Lute Around The World

ST. PAUL —  Gao Hong is joined by Grammy-winning performers in “Lute Around The World” concert will take place on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012 at 3 p.m. at The O’Shaughnessy at the University of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Avenue, in St. Paul.

World-class Chinese pipa player and composer Gao Hong will headline a star-studded concert featuring two Grammy-winning performers, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on Arabic music, and performances on seven members of the lute family of musical instruments.

In one concert, you can experience powerful music from five world traditions as well as groundbreaking collaborations in both world and U.S. premiere pieces. Joining Gao Hong will be 4-time Grammy winner George Kahumoku, Jr. from Hawaii on slack key guitar and ukulele, Grammy-winning banjo player Alison Brown – accompanied by fiddler Darol Anger and bassist Garry West, Lebanese-born oud master Bassam Saba, one of the nation’s leading experts on Arabic music who performs regularly with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble accompanied by Arabic percussionist extraordinaire April Centrone, and classical guitar legend Jeffrey Van.

Gao Hong Pipa master and composer Gao Hong began her career as a professional musician at age 12. She graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, where she studied with the great Lin Shicheng. In both China and the U.S.

Gao has received numerous top awards and honors. She is the only musician in any genre to win four McKnight Fellowships for Performing Musicians and was the first musician to win a Bush Fellowship for Traditional and Folk Arts.

Other awards include 1 st Prize in the Hebei Professional Young Music Performers Competition, an International Art Cup in Beijing, a 2012 Global Music Award, and prestigious fellowships from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Gao has performed throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, China, and the U.S. in solo concerts and with symphony orchestras, jazz musicians, and musicians from other cultures. Her performances of pipa concerti include several world, U.S., and regional premieres and performances with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, Heidelberg (Germany) Philharmonic, and Louisville Orchestra among others. She also toured with the Lincoln Center production of “The Peony Pavilion.” As a composer, she has received commissions from the American Composers Forum, Walker Art Center, the Jerome Foundation, Zeitgeist, Ragamala, Theater Mu, Minneapolis Guitar Quartet, Lars Hannibal, and Twin Cities Public TV.

She is currently on the music faculty of Carleton College where she teaches Chinese instruments and directs the Chinese music ensemble and is a Guest Professor at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.

There’s a reason he’s been called Hawaii’s Renaissance man: George Kahumoku Jr. is a four-time Grammy Award & multiple Hoku Award winning master slack key guitarist, ukulele player, songwriter, world-traveling performer, high school and college teacher, artist and sculptor, storyteller and writer.

In February of 2006, George and fellow slack key artists and producers were thrilled to receive the 48th Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Album for their compilation recording, Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Vol. 1: Live in Concert from Maui . But George’s Grammy fame doesn’t stop there: The sequels to this recording, Legends of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar: Live from Maui which includes additional artists (Dennis Kamakahi, Martin Pahinui, and Richard Ho’opi’i) won the 49th Grammy and then in 2008, Treasures of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar won the 50th Grammy Award.

In 2009, The Spirit of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar was an honored Grammy nominee and the compilation. Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar, Vol.2 was released. All of these recordings are compilations from George’s weekly Wednesday night show, the prestigious Masters of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Concert Series at the Napili Kai Beach Resort on Maui. George is the musical host and features a different solo artist each week.

This is the first long-running concert hall setting in Hawaii created to feature the great slack key performers of today. George has also played slack key guitar in several documentary films about the music and cultural richness of the Hawaiian Islands, including the soundtrack for the 1993 film ‘Onipa’a (Kalama Productions), which chronicles the Hawaiian sovereignty movement. Playing several of Lili`uokalani’s songs in the film inspired George to release his first instrumental solo album, E Lili’u.

Tickets are $20 at-the-door, $18 in advance , $15 for students, seniors, and $12 for groups of ten or more. For ticket reservations or more information call (952) 210-3628 or email [email protected] . You also can purchase the tickets at the Shanghai Market: 1546 Como Ave. St Paul, MN 55108 and Grans Szechuan Restaurant: 10602 France Ave. S, Bloomington, MN 55431.