emotional layer of musical imagination to this truly personal exploration of civil rights. According to DBR, arguably, three men, Malcolm X, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Adam Clayton Powell (subjects of the first three A Civil Rights Reader string quartets) have influenced and informed much of the civil rights movement and its perception then and now. "I am proud to say I now live and work in Harlem, where I walk and frequent many of the streets and stores these three men visited only years ago. I am fortunate to be one small part of Harlem--- living with these miraculous people, experiencing and participating in their fascinating lives."
As composer/band leader/violinist/pianist, Daniel Bernard Roumain will be joined by the string quartet (SQ) division of his band, DBR & THE MISSION. The SQ Unit includes Earl Maneein (violin), Jessie Reagen (cello), Matthew Szemela (violin), and Jon Weber (viola); each member has the profound ability to perform
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