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Bela Fleck

The Impostor

Deutsche Grammophon/Mercury Classics

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Bela Fleck - The Imposter
How To Write A Banjo Concerto Q&A With Bela Fleck@DOC-NYC 2014
Steve Martin, Bela Fleck, Tony Trischka Banjo HDTV The Crow
1 Concerto: Banjo/Symphony Orchestra, Infiltration
2 Concerto: Banjo/Symphony Orchestra, Integration
3 Concerto: Banjo/Symphony Orchestra, Truth Revealed
4 Night Flight Over Water" Quintet For Banjo And String Quartet - Tumbledown Creek
5 Night Flight Over Water" Quintet For Banjo And String Quartet - Hunter's Moon
6 Night Flight Over Water" Quintet For Banjo And String Quartet-The Escape
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"For more than 30 years, banjoist Béla Fleck...one of the world's most accommodating virtuosos...has been pushing the boundaries of his instrument."- New York Times

Banjoist Béla Fleck – winner of 15 Grammy Awards and nominated in more categories than any other artist in Grammy history – is as iconic on his instrument as Vladimir Horowitz or Mstislav Rostropovich were on theirs. Now, like those classical greats, Fleck joins the storied roster of Deutsche Grammophon, making his DG/Mercury Classics debut as a composer-performer with The Impostor. The album showcases Fleck's title concerto for banjo and symphony orchestra, as well as Night Flight Over Water for banjo and string quartet. For The Impostor concerto, the banjoist teamed with conductor Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony. For Night Flight Over Water, Fleck partnered with genre-bending quartet Brooklyn Rider. 

Beyond recording and performing for ever-greater audiences with his bluegrass-fusion band, the Flecktones, for 25 years and counting, the ever-intrepid Fleck has collaborated with musicians across multiple genres and from around the globe – from composer-bassist pal Edgar Meyer to jazz pianists Chick Corea and Marcus Roberts, from Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain to such Malian artists as singer Oumou Sangaré and kora player Toumani Diabaté. Reviewing Perpetual Motion, Fleck's 2001 collection of classical arrangements for his instrument, All Music Guide pointed out: "Virtuoso Béla Fleck has broken more boundaries than any other banjoist."The New York Times went further: "Mr. Fleck can lay claim to the title of the most popular living banjoist, having done much to push the instrument beyond bluegrass terra firma into jazz, classical and beyond."

