posted 12/01/11 08:45 AM | updated 12/08/11 10:12 AM
Views: 545 | Comments : 0 | Arts, Music & Culture

Ben Sollee Rocks Cello-Like Nobody's Business: Friday Night Dec. 9th @ SV Opera House

By SunValleyCenter
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So you think you know what a cello sounds like? Genre-bending cellist Ben Sollee will change your mind about that in a performance at the Sun Valley Opera House on Friday, December 9.

“I never expect to see that cello in one piece after Ben gets done playing it,” says musician Yim Yames, frontman for My Morning Jacket and a friend and musical collaborator of Sollee’s. “He bows and beats and works it over with a passionate fury rarely seen. Don’t get me wrong—he can play it and hold his own with the most schooled and delicate scholars out there, but more importantly, Ben makes it live.”


Classically trained but unwilling to settle for just one kind of music, Sollee puts his cello to use in the service of folk, bluegrass, jazz and R&B. Backing him up at his December concert, part of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts 2011/2012 Winter Performing Arts Series, will be Jordon Ellis on percussion. In addition to playing the cello, Sollee contributes his amazing voice and songwriting talents to the duo.

“It’s Ben’s voice that first attracted my attention,” said The Center’s Performing Arts Director, Kristine Bretall. “He’s got a way of hooking you right in with his incredible voice and then when you add the lyrics and his cello playing, he’s got you. And it’s not only his performance that’ll draw you in, he’s a kind, big-hearted who puts his whole person into his show.”

Sollee first emerged on the music world radar with his inviting 2008 debut album Learning to Bend, which showcased a wild mixture of musical approaches that Sollee describes as “classically influenced folk with leanings of R&B and soul.” The album caught the ear of NPR’s Morning Edition, which heralded Sollee as one of the “Top Ten Great Unknown Artists of 2007.” Sollee’s newest album, Inclusions, came out this spring and “embodies the people, places and things of my life,” he says.

Meanwhile, Sollee was out touring with banjo player and songstress Abigail Washburn as part of the Sparrow Quartet. The ensemble, also featuring Grammy-nominated fiddler Casey Driessen and multi-Grammy winning banjoist Bela Fleck, explored the congregation of eastern and western folk music. The critically acclaimed ensemble toured throughout the world, including a U.S. Ambassadorial Tour of Tibet.

While in the Wood River Valley, Ben Sollee will be doing a school residency with the high school orchestra students, the Community School and the Wood River Middle School.

Individual tickets for Ben Sollee are $20 Sun Valley Center for the Arts members, $30 for nonmembers and $10 for students 18 and under. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.sunvalleycenter.org, call 726.9491 ex 10 or stop by The Center in Ketchum. The 2011/2012 Winter Performing Arts Series is sponsored in part by Boise State Public Radio.

For those who are interested in a smaller, more intimate performance, The Center is presenting Ben Sollee in a “salon concert” setting on Saturday, December 10 at Gilman Contemporary in Ketchum. The evening will include beverages, appetizers and a performance with Ben and his cello. Tickets are $50 for members and $60 for non-members. Please contact The Center for details and time.

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