Biography
Formed in 1993, Trio Globo has crafted a totally original voice in contemporary acoustic music with combustible spontaneity, rhythmic influences derived from six continents, and diverse musical roots that span jazz, classical and sacred traditions. Eugene (Paul Winter Consort), Howard (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Kenny Loggins, Paquito d’Rivera), and Glen (Paul Winter Consort, Steve Reich) bring three unique musical visions together to create original work that is instantly recognizable as their own.
EUGENE FRIESEN
Eugene Friesen, composer/cellist, is at the forefront of a new generation of musicians versed in classical, popular and world music. A graduate of the Yale School of Music, he is active as a performer, composer, teacher and recording artist.
Friesen's gift for the responsive flow of improvisatory music has been featured in concerts all over the world with the Paul Winter Consort, Trio Globo, and with poets Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Coleman Barks. He has performed as a soloist at the International Cello Festival in Manchester, England; Rencontres d'Ensembles de Violoncelles in Beauvais, France; International Cello Encounter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and at the World Cello Congress in Baltimore, Maryland.
His compositional credits include many albums of original music: Sono Miho; In The Shade Of Angels; New Friend; Arms Around You; The Song of Rivers; Grasslands, a symphony premiered on the Kansas prairie in 1997; Earth Requiem: Stories of Hope, an oratorio first performed in 1991; The Brementown Musicians with Bob Hoskins for Rabbit Ears Productions in 1992; Sabbaths, settings of poems by Wendell Berry premiered by the Brattleboro Music Center in 1999; and numerous scores for documentary films. Eugene's music can also be heard on the recordings of Trio Globo, which he founded in 1992 with Howard Levy and Glen Velez.
Friesen was awarded a Grammy award as a member of the Paul Winter Consort in 1994 and 2006. He was also the 1999 recipient of grants from the Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fund and Continental Harmony to compose a symphonic setting of Carl Sandburg's PRAIRIE, which was premiered in June of 2001 at PrairieFest in Kansas.
CelloMan, his one-man show for young audiences, features a wide variety of music on solo cello: classical, jazz, blues and rock. Created in collaboration with maskmaker/choreographer Robert Faust, CelloMan has been performed widely in the United States and Canada. The CelloMan video was released in 1999.
Eugene Friesen is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and is an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He lives in Vermont.
HOWARD LEVY
Howard Levy is a musician without limits. His musical adventures include journeys into many realms: jazz, pop, rock, world music, Latin, classical, folk, blues, country, theater, TV, film and commercials. He has appeared as a guest artist on more than a hundred albums.
Known for his fine piano playing, it is on the harmonica that Howard has made the greatest impact. From 1989 to 1992, Howard was a member of the contemporary jazz group Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, with whom he won a Grammy. He has toured, recorded and performed with Kenny Loggins, Dolly Parton, Styx, John Prine, and many others. Howard has performed on The Tonight Show six times. He has also been active internationally. Credits include projects for The Southwest German Radio Network; international tours, and two award-winning CDs with oud player Rabih Abou Khalil.
In the spring of 1995, Howard premiered his composition "Harmonica Mundi, Suite for Harmonica and Chamber Ensemble," commissioned by The Rembrandt Chamber Players of Chicago. Howard has been featured on several recent film soundtracks, including "A Family Thing" with James Earl Jones; "Striptease" with Demi Moore and "A Time to Kill." He is currently working on his debut solo album for Blue Note Records.
In 2003, Howard released a jazz duo CD with Naumberg Award-winning pianist Anthony Molinaro, entitled The Molinaro/Levy Project “Live.” In 2002, he performed “On the Other Side...” (a triple concerto composed for him, a clarinetist and an accordianist) with The Bavarian State Radio Orchestra in Munich, Germany. In 2001, Howard was commisioned by The Illinois Philharmonic to compose a Harmonica Concerto, the first ever written for diatonic harmonica. Since the debut, he has performed it 13 times to standing ovations, with more perfomances scheduled.
GLEN VELEZ
Three-time Grammy award winner Glen Velez is considered one of the most influential percussionists of our time, as well as being responsible for a world-wide resurgence in the popularity of the frame drum. Even twentieth century composer, John Cage acknowledged Velez' mastery when he wrote a piece especially for him in 1989, entitled "Composed Improvisation for One-sided Drum with or without Jingles."
While Glen draws upon the great drumming traditions of the Middle East, South India and the Mediterranean world (ancient and modern), he plays in a style all his own. Utilizing a vast culmination of complex hand and finger techniques, a symphony of sounds and textures remarkably stream forth from just a single hand held drum. However, beyond all the virtuosity of Glen's technique is a music that is so deeply emotional, a raw beauty, that perhaps, within it's core, resides the most universal rhythm of all - the heart beat.
Glen is also an expert in Central Asian Overtone Singing (split-tone/harmonic singing). During concerts, he often gives his audiences a spontaneous crash course in this style, thus resulting into a spirited interactive overtone choir.
Glen has gained international recognition as a solo artist and is also known for his 15 year recording and performing collaborations with composer Steve Reich as well as the Paul Winter Consort. Other collaborations include: Tan Dun, Israel Philharmonia, Brooklyn Philharmonia, Opera Orchestra of New York, Suzanne Vega, Pat Metheny, Zakir Hussain, New York City Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble. His own compositions have been featured on National Public Radio's All Things Considered and John Schaefer's New Sounds and have been commissioned by the Rockefeller Foundation, Jerome Foundation, and Reader's Digest. He has written music for theater and dance and recorded hundreds of albums on ECM, CBS, RCA, GRP, Warner Brothers, Deutsche Gramophone, Geffen, Nonesuch, Capital, and Sony.
He currently teaches frame drums at the Mannes School of Music, as well as series of master classes at The Julliard School and Manhattan School of Music. His teaching and performances inspired the Remo Drum Co. in 1983 to develop a line of frame drums called the Glen Velez Signature Series. The Cooperman Drum Co. introduced a hand made Signature Series Glen Velez Tambourine and Frame Drum line in 1999.
In addition to Trio Globo, Glen Velez regularly performs and records with Coleman Barkes, world renown scholar/translator of the poetry of Rumi. He is also active with his own Glen Velez Ensemble, along with his duo performances with vocalist/rhythm singer Lori Cotler.
Trio Globo in Residence
Trio Globo offers unique residency opportunities for symphonies, colleges and community music organizations. The group has been featured with choral ensembles, chamber music ensembles and symphonies performing original works which capture the essence of the group¹s unique interplay and individual virtuosity. For classes and workshops, Trio Globo brings a varied menu to a residency: jazz and blues harmonica, jazz and free improvisation, world music styles, frame drumming, group collaboration, rhythmic studies for all instruments, improvisation for strings, and more.
Instrumentation
Eugene Friesen, cello
Howard Levy, piano and harmonica
Glen Velez, percussion
Discography
2007 - Trio Globo, new CD, in production.
2007 - Trio Globo with Amikaeyla, in production.
1995 - Eugene Friesen, Howard Levy, Glen Velez (aka Trio Globo), CARNIVAL OF SOULS, Silver Wave - SD 904
1994 - Eugene Friesen, Howard Levy, Glen Velez, TRIO GLOBO, Silver Wave - SD - 806
Links
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