  • Bela Fleck - Missions Impossible / NO DEPRESSION
    Posted At: July 18, 2024 12:00 AM
    NO DEPRESSION's Stacy Chandler writes…..A lot of people can trace their first exposure to the banjo to the opening theme of 1960s hit TV show The Beverly Hillbillies, and there’s no shame in that. “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” laying out the fictional Clampett family’s oil-fueled rags-to-riches story, was sung over music provided by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with Scruggs delivering the banjo’s distinct...
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  • Bela Fleck announces final duo project with Chick Corea. Listen to title track: 'Remembrance' / relix
    Posted At: March 15, 2024 12:00 AM
    relix writes…Today, Béla Fleck announced the impending release of his last duo project with jazz titan Chick Corea. Titled Remembrance, the collection is due on May 10 via Thirty Tigers. It serves as the final showcase of the pair’s deep-rooted musical connection, which stems back to their initial offering, 2007’s The Enchantment. Fleck has dropped the title track to preview the forthcoming LP.The final doc...
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  • Bela Fleck's defense of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue' / 88.3WBGO
    Posted At: February 14, 2024 12:00 AM
    For WBGO, Bela Fleck writes….I loved reading Ethan Iverson’s beautifully written discussion on“Rhapsody in Blue” for The New York Times, and the pitfalls and problems with it. It certainly made me think, and I appreciated reading such well-articulated and thoughtful points. To be fair he did also acknowledge the strength of “Rhapsody in Blue,” which of course is why we’re still talking about it 100 years af...
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  • Bela Fleck celebrates centennial of George Gershwin's legendary 'Rhapsody In Blue' / NYSMusic
    Posted At: December 10, 2023 12:00 AM
    NYS Music's Faith Logue writes…Banjo great Béla Fleck has announced his latest project, expanding and exploring George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, just in time for its centennial.Available on February 12, a hundred years to the day Gershwin premiered the work at Aeolian Hall in NYC, Fleck will pay homage to the legendary composer while redefining an American classic. Fleck’s Rhapsody in Blue album includes...
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  • Bela Fleck and his band of bluegrass all-stars are set for Skaneateles Festival's 44th season / auburnpub.com
    Posted At: July 26, 2023 12:00 AM
    auburnpub.com's Ellen Sorber Special to The Citizen writes…..Celebrating its 44th season, the Skaneateles Festival has a lineup bridging genres from bluegrass to Broadway to classical, jazz, orchestral and opera. What started as a local adoration for music has grown into a flourishing festival attracting world-class musicians and music lovers from all over the United States.Every member of the family will f...
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  • Bela Fleck wins 2022 'Best Bluegrass Album' GRAMMY for 'My Bluegrass Heart' / The Boot
    Posted At: April 3, 2022 12:00 AM
    The Boot's Lorie Liebig writes….Béla Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart was named Best Bluegrass Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards. The project was nominated alongside Billy Strings' Renewal, The Infamous Stringdusters' A Tribute To Bill Monroe, Sturgill Simpson's Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions) and Rhonda Vincent's Music Is What I See.The award for Best Americana Album was one of many presented duri...
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  • Bela Fleck - My Bluegrass Heart makes Lexington Herald Leader: 10 best albums of 2021
    Posted At: December 13, 2021 12:00 AM
    Lexington Herald Leader - WALTER TUNIS writes…..As with all “best of” lists, this one is purely subjective. It merely represents the music that moved me the most (and most often) during a year that began – though hardly finished – our march back to safe and healed world. Here are the sounds that excited me most in 2021. They aren’t ranked. All are equally exquisite. Among them is……Billed as a return to banj...
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  • Dizzyingly gifted banjo master; Bela Fleck got vertigo making My Bluegrass Heart / San Diego Union Tribune
    Posted At: December 12, 2021 12:00 AM
    San Diego Union Tribune - GEORGE VARGA writes…A 15-time Grammy Award winner, banjo master Béla Fleck excels in such a dizzying array of styles — from bluegrass, folk and jazz to classical, country and World Music — that it was fitting when he named “Vertigo” the opening number on his captivating new album, “My Bluegrass Heart.” Then, reality threw him an unexpected curve ball.“I actually got vertigo after w...
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  • Bela Fleck explores the banjo's roots with kora master Toumani Diabete / glideMagazine
    Posted At: March 24, 2020 12:00 AM

    Most of you know that the banjo originated in West Africa, so banjo master Bela Fleck was almost obligated to explore the instrument's roots at some point. After all, there may not be a more explorative musician than Fleck who has won 15 Grammys in nine different categories, stretching from country to pop to jazz to classical and world music.  Fleck says, "I knew that my beloved instrument had origi...
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  • GoldenPlec interviews Bela Fleck
    Posted At: January 20, 2020 12:00 AM

    Banjo jazz? It sounds like a euphemism for something questionable. But though the banjo is often associated with white roots and folk music, it actually has its origins in the same Afro-American tradition that gave rise to blues and jazz - so the association isn't so strange after all. And then again, Béla Fleck has never been particularly concerned with genres. Named after composer Bél...
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  • Bela Fleck set to perform his Second Banjo Concerto with WSS / Winston-Salem Journal
    Posted At: January 4, 2020 12:00 AM

    Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck will perform his Second Banjo Concerto, named "Juno" for his first son, with the Winston-Salem Symphony next weekend. He said "I wrote the ‘Juno' concerto for my son the first four or five months after he was born," Fleck said. "I planned it so I could be at home, so I scheduled a commission. It gave me some heavy music to work on." Son Juno is now 6&frac1...
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  • A subtle interaction and mutual respect between Chick Corea and Bela Fleck at Strathmore / MD Theatre Guide
    Posted At: May 13, 2019 12:00 AM

