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Free Ragtime concert Aug. 13 at UD
The concert will feature world-renowned xylophonist Bob Becker, UD faculty member Harvey Price and members of the third Bob Becker Ragtime Xylophone Institute being held this year from Aug. 8-13 at UD. Participants in the institute travel from all over the world to work on the art of Ragtime xylophone interpretation and improvisation. Becker is widely considered to be one of the world's premier virtuoso performers on the xylophone and marimba. He also is a founding member of the percussion ensemble Nexus. As a member of Nexus, he has appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra among many others, and he has received the Toronto Arts Award and the Banff Centre for the Arts National Award. As a regular member of the ensemble Steve Reich and Musicians, he has appeared as soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the London Symphony and recorded for Deutsche Grammophone, EMI and Nonesuch. Becker's performing experience spans nearly all of the musical disciplines where percussion is found. He has been percussionist for the Marlboro Music Festival and timpanist with the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under Pablo Casals. For several years he was percussionist with the Paul Winter Consort, and he has performed and recorded with Gil Evans, Steve Gadd, Paul Horn and Chuck Mangione. He has also performed and recorded with such diverse groups as the Ensemble Intercontemporaine under Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern of Germany, the Schoenberg Ensemble of Amsterdam and the Boston Chamber Players. He has appeared as tabla soloist in India and has accompanied many of the major artists of Hindustani music. He is also a founding member of the Flaming Dono West African Dance and Drum Ensemble in Toronto. Becker's compositions and arrangements are performed regularly by percussion groups worldwide. He also has a long history of association with dance and has created music for the Joffrey Ballet in New York, among others. His solo CD album, There is a Time, was released in 1995 on the Nexus Records label, and features many of his recent compositions. Becker holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music. He also spent four years doing postgraduate study in the world music program at Wesleyan University, where he became intensely involved with the music cultures of North and South India, Africa and Indonesia. To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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