Ravinia 2024 Issue 1

COLIN JACOBSEN, violin, artistic director Violinist and composer Colin Jacobsen is “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene” ( Washington Post ). Since the early 2000’s, Jacobsen has forged an intriguing path in the cultural landscape of our time, collaborat- ing with an astonishingly wide range of artists across diverse traditions and disciplines while constantly looking for new ways to connect with audiences. For his work as a founding member of two innovative and influential ensembles – the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and orches- tra The Knights – Jacobsen was selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, me- dia, and literary artists to receive a prestigious and substantial United States Artists Fellow- ship. He is also active as an Avery Fisher Ca- reer Grant-winning soloist and has toured with Silkroad since its founding by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 at Tanglewood. As a composer he has written pieces for an eclectic mix of artists in- cluding pianist Emanuel Ax, singers Anne-Sofie Von Otter and Jamie Barton, banjo player Bela Fleck, mandolinist Avi Avital, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, choreographers John Heginbotham and Brian Brooks, theater group Compagnia de’ Co- lombari and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Start- ing in the 2022/23 season, Jacobsen assumed the position of Artistic Director of Santa Fe Pro Musica, an organization with which he has had a fruitful long term association as a guest soloist and leader. AARON DIEHL, piano Pianist Aaron Diehl has quietly redefined the lines between jazz and classical, and built a glob- al career around his nuanced, understated ap- proach to music-making. Diehl has performed with musical giants such as Wynton Marsalis, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Tyshawn Sorey, and Philip Glass, and has been a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Phil- harmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. In 2023, Diehl was named the Artistic Director of 92NY’s Jazz in July Fes- tival. A leader in contemporary jazz, Diehl has headlined the Monterey, Detroit, and Newport Jazz Festivals, and had residencies at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Village Vanguard, SF Jazz, and many more. He counts among his mentors towering figures such as John Lewis, Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch, Marcus Roberts, and Eric Reed. Diehl’s creative vision draws equally from the classical music tradition; he has performed with top orchestras across the US, at leading venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Hollywood Bowl, the Elbphilharmonie, and Tanglewood. He has collaborated with classi- cal stars ranging from Inon Barnatan to J’Nai Bridges to The Knights, and his compositions have been commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival, Glenmorangie Scotch, and others. In the 2023–24 season, Diehl and his trio, featuring bassist David Wong and drummer Aaron Kim- mel, open the New Jersey Symphony’s season with a program that includes Still’s Out of the Silence and Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ . The trio also makes its St. Louis Symphony Or- chestra debut with a performance of Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite . As the 2024 Resonate Festival artist-in-residence, Diehl will explore the theme of musical intersections, with works by John Lewis, Williams’s Zodiac Suite and Jo- hann Sebastian Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D minor, conducted by Eric Jacobsen. In the spring, Diehl joins the Los Angeles Phil- harmonic for the world premiere of Timo An- dres’s new piano concerto, conducted by John Adams. In September 2023, Diehl released his recording of Williams’s Zodiac Suite with The Knights, Diehl’s fourth recording on Mack Av- enue Records, following 2020’s The Vagabond , 2015’s Space Time Continuum , and his 2013 la- bel debut, The Bespoke Man’s Narrative . Diehl was born in Columbus, OH, where he grew up listening to his grandfather, pianist and trom- bonist Arthur Baskerville. His family nurtured Diehl’s undeniable musical talents from a young age and in 2002, a 16-year-old Diehl competed in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, where he placed as a finalist. It was there that he attracted the attention of Wynton Marsalis, who invited Diehl to join his septet for a European tour. After studying at Julliard under the direction of Kenny Barron, Eric Reed and Oxana Yablonskaya, Diehl was awarded the 2011 American Pianists Association’s Cole Por- ter Fellowship. Diehl has been a Steinway Artist since 2016. This is Diehl’s first return to Ravinia following his 2013 debut. Yasushi Nakamura is praised for imaginative, quicksilver bass lines that have sparked collabora- tions with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Wy- cliffe Gordon, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, Dave Douglas, and Steve Miller. Born in Tokyo, Nakamura moved to the US at age 9, and considers both places home. He began with clarinet and tenor saxophone, but his older brother’s study of guitar and drums drove him to pick up the bass. Nakamura received a BA in Jazz Performance from Berklee School of Music in 2000, and was awarded a full schol- arship to The Juilliard School for his Artist Di- ploma in 2006. He credits Myron Walden as an early champion, and keeps close ties to Juilliard mentors Victor Goines, Wycliffe Gordon, Carl Allen, and BenWolfe, all of whommaintain him in their bands. In 2016, Nakamura released his first album, A Lifetime Treasure , and in 2017 he released the follow-up Hometown from Atelier Sawano, featuring Lawrence Fields, Bigyuki, and Clarence Penn, which was named album of the year 2017 in JazzLife magazine. Aaron Kimmel , original- ly from Pennsylvania, has resided in New York City for nearly two decades where he works as a free- lance drummer. He holds a bachelor of music de- gree fromThe Juilliard School, where he studied with Kenny Washington and Billy Drummond. He frequently appears at Smalls and Dizzy’s Club, and many venues around the world. You can see him performing as a sideman with Aar- on Diehl, the Benny Green trio, and Ben Wolfe, among others. He has also played with such jazz luminaries as Harry Allen, Ken Peplowski, Eric Alexander, Joe Magnarelli, Grant Stewart, Terell Stafford, Ryan Kisor, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ann Hampton Callaway, Mary Stallings, and Jon Faddis. RAVINIAMAGAZINE • JUNE 7 – JUNE 30, 2024 82