Straight from the Kennedy Center, Banda Magda is a one-night world music festival all its own

Straight from the Kennedy Center, Banda Magda is a one-night world music festival all its own, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, GE Theatre at Proctors 

Make an evening of The Passport Series: Music Haven at Proctors with a
Winter Greek Buffet Preshow Dinner!

SCHENECTADY, N.Y.—Feb. 1, 2019—Samba. French chanson. Greek folk tunes. Colombian cumbia. Afro-Peruvian lando.

It sounds like The Passport Series: Music Haven at Proctors, and that’s just what it is. Not the whole season, mind you, but one singular, amazing show.

Banda Magda, led by Greek composer, orchestrator, singer and accordionist Magda Giannikou, recently performed concerts over two days at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center. The group lands in Schenectady 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15 at the GE Theatre at Proctors.

Tickets, $25, are available at the Box Office at Proctors, 432 State Street, Schenectady; by phone at 518.346.6204; and online at proctors.org.

Drawing on the sextet’s global background—with members hailing from Greece, Argentina, Japan, Colombia and the United States—Banda Magda combines South American rhythms with jazz improvisation, cinematic arranging, sophisticated audience participation, mid-century classics and world songs sung in six languages.

“The Passport Series,” says Music Haven Artistic Director Mona Golub, who produces the series with Proctors, “effectively bridges the gap between Music Haven’s summer seasons, extending the invitation to travel the world one concert at a time throughout the year. So, a global show such as this, which draws inspiration from so many rich musical destinations, is the perfect way to launch the celebration of Music Haven’s 30th anniversary year.”

Founded in 2010, in New York, Banda Magda has toured in more than 22 countries and five continents. This group of close musical friends turn Giannikou’s songs into engaging romps that have won it spots with Carnegie Hall Musical Explorers Series and Snarky Puppy’s Family Dinner Vol. 1, as well as performances at discerning venues and festivals such as WOMAD, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, L’Olympia, Jazz à Vienne, Canarias Jazz, Apollo Hammersmith, Kathmandu Jazz Festival and many more.

Joining Giannikou at the GE Theatre at Proctors, will be bassist Apoena Frota, guitarist Ignacio Hernández, drummer Marcelo Woloski, keyboardist/trumpeter Justin Stanton, and percussionist Keita Ogawa—the latter three all hailing from the above-mentioned Grammy Award ®-winning funk collective Snarky Puppy.

Make a full evening of it! A 6 p.m. Winter Greek Buffet Dinner precedes the show, catered by Reel Seafood Company. Reservations for the dinner, $30, are also available at the Box Office at Proctors.

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