Dr. L. Subramaniam's GLOBAL FUSION Makes LA Premiere at Skirball Cultural Center Tonight

The Skirball Cultural Center presents the Los Angeles premiere of South Indian violinist, composer, and conductor Dr. L. Subramaniam's Global Fusion featuring harmonica blues legend Corky Siegel, live in concert, tonight, February 22, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. Continuing the Skirball's new music series, "Journeys and Encounters" - which showcases surprising collaborations between musicians of diverse genres - Dr. L. Subramaniam's Global Fusion combines Carnatic (South Indian) music and Western classical, jazz, and rock.

Started in 1999, Global Fusion has toured to critical acclaim around the world, each time incorporating different musical cultures and showcasing new guests. For his Skirball concert, Subramaniam will perform with a seven-piece band featuring master blues harmonica player Corky Siegel, violinist Ambi Subramaniam, keyboardist Chris Rhyne, guitarist Mark Spagna, bassist Jerry Watts, and drummer Joey Heredia.

The Skirball's "Journeys and Encounters" continues with two additional concerts:

BALLAKÉ SISSOKO AND VINCENT SÉGAL
Chamber Music
Thursday, March 14, 8:00 p.m
$35 General; $30 Skirball Members; $25 Full-Time Students
West Coast debut! Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko and French cellist Vincent Ségal's Chamber Music project is a groundbreaking collaboration between two like-minded virtuosos working in warm unison. Their intimate and lyrical compositions are renowned for creating an atmosphere of peace and calm that has moved music fans around the world. Deeply rooted in Manding music yet incorporating a variety of world music and classical influences, this is one of the most beautiful and appealing fusions undertaken in the last decade.

COMMON CHORDS
Thursday, May 16, 8:00 p.m.
$35 General; $30 Skirball Members; $25 Full-Time Students
Common Chords brings together highly accomplished musicians from diverse cultures and religions, led by famed Pakistani singer/guitarist Salman Ahmad (of Junoon) and world-renowned klezmer violinist Yale Strom. Their music blends rock, klezmer, jazz, bhangra, Indian, Sufi, qawwali, and klezmer vocals into a distinct new hybrid, brilliantly executed by Ahmad, Strom, vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz, tabla master Samir Chatterjee, bassist Mark Dresser, dhol player Sunny Jain (of Red Baraat), accordionist Lou Fanucchi, and saxophone and flute player Tripp Sprague.

Please Note: Due to scheduling conflicts the Talvin Singh and Niladri Kumar concert originally scheduled for April 4, 2013 has been cancelled.

Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born on July 23, 1947) hails from a family of musicians. His father, a master violinist, and his mother, who played the Indian vina (Indian stringed instrument), were his first musical influences. Subramaniam was trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. After abandoning a career in medicine, he formed a violin trio with his two brothers while still in India. He toured America and Europe with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison in 1974, made his first fusion album in Copenhagen (Garland), and wrote material for Stu Goldberg and Larry Coryell in 1978. He settled in the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s in order to earn a doctorate in Western music at the California Institute of the Arts.

Subramaniam has written works for orchestras, ballets, and Hollywood film scores, and written books on music, in addition to composing symphonic and Carnatic pieces. Creations with orchestras include "Fantasy on Vedic Chants" with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta, "Turbulence" with The Orquestre de la Suisse Romande, "The Concert of Two Violins" with the Oslo Philharmonic, and "Global Symphony" with the Berlin State Opera (broadcast live to twenty-eight nations). His compositions have been used in stage presentations of leading dance companies such as the San Jose Ballet company, the Mariinsky Ballet, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Throughout his career, Subramaniam has won several awards and accolades, including a Grammy nomination in 1981. In 1996, he received the "Best Composer Award/Commission" from the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK P2 radio channel, the Padma Shri in 1988 and Padma Bhushan awards in 2001. In recognition of his contribution to music, the Bangalore University in 2003, the University of Madras in 2004, and the University of Sheffield in 2008 all conferred him with Honorary Doctorates.

Corky Siegel has earned an international reputation as one of the world's great blues harmonica masters. He is a composer, blues pianist, singer/songwriter, and recent winner of the Lila Wallace/Reader's Digest/Meet the Composer's national award for chamber music composition and the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award for Music Composition. His career began with a fortunate break when he formed the legendary Siegel-Schwall Band, which toured the major rock palaces and clubs in the 1960s and 1970s. He was introduced to the blues through a very first steady engagement at Peppers, the internationally renowned blues club where his job included performances with blues masters such as Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Howlin' Wolf.