Philip Gelb and Jie Ma
Date: Mar 12,2008
Time: 08:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Meridian Music: Composers in Performance presents a performance by Philip Gelb and Jie Ma. Philip Gelb and Jie Ma formed a duet in January 2007. They have a unique combination of shakuhachi (Japanese flute) and pipa (Chinese plucked string instrument). Their music employs ideas from the traditions of each instrument as well as musical forms of Jewish and Islamic musical traditions. Both musicians are avid improvisers with a vast background in different styles and forms. For their Meridian performance, they will present compositions by Anthony Braxton, Bela Bartok and traditional Jewish pieces.
Philip Gelb is one of the most active shakuhachi performers and teachers in North America. He runs the Bay Area Shakuhachi School, teaching traditional and modern music to over 30 students, with branches in Oakland, San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Although he performs traditional music (both Japanese and Jewish), he focuses on new and contemporary music. Philip Gelb began studying shakuhachi in 1990 while a graduate student in Ethnomusicology at Florida State University with Dale Olsen. He then continued his studies in New York with Ronnie Seldin and now studies with Yoshio Kurahashi.
Pipa performer Jie Ma began her musical studies at the age of five and became a professional musician at age 14. She studied with the great Pipa masters such as Fendi Wang, Dehai Liu, and Yuzhong Kuang and Ruan professor Jiliang Liu. In 2001, after receiving her Bachelor of Music from the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, she was accepted as an adjunct professor in the music department of Liao Ning Normal University. Since moving to the Bay Area, Jie Ma has collaborated with other traditional Chinese musicians, as well as musicians of different genres such as jazz, country, blues, and rock.
Funded in part through Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.