    Strathmore was full Friday evening with an eclectic crowd gathered for a duo performance by Chick Corea and Bela Fleck. Blazers and gowns, as well as t-shirts and flip flops – fitting for the diverse capabilities of the artists performing. Fleck is as comfortable with Bach as with bluegrass or jazz, and his clear voice on the banjo makes the instrument a fit for whatever he is playing. Corea has be...
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  • Bela Fleck's thoughts on Knoxville hosting Big Ears / Knoxville News Sentinel
    Posted At: March 24, 2019 12:00 AM

    Banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has won 16 Grammy Awards, played at least 15 major festivals and recorded countless albums through his involvement in various music projects. Needless to say, with a list of accolades of that magnitude, his opinion on anything music-related should be valued. So what does he think about Big Ears in Knoxville?  "I think it's a really neat thing, and I'm amazed and thr...
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  • Bela Fleck to be inducted into American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame / newsok
    Posted At: September 4, 2018 12:00 AM

    The American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City will induct this week its 2018 classinto the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame. Bela Fleck, the late Jim Henson, Borgy Borgerson, the late Eddie Collins and the Banjo Newsletter will be inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame during gala ceremonies Friday. The induction ceremony is part of the American Banjo Museum's Banjo Fest, set for Thursday th...
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  • The GroundUP festival brings even more heat to Miami / NPR: JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA
    Posted At: July 12, 2018 12:00 AM

    The first "destination" jazz festival took place in Newport, R.I., in 1954 - multiple days, one stage and gorgeous scenery. These days, Newport is going strong, as is Monterey in California, and the festival model has expanded to multiple stages and far beyond big-brimmed hats and lawn chairs. Still, Snarky Puppy leader Michael League saw a void and an opportunity. After years of performing at festiv...
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  • glide Magazine celebrates Bela Fleck's 60th birthday with the Flecktones live at the Montreal Jazz Festival - July 4 1998
    Posted At: July 10, 2018 12:00 AM

    Happy 60th birthday today to banjo maestro Bela Fleck. The multi-Grammy winner has been known to break many boundaries of genres in his collaborations from his band the Flecktones to his works with New Grass Revival, Edgar Meyer, Stanley Clarke, Chic Corea, Jean Luc-Ponty and most recently wife Abigail Washburn. Fleck fosters a creative springboard as large as any one musician's and he continue...
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  • Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn on NPR: Tiny Desk
    Posted At: May 11, 2018 12:00 AM

    A very pregnant Abigail Washburn points to Bela Fleck at the Tiny Desk and says "and just so you know, this is his fault." I won't spoil the video by telling you his response. Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn are two American musical treasures. This husband-and-wife banjo duo write original tunes steeped in the roots of folk music. Their playing is sweetly paced with melodies interweaving through ...
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  • Bela Fleck to be recognized with an honorary degree at University of Indianapolis commencement / UIndy360
    Posted At: May 2, 2018 12:00 AM

    Béla Fleck, a 16-time Grammy Award winner and world-renowned banjo player, will be recognized with an honorary degree at the University of Indianapolis Commencement on May 5, 2018. Fleck will perform a selection from his extensive repertoire during the Commencement ceremony. Taking the road less traveled comes naturally to Fleck. He has made his name innovating musical styles for the banjo, often ...
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  • Bela Fleck to lead inaugural Blue Ridge Banjo Camp / The Transylvania Times
    Posted At: December 7, 2017 12:00 AM

    Grammy winner Béla Fleck will present the inaugural Blue Ridge Banjo Camp to be held Aug. 15-18 at NC's Brevard Music Center. The camp will feature three days and four nights of diverse banjo instruction by Fleck alongside world class banjo players/instructors including; Tony Trischka, Kristen Scott Benson and Mike Munford. The week will culminate with a finale concert in the Music Center's Wh...
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  • NPR: World Cafe explores both schools of banjo with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn
    Posted At: November 20, 2017 12:00 AM

    Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn's new album is called Echo In The Valley. Both artists have built lives on squeezing more sound, story and emotion out of the banjo than you may have thought possible - she in the clawhammer style of her hero Doc Watson, and he from the three-finger school of Earl Scruggs. We'll take a deep dive into both schools of performance, and talk about how Bela and Abigail ...
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  • From Earl Scruggs to Bela Fleck, let us praise the banjo / No Depression
    Posted At: June 27, 2017 12:00 AM

    I have been thinking a lot about the banjo, and its journey to prominence today in roots music.  One of the most popular songs of the 20th century ("Gentle on My Mind") was written on the banjo. While the instrument's history is well known, a lot of folks may be unaware that the banjo was once viewed as an instrument of seduction. So much so that there were racist cartoon editorials depictin...
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  • Bela Fleck & Chris Thile set for Charleston Music Hall / Charleston City Paper
    Posted At: May 16, 2017 12:00 AM

    When banjoist Béla Fleck first met Chris Thile at Merlefest in the mid-'90s, he wasn't overly impressed. At the time, Thile was a pudgy early-teen, already lauded as a hotshot but still lacking the style and flair that have since made him one of the world's foremost mandolinists. "He sounded great, but he was very straight," says Fleck, recalling Thile's ability to reel off classic...
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  • Bela Fleck in conversation with NewMusicBox
    Posted At: May 1, 2017 12:00 AM

    p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} Nowadays American musical creators can aesthetically do pretty much anything they want to do, but there have been few musicians who have embraced as wide a range of musical idioms as Béla Fleck. While he first made a name for himself as a teenager playing ne...
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  • A wide range on Bela Fleck's Juno Concerto / PopMatters
    Posted At: March 22, 2017 12:00 AM

    Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck has now tried his hand at nearly every genre imaginable, stretching the possibilities for an instrument once known almost solely as belonging to bluegrass and trad jazz into new and fascinating territory. Be it with his groundbreaking fusion work with the Flecktones, his first foray into straight classical music with 2001's Perpetual Motion or his collaborative ...
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  • Bela Fleck releases Juno Concerto with Colorado Symphony / Colorado Public Radio
    Posted At: March 17, 2017 12:00 AM

    Béla Fleck is known for his brilliant banjo skills in a range of genres, but classical might be the most unique. The 15-time Grammy winner has just released his second classical album "Juno Concerto," recorded with the Colorado Symphony. The child in sunglasses is Fleck's son, Juno. The piece was written for Fleck's son, Juno. Fleck says his life has changed a lot since having a child...
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  • Named for his son, Bela Fleck's 'Juno Concerto' features Colorado Symphony & Brooklyn Rider / antimusic.com
    Posted At: January 26, 2017 12:00 AM

    Bela Fleck will release the new album "Juno Concerto" on March 3, 2017. It features a concerto for banjo and orchestra, recorded in March, 2016 with the Colorado Symphony, conducted by Jose Luiz Gomez. The album also features two pieces for banjo and string quartet, performed with Brooklyn Rider. The vinyl release is set for March 31, available exclusively from Barnes & Noble. Named for his son Juno,...
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  • Bela Fleck and Chris Thile discuss the musical dialect that connects them / Interlochen PR
    Posted At: November 23, 2016 12:00 AM

    Chris Thile is living his childhood dream. At the age of two he asked for a mandolin; by age five, he was taking lessons; as a teenager, he mastered every song on Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' album. Thile and banjoist Fleck performed together for the first time at a bluegrass festival when Thile was 14. Since that day, the duo has collaborated countless times, culminating with a weeklong duo tour this ...
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  • Bela Fleck with South Carolina Phil play powerful American program post election / Free Times
    Posted At: November 18, 2016 12:00 AM

