Duke Performances to Present Exciting World Music Series for 2011/12 Season

Top World music acts return to Duke Performances in Durham, North Carolina, for its 2011/12 season. Highlights include the extraordinarily talented Anoushka Shankar, who will lead a polyglot ensemble featuring flamenco and Indian classical musicians through a program that follows the musical journey of the Gypsies from India up through Spain; and Serbian composer and bandleader Goran Bregovic, who will bring his kinetic Wedding & Funeral Orchestra to town for a performance of work that is an explosive marriage of traditions. Featuring his core ensemble flanked by a Bulgarian choir and a Gypsy brass band, the music is as large-hearted and miscellaneous as the Balkans themselves.

Other world music acts include Malian virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Dominican bachata rising star Joan Soriano, percussion master Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, and Mohammad-Reza Shajarian & the Shahnaz Ensemble.

In the area of American roots music, the program includes mandolinist Chris Thile and the increasingly popular Carolina Chocolate Drops. With their 2011 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk album still gleaming in the trophy case, the Carolina Chocolate Drops continue their rise through Duke Performances’ venues: in 2007 they performed in Duke Gardens, in 2010 they performed in Reynolds Theater, in 2011 they perform in Page Auditorium. They appear this season in an exclusive collaboration with the Orchestra Illuminatii, a raucous gypsy-punk outfit that channels Romania by way of New York.

Fall 2011 Program

Joan Soriano
Friday, September 23 • 8 pm
Motorco Music Hall (723 Rigsbee Ave. at Geer St.)
Tickets: $15 general • $5 Duke students

Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia
Friday, September 30 • 8 pm
Page Auditorium
Tickets: $38 • $30 • $20 • $5 Duke students

Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba
Friday, October 14 • 8 pm
Reynolds Industries Theater
Tickets: $28 • $22 • $5 Duke students

Goran Bregovic & His Wedding & Funeral Orchestra
Sunday, October 16 • 7 pm
Page Auditorium
Tickets: $42 • $34 • $22 • $5 Duke students

Chris Thile, mandolin
Sunday, November 13 • 8 pm
Carolina Theatre of Durham (309 West Morgan St.)
Tickets: $38 • $30 • $5 Duke students

Carolina Chocolate Drops + Luminescent Orchestrii
Friday, December 2 • 8 pm
Page Auditorium
Tickets: $52 • $42 • $24 • $5 Duke students

Edgar Meyer, double bass
Thursday, March 1 • 8 pm
Reynolds Industries Theater
Tickets: $38 • $32 • $5 Duke students

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
Thursday, April 5 • 8 pm
Page Auditorium
Tickets: $38 • $30 • $20 • $5 Duke students

Anoushka Shankar – Flamenco Journey
Saturday, April 14 • 8 pm
Page Auditorium
Tickets: $42 • $34 • $22 • $5 Duke students

Mohammad-Reza Shajarian & the Shahnaz Ensemble
Saturday, April 28 • 8 pm
Durham Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $55 • $45 • $35 • $5 Duke students
Tickets on-sale August 1.

Tickets for all concerts on sale through Duke Performances’ website: www.dukeperformances.org, at the Duke University Box Office on the top level of the Bryan Center, or by calling (919) 684-4444.