David Balakrishnan Premieres his Compositions “Confetti Man” and “The Second Wave” with Turtle Island Quartet and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra on March 17th

Nashville, TN - (mmd-news) - - 2006 Grammy winning jazz violinist and composer David Balakrishnan
will perform “Confetti Man” and “The Second Wave” at the Nashville Chamber Orchestra on March 17 at 8:00 PM. Fresh from the Grammy’s, this will be Balakrishnan’s opening performance as composer-in-residency with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra.

Balakrishnan’s infectious music transforms the orchestra into a hot jazz ensemble. His music is inspired by the eclectic influences that have shaped his creative spirit - including the ragas of southern India, American jazz, fiddle traditions and classical music.

In addition to being the composer-in-residence, Balakrishnan is a featured soloist and one of the primary composers of Turtle Island String Quartet. Balakrishnan founded the Turtle Island String Quartet in 1985. The cutting edge ensemble was awarded a Grammy this month for Best Classical Crossover.

Balakrishnan has had numerous Grammy nominations. In New York in January, 2003, he  received a Grammy nomination for his arrangement of "You've Changed" from the latest TISQ CD entitled Danzón, featuring Paquito D'Rivera. In 1989, Mr. Balakrishnan received a Grammy nomination for his arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" from TISQ's first recording. He has been awarded numerous composing grants, including a composer fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, commissions from the Reader's Digest/Lila Wallace, and Meet the Composer foundations.

Mr. Balakrishnan’s residency was made possible through Music Alive, a residency program of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet The Composer. Funding for Music Alive is provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

8PM March 17th at The Factory, in Nashville
Media Contact: J. Balakrishnan
Phone: 510-524-6754
Websites: www.tisq.com and www.nco.com