Portland Ovations Presents Ten-Time Grammy Award-Winning Artist Bobby McFerrin

Merrill Auditorium for a Sunday Evening Concert

Portland, Maine - Portland Ovations brings the matchless vocal improviser with a breathtaking range and Ten-time Grammy Award-winner Bobby McFerrin to Merrill Auditorium for a Sunday evening concert on April 13th at 7 pm. Bobby McFerrin was exposed to a multitude of musical genres during his youth - classical, R&B, jazz, pop and world music - and has absorbed them all to create his own unparalleled sound. Whether it is a rendition of the Bach prelude Ave Maria, his incomparable interpretations of Beatles songs, collaborations with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, or conducting the Vienna Philharmonic, McFerrin awes audiences.

With his latest project, Spirit You All, McFerrin, backed by a five-piece band, pays homage to his father and the generations of Americans who sang of shared joy and pain through the powerful music of Negro Spirituals. McFerrin and his band re-imagine an American tradition. Beloved songs like "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands" and "Every Time I Feel The Spirit" along with original tunes explore McFerrin's everyday search for grace, wisdom, and freedom.

Spirit You All raises the roof with joyful grooves and embraces Bobby McFerrin's folk, rock, and blues influences without abandoning his fearless improvisational approach or his never-ending exploration of the human voice.

At 6 pm before the concert Ovations Offstage offers a pre-performance lecture Holy Songs in Strange Land in the Green Room at Merrill Auditorium. During this lecture Judith Casselberry, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at Bowdoin College, will present the complex meanings and context of American Negro Spirituals. Professor Casselberry, as a vocalist/guitarist, performs nationally and internationally with Toshi Reagon and Big Lovely. Over the past seven years she has participated in European tours of "The Temptation of Saint Anthony," directed by Robert Wilson with book and libretto by Bernice Johnson

Tickets for Bobby McFerrin: Spirit You All range from $41 to $63 for Ovations' Members and $45 to $70 for the general public. Bobby McFerrin: Spirit You All is locally sponsored by L.L. Bean and MPBN. To purchase tickets visit www.portlandovations.org, call PortTIX at 207.842.0800 or go to the box office window at Merrill Auditorium.