Celebrity Series of Boston Presents THE ASSAD FAMILY- A BRAZILIAN SONGBOOK, 4/5

Celebrity Series of Boston will present the eclectic Brazilian sounds of The Assad Family on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at 8:00pm at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA. Sponsored by The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corporation and The Boston Park Plaza Hotel LLC.

Tickets to see The Assad Family start at $40, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., or at the Jordan Hall Box Office, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA.

This is the sixth performance for the Assad Brothers with the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the debut for Clarice, Badi, and Carolina Assad.

Brazilian-born brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad began playing the guitar together at an early age and went on to study for seven years with guitar/lutenist Monina Távora, a disciple of Andrés Segovia. Their international career began with a major prize at the 1979 Young Artists Competition in Bratislava. The Assad's repertoire includes original music composed by Sérgio Assad and his re-workings of folk and jazz music as well as Latin music of almost every style. Their standard classical repertoire includes transcriptions of Bach, Rameau and Scarlatti, and adaptations of works by figures such as Gershwin, Ginastera and Debussy.

The Assad brothers record primarily for the Nonesuch and GHA labels. In 2001 Nonesuch Records released "Sérgio and Odair Assad Play Piazzolla," which went on to win a Latin Grammy Award. Their seventh Nonesuch recording, released in the fall 2007, is called "Jardim Abandonado" after a piece by Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was nominated for Best Classical Album and Sérgio went on to win the Latin Grammy for his composition, "Tahiiyya Li Oussilina." They also have collaborated with many artists, including an on-going collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma, who they appeared alongside with in Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion in 2009. In 2010 the duo toured with Lebanese-American singer Christiane Karam, percussionist Jamey Haddad and composer/pianist Clarice Assad. Sérgio composed a concerto for the duo, who performed it in February 2011 with the Seattle Symphony.

Odair is based in Brussels, where he teaches at Ecole Supérieure des Arts. Sérgio resides in San Francisco, where he is on the faculty of the SF Conservatory, and Paris.

The brothers Assad first introduced three generations of The Assad Family to North America in 2004. Their sister Badi has long been known for her remarkable vocal range and her unique song style, both live and on CD. Sérgio's daughter Clarice is a budding composer, pianist and vocalist with several symphonic works to her name. Carolina, Odair's daughter, is a vocalist with an innate feel for the rhythms of Brazil. With the passing of their father, Jorge, the Assads are touring as a quintet, exploring some of the most beautiful folk and pop music written by Brazil's iconic composers, as well as music written by the Assads themselves.

About Celebrity Series of Boston

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 75-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world's greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers-from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more-to Boston's major concert halls for 75 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience-on stages, in schools, at home- everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online atwww.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy and Joshua Boger; Eleanor and Frank Pao; Donna and Mike Egan; Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; The Little Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Foley & Lardner LLP; The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation; First Republic Bank; The Peabody Foundation; Charlesbank Capital Partners; PTC, The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp; Massachusetts Cultural Council; New England Foundation for the Arts; Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

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