4th Annual Asheville Percussion Festival

19 Jun 2015 - 21 Jun 2015

Asheville, NC - Asheville Percussion Festival is being held June 15-21, 2015 in beautiful Asheville, NC. Come enjoy a creative environment where percussionists and dancers of all traditions, from around the globe, gather to explore, create and innovate. All workshops on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be held at the Odyssey Community School. The Masters Concert, which will feature collaborative compositions from our world-renowned teaching artists, will be held at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Saturday June 20 at 8pm. Percussionists wanting more instruction and collaboration will find it in a week-long intensive program which begins Monday, June 15 at the Odyssey location. The thrilling line up for this year’s festival includes percussion artist BASHIRI JOHNSON who is unquestionably one of the most visible and recorded percussionists on the planet. Bashiri has performed and recorded with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Steve Winwood, The Rolling Stones, Gloria Estefan, Whitney Houston, Paul Simon, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Queen, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Nina Simone. Also joining our percussion family this year is percussionist JEFF SIPE who performs in a variety of genres, including Southern rock, jam bands, avant-garde rock, avant-garde jazz, and even progressive bluegrass and the dazzling and charismatic Djembe/Conga artist Monette Marino-Keta. Joyfully included in this years stellar line-up are Asheville local favorites award winning re-percussionist BILLY JONAS, RIVER GUERGUERIAN and "Voted Best World Music group in Western North Carolina 2013" by the Mountain XPress: FREE PLANET RADIO. Free Planet Radio was awarded a prestigious grant from the Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Program to compose a three-movement piece with special guests The Opal String Quartet. The premiere of the piece will be on the June 20th Masters Concert at the Diana Wortham Theatre. This will be the first year that the festival will also include an art show, displaying colorful and creative works by regional and national artists at the Odyssey Community School throughout the Festival.ashevillepercussionfestival.com