Bill Murray And Jan Vogler Bring NEW WORLDS To The McCallum Theatre

The McCallum Theatre presents Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends in New Worlds on Saturday, October 7, at 8:00pm.

Bill Murray - actor
Jan Vogler - cello
Mira Wang - violin
Vanessa Perez - Piano

Bill Murray became friends with cellist Jan Vogler in New York. Curious about each other's artistic world and interests, they decided to work together on New Worlds, a project that showcases the core of American values in literature and music. Along with Mira Wang (violin) and Vanessa Perez (piano), Bill Murray and virtuoso cellist Jan Vogler perform a program that celebrates Bill's love for classical music and the strong artistic voices that have influenced generations of artists. Bill will read Hemingway, Capote and Mark Twain, dance a tango, and sing. Works by Bach, Piazzolla, Ravel and Bernstein complete an evening where music and literature meet in a kaleidoscope of words and notes.

Bill Murray - actor
Bill Murray was born in 1950 and grew up in Wilmette, a village just outside Chicago. After giving up his medical studies, he dedicated himself to his second passion, acting. Having gathered experience on the radio show "The National Lampoon Radio Hour," he became a fixture among the authors and performers of the legendary TV show "Saturday Night Live," for which he won an Emmy Award. Growing popularity brought his first film roles.

He worked closely with the director Ivan Reitman whose 1984 comedy Ghostbusters propelled him into the first rank of Hollywood actors. This was followed by movies such as Tootsie, Ghostbusters II and Groundhog Day. In 1999, he starred in Wes Anderson's Rushmore, which brought him seven awards. He further collaborated with Anderson in The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquaticwith Steve Zissou (2005), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), and Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). For his role in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, he received a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar. Bill was also nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the 2014 film St. Vincent.

Recognized not only as an actor, but also as a humorist, Bill was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2016. His passion for baseball and golf is just as famous as his ability to turn everything into art, and his eccentric and irreverent style have caused him to be seen by many as a folk hero.

JAN VOGLER - cello
Jan Vogler is one of today's most renowned soloists, praised for his "soulful, richly hued playing" (New York Times) and his "spiraling virtuosity" (Gramophone Magazine). He frequently performs with leading international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston, Pittsburgh and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, as well as Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia and collaborates with conductors such as Andris Nelsons, Fabio Luisi, Sir Antonio Pappano, Valery Gergiev, Thomas Hengelbrock, Manfred Honeck and Kent Nagano.

Currently he is focusing on the historically-informed sound of the cello repertoire and performing with gut strings on his latest album of Schumann's Cello Concerto with Dresden Festival Orchestra under the baton of Ivor Bolton. He is also the creative mind and key player of the project "New Worlds: Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends," which aims to intertwine American literature with European music. Upcoming highlights include a recital tour with long-term duo partner Hélène Grimaud in Germany.

A prolific and multi-award-winning recording artist, Jan Vogler exclusively records for Sony Classical. Among his recent albums is a Tchaikovsky recording with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada, and the Moritzburg Festival Ensemble. Hugh Canning of the Sunday Times comments: "Vogler's witty and affectionate Rococo Variations are up there with the best." For his recording of Bach's six Cello Suites, he was awarded his third ECHO Klassik award in the category "Instrumentalist of the Year 2014 (cello)."

Jan Vogler plays the 1707 Stradivari Ex Castelbarco/Fau cello.

MIRA WANG - violin
A native of China, Mira Wang studied with Roman Totenberg at Boston University, graduating with distinction and the prestigious Kahn Award for outstanding musicians. She has won numerous prizes at competitions worldwide, including First Prize of the International Violin Competition in Geneva and First Prize of the International Violin Competition in New Zealand.

Mira has appeared with orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, she has performed at international festivals, including the Marlboro Festival, Les Museiques in Basel, the Kuhmo Festival, the MDR Music Summer, and the Moritzburg Festival, where she has directed the Moritzburg Academy for Young Musicians since 2014.

Highlights of her concert career include the world premiere of the violin concerto Spring in Dresden by Chen Yi, performed with the Staatskapelle Dresden, and her appearances as a guest soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, she gave the world premiere of Double Concerto by John Harbison with cellist Jan Vogler and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2015, she premiered Wolfgang Rihm's Duo Concerto on three continents - with Jan Vogler and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, and with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui.

CDs featuring Mira Wang include the Violin Concerti by Saint-Saëns (accompanied by the NDR Radio Philharmonic) and Prokofiev (with the German Radio Philharmonic Saarbrücken), and the Moritzburg Festival's Mozart production and its Tango album.

VANESSA PEREZ - piano
Vanessa Perez has performed with pianists Gabriela Montero and Ingrid Fliter, cellist Jan Vogler, and conductors Gustavo Dudamel, John Axelrod, Enrique Batiz, Gustav Meier, James Judd, David Gimenez Carreras, and Diego Matheuz. She joined violinist Joshua Bell for his At Home with Friends album and teamed with cellist Jan Vogler for his album Tango. As a solo artist, her albums include Presenting Vanessa Perez; Chopin: The Complete Preludes; and Spain in 2016.

Performance highlights include the International Keyboard Institute & Festival in New York, the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, concerts with the Orquesta de la Juventud Simon Bolívar under Gustavo Dudamel in Caracas, Conductor Nikolaj Znaider and the Teresa Carreño Youth orchestra, and the Casals Festival with Diego Matheuz. She participated in the Chopin Festival in Mallorca and was guest soloist on a tour with the Youth Orchestras of the Americas under the batons of Carlos Miguel Prieto and Jean Philippe Tremblay. Vanessa has performed in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Uruguay and Peru and with symphony orchestras in the U.S. She performed at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona, the Montpellier Festival in France, Konzerthaus in Berlin, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany, Wigmore Hall in England and the Gothic Hall in Belgium, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Vanessa Perez began her studies in Caracas, Venezuela and has degrees from the Royal Academy of Music in London and Yale University.

She was featured in Amazon's series "Mozart in the Jungle," performing Olivier Messiaen's "Turangalila" with Gael Garcia Bernal and ondist Suzanne Farrin.

Vanessa Perez is a Steinway Artist.

Tickets for this performance of Bill Murray, Jan Vogler & Friends in New Worlds on Saturday, October 7 are available at the Theatre's website at www.mccallumtheatre.com or by calling the McCallum Theatre Box Office at (760) 340-ARTS.

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