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Anda Union’s captivating combination of Mongolian musical styles is a reflection of their roots. Hailing from different ethnic nomadic cultures, the nine-member band unites tribal music traditions from all over Inner Mongolia, a semi-autonomous region of China. On this episode, we listen to the 2019 Savannah Music Festival debut of Anda Union.

The Jerusalem Quartet formed in the early 1990s while its members were students at the Jerusalem Conservatory of Music and Dance. In its debut year, the quartet was awarded first prize in the chamber music category by the Jerusalem Academy followed by two prizes at the Graz International Competition the following year. On this episode…

Guitarists Bryan Sutton and David Grier are both central to the evolution of flatpicking. With 13 guitarist of the year awards from the IBMA between them, both men started playing at a young age, influenced greatly by the playing and repertoire of Doc Watson, Tony Rice and Clarence White, among others. On this episode, we’ll…

As a performer, jazz pianist Marcus Roberts has played in settings ranging from solo, trio, and jazz orchestra to symphony orchestra, always bringing a remarkably fresh approach to each moment. As a composer, he has been commissioned for new work by Chamber Music America, Jazz at Lincoln Center, that Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Ozawa Music…

At 33-years of age, pianist Aaron Diehl is not only remarkable for his own generation of musicians, but he has already left an indelible mark on the jazz world through his meticulously conceived and refreshing performances, collaborations, compositions and interpretations. On this episode, we listen to a performance given by the Aaron Diehl Trio on…

The prominence of the squareneck dobro in American acoustic music has grown exponentially in the past three decades, in large part due to innovations created by Jerry Douglas. On the same day Douglas’s bluegrass band, The Earls of Leicester, played to a packed house in the 2019 Savannah Music Festival, we were lucky to have…

In their early days, Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar, a Hudson valley husband and wife duo, fronted The Mammals, along with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger, and were a part of the old-time and stringband music wave that ran over the American folk music world at the beginning of the new millennium. The duo met in the dive…

Pianist Aaron Diehl is a rare talent, having already made an indelible mark on the jazz world at just 32 years of age. In this recording we hear highlights from his solo performance in our 2019 festival. The program was built upon what Jelly Roll Morton famously referred to as the two basic elements of…

In the Spring of 2018, pianist Chris Pattishall played a solo lunchtime set that included some of his favorite tunes from Atlanta-born Jazz pianist/ arranger/composer Mary Lou Williams and Harlem Stride Piano Master Willie The Lion Smith. Active a both a pianist and composer, Chris Pattishall holds an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Award, and participated…

Multi-instrumentalist Seamus Egan has been a force in the Irish Traditional music scene since his beginnings as a teen prodigy. With his newly-formed Seamus Egan Project- featuring Moira Smiley on accordion, banjo and vocals, Owen Marshall on mandolin, Yann Falquet on guitar, and Joe Phillips on bass- they go back to the further reaches of…

As arguably the greatest child prodigy the history of Western music has ever known, Felix Mendelssohn produced works of extraordinary mastery throughout his entire life. His chamber music works, including the piano trios and cello sonata, continue to be favorites of musicians and audiences everywhere. In this recording from the Spring of 2012, cellist David…

Dreamers’ Circus- made up of Nikolaj Busk on piano and accordion, Rune Tonsgaard Sorensen on violin and Ale Carr on cittern- is a driving force in Nordic Folk music drawing inspiration from the deep folk traditions of Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, The Faroe Islands and Greenland. The trio’s adventurous approach, coupled with their outstanding musicianship, that…

To launch the Savannah Music Festival’s 30th season, we produced a concert entitled Georgia Soul & Blues in November of 2018 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts. The bill featured soul man and Georgia Music hall of famer William Bell, whose Stax Records debut was released some 57 years earlier, alongside the 22-year old…

Sam Reider and the Human Hands are a Brooklyn-based collective of jazz and bluegrass musicians, led by San Francisco born pianist/accordionist/composer Sam Reider. On this episode of savannah music festival live we listen to the 2018 festival debut performance by Sam Reider and the Human Hands, which consisted of Reider on accordion and piano, Alex…

On April 2nd, 2017, Daniel Hope & Friends featuring Edgar Meyer and the Dover Quartet gave a stirring performance of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major, Opus 48. Hear it, along with Mozart’s Divertimento for Strings in D Major, K. 136, on this episode of Savannah Music Festival LIVE.

The innovative British trio LAU has been at the forefront of the new folk boom in the UK since their formation in 2004. Consisting of master fiddler Aidan O’Rourke from Oban, accordion innovator Martin Green from East Anglia, England, and guitarist-singer Kris Drever from Orkney, LAU’s traditional music foundation is woven throughout inventive compositions. Hear…

In the spring of 2012, we produced an event that blended the power of southern gospel music with modern Americana called The Hallelujah Train, featuring Shreveport’s Zion Baptist Mass Choir led by Pastor Brady Blade, Sr. along with his sons Brady Jr. and Brian. The band was an all-star cast of American musicians, including Greg…

In this episode, we listen to highlights from the SMF debut of Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, an old-time trio consisting of Bruce Molsky on fiddle and vocals, Alison de Groot on clawhammer banjo, and Stash Wyslouch on guitar and vocals.

In the spring of 2018, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn returned to the Savannah Music Festival to play this stirring set of Appalachian murder ballads, gospel, chamber, bluegrass and blues. After a day-of-show rehearsal, they also welcomed members of the Zurich Chamber Orchestra to the stage for two songs.

In 2017, Lúnasa and Tim O’Brien joined forces to embark on a transatlantic musical expedition, exploring the interplay and mutual influences at the heart of American and Irish traditional music. In this episode, we listen to highlights from a concert featuring Tim O’Brien and Lúnasa at the 2018 savannah music festival.

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms are one half of the acclaimed old-time group the Foghorn Stringband. As a duo, they delve into the honky-tonk and classic country sounds of pre-war dance halls, with exceptional musicianship and earnest delivery. In this episode, we listen to a 2017 performance given by Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms at…

Portugal’s António Zambujo has been a leading voice in the resurrection of male fado singers. A nearly 200 year-old tradition, this expressive style of Portuguese song is associated with pubs, cafes and restaurants, and is often deeply melancholic. While Zambujo can deftly project the sorrow and longing of fado music, his performances are balanced with…

Sam Reider and the Human Hands are a Brooklyn-based collective of jazz and bluegrass musicians who made their SMF debut in the spring of 2018 on a co-bill with Mike Block & Sandeep Das. The San Francisco born accordionist-pianist-composer Sam Reider leads this ensemble in a performance of music from their most recent release, Too…

In 2018, Trinidadian jazz trumpeter and composer Etienne Charles was commissioned by Rob Gibson for the Savannah Music Festival to compose a work that explored the Afro-Caribbean connections to Gullah music and the Gullah connections to American music. In this episode, we listen to the premiere of that work, live from the 2018 Savannah Music…