Performance

When Monday, 7 July 2025
Where National Concert Hall, Dublin
Tickets €20 – €50, on sale soon!
Presented by Waltons New School of Music

Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda
Antonio Sánchez Trio

Banjo. Harp. Drums. Huh?

To be sure, the new all-star trio of Béla Fleck, harpist Edmar Castañeda and drummer Antonio Sánchez features instrumentation that might safely be called uncommon. Unless, of course, you're already familiar with the 18-time Grammy Award winner Fleck — the genre-blurring virtuoso who has done more to expand the possibilities of the banjo than any other player in the instrument's history. From his bluegrass beginnings to his otherworldly Flecktones to his collaborations with Chris Thile, Chick Corea, The Blind Boys of Alabama, McCoy Tyner and Zakir Hussain (the last three of which the World Masters Series has also presented) to his astonishing reimagining of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, Fleck's work never fails to surprise. What doesn't surprise is the impeccable calibre of his collaborators — and this new trio includes two of the most gifted musicians of their generation.

Hailing from Bogotá, Colombia, Casteñada has singlehandedly cemented the harp's place in jazz with his innovative approach to the instrument and his collaborations with such music titans as Wynton Marsalis, Paco de Lucia and Paquito D'Rivera. 5-time Grammy-winner Hailing from Mexico City, Sánchez has built a reputation as one of the great jazz drummers through his long collaboration with guitarist Pat Metheny. He has also been a visionary bandleader, helming progressive groups like Bad Hombre and collaborating with Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker and other giants. His Golden Globe-nominated (and Grammy winning) score for the film Birdman earned him renown far outside the jazz world.

Formed in 2024, BEATrio found its sound during a special twelve-show run at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, where the group fearlessly explored new, original music, most of it collaboratively written. Now they embark nightly on explorations that audiences will find irresistible – rich with strong melodies, gorgeous harmonies and sinuous grooves. Unmissable.

Béla Fleck

Béla Fleck is, quite simply, the world's greatest banjo player. And he has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map in a range of solo projects and collaborations. An 18-time Grammy Award-winner, Fleck has the virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and composer with bluegrass roots. His collaborations range from his groundbreaking standard-setting ensemble Béla Fleck and the Flecktones to a staggeringly broad array of musical experiments. Fleck's most recent project expanded and explored George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue by paying homage to the legendary composer while redefining an American classic for its centennial. The album's release on 12 February 2024 coincided with the 100th anniversary of Rhapsody in Blue's premiere in New York City and features three variations of the iconic piece with a gamut of special guests, alongside two other Gershwin works arranged by Fleck and performed on solo banjo. From writing and performing three concertos for full symphony orchestra, to exploring the banjo's African roots in the award-winning documentary Throw Down Your Heart, to collaborating with Indian musical royalty Zakir Hussain and Rakesh Churasia with Edgar Meyer, to performing as an acclaimed folk duo with wife Abigail Washburn and as a jazz duo with Chick Corea, Béla Fleck is not only the world's premier banjo player but a restless explorer and musical innovator. As Jon Pareles wrote for The New York Times, 'That's a lot of territory for five strings.' Béla Fleck Website

Edmar Castañeda

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Edmar Castañeda has made a name for himself as the world's preeminent jazz harp virtuoso. He has singlehandedly cemented the harp's place in jazz with his innovative approach to the instrument and his collaborations with such music titans as Wynton Marsalis, Paco de Lucia, John Scofield, Ricki Lee Jones, Hiromi, Pedrito Martinez, Marcus Miller, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ivan Lins, The Yellowjackets and Paquito D'Rivera. Castañeda has recorded seven acclaimed albums (Cuarto de Colores, Entre Cuerdas, Double Portion, Live at the Jazz Standard, Live in Montreal, Harp vs. Harp, Family), both as a bandleader and working with such groups as Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Clássica de Espinho and the São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra. His most recent, Viento Sur, was recorded with a nine-person ensemble of acclaimed global musicians from Switzerland, Brazil, Cuba, Israel, Chile, the US, Argentina and Colombia. According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 'The Colombian plays the harp like hardly anyone else on earth. His hands, seemingly powered by two different people, produce a totally unique, symphonic fullness of sound, a rapid-fire of chords, balance of melodic figures and drive, served with euphoric Latin American rhythms, and the improvisatory freedom of a trained jazz musician...captivating virtuosity, but in no way only virtuosity for its own sake.' Edmar Castañeda Website

Antonio Sánchez

Born in Mexico City, 5-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sánchez began playing the drums at the age of five and was performing professionally in Mexico's rock, jazz and Latin scenes in his early teens. He pursued a degree in classical piano at the National Conservatory in Mexico and in 1993 enrolled in Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in Jazz Studies. After moving to New York City in 1999, Sánchez become one of the most sought-after drummers on the international jazz scene. Following 18 years and 9 albums in collaboration with guitarist/composer Pat Metheny, he has since recorded and performed with such jazz luminaries as Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden and Toots Thielmans. In 2014 Sánchez's international popularity soared when he scored Alejandro González Iñárritu's film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which won four Academy awards (including best picture) and for which Sánchez was nominated for a Golden Globe and won a Grammy. In addition to his four other Grammy Awards, he has won three Echo Awards, received both Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations and has been thrice named Modern Drummer's Jazz Drummer of the Year. Sánchez plays virtually every instrument on his most recent album SHIFT, in addition to producing it. SHIFT also features Trent Reznor, Dave Mathews, Kimbra, Ana Tijoux, Meshell Ndegeocello and others. Antonio Sánchez Website