    The South Carolina Philharmonic played its third Masterworks concert of the season Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Koger Center, in Columbia. The program contained three works by American composers: Overture to Candid by Leonard Bernstein, Juno Concerto by Béla Fleck, and Symphony No. 3 by Aaron Copland. Béla Fleck was the banjo soloist. Morihiko Nakahara was the conductor. Perhaps several mo...
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  • Bela Fleck set for 'Juno Concerto' with SCPhil / South Carolina Public Radio
    Posted At: November 11, 2016 12:00 AM

    South Carolina Public Radio's - Alfred Turner had a chance to talk with musician and composer Béla Fleck a few days before his visit to Columbia, SC, to perform his new banjo concerto, the Juno Concerto. Beck was scheduled to perform the work on November 13, at the Koger Center, with the South Carolina Philharmonic, under music director Morihiko Nakahara. Just in case you aren't familiar w...
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  • Watch Bela Fleck's - 'Big Country' on Reverb - Song Stories
    Posted At: July 11, 2016 12:00 AM

    If you've ever found yourself immersed in the world of banjo, you're probably familiar with the work of Béla Fleck. He has, after all, won a number of Grammys with the Flecktones, been nominated in more genre categories than any other musician and is widely considered one of the most creative and technical banjo players alive today. All that is to say: If you've never listened to a Béla Fle...
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  • Silkroad's Global Musician Workshop returns to DePauw Univ. with Bela Fleck / The Banner-Graphic
    Posted At: June 20, 2016 12:00 AM

    For the second consecutive year, the DePauw University School of Music will host Silkroad's Global Musician Workshop for its seven-day stay through Saturday, June 25 at the Green Center for the Performing Arts. The workshop got under way Sunday following the arrival in Greencastle of more than 100 musicians from literally all over the globe. Conceived by internationally renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma,...
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  • Bela Fleck brings 'The Imposter to NC's Brevard Music Center
    Posted At: June 19, 2016 12:00 AM

    Bela Fleck brings his banjo concerto The Imposter to the Brevard Music Center June 28  in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. Backed by the Brevard Festival Orchestra under the direction of conductor Keith Lockhart. The 7:30 p.m. concert at Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium is part of a growing collaboration between Brevard Music Center CEO Mark Weinstein and Mountain Song ...
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  • Bela Fleck on life, music, and keeping up with his many collaborations / JamBase Q&A
    Posted At: May 23, 2016 12:00 AM

    Bela Fleck is a few years shy of 60 and his bona fides as one of the world's greatest banjo players are long-since-established. And yet, Fleck seems busier than ever: certainly in music, where as usual he has his hands and strings in a range of different projects, and in life, chasing after his three-year-old son, Juno, whether at home or on the road performing with Abigail Washburn, Fleck's wife and a h...
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  • Bela Fleck and the BBCSSO play Celtic Connections / theguardian
    Posted At: January 24, 2016 12:00 AM

    What's the best way to tune a banjo? With a wire cutter. The much-derided banjo, despite its African roots and history in slavery, remains the butt of a thousand bad jokes among musicians. You wonder what they'd make of the charismatic Béla Fleck – widely considered the instrument's greatest exponent – showcasing his dazzling array of licks over a huge swath of gushing strings and an u...
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  • Bela Fleck and Dave Matthews Band get together / relix
    Posted At: August 31, 2015 12:00 AM

    When Bela Fleck and Dave Matthews Band get together, magic almost always seems to happen. Earlier this summer, the two teamed up at SPAC over the fourth of July weekend to pay homage to the Grateful Dead with a rendition of "Friend of the Devil" and most recently in Colorado shared the stage for ten songs on the final night of a two-night run in Englewood. The closing segment of that run proved to be the...
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  • Chick Corea and Bela Fleck set to release new album and embark on 10 date US Tour / JazzFM
    Posted At: August 18, 2015 12:00 AM

    Pianist Chick Corea and banjo player Béla Fleck are to follow-up their collaboration Grammy Award-winning album 'The Enchantment' from 2007 with a new release called 'Two' on Sept 11. A new double CD contains live material recorded over eight years including compositions from ‘The Enchantment' together with other material from both including new repertoire. The duo will also be emba...
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