Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop was cancelled due to COVID-19, but all of the faculty is sharing online performances/discussions with Q&A all this week and next week at NOON ET each day! :) Join us at www.Facebook.com/SilkRoadProject
Read MoreMike Block String Camp ONLINE 2020 is a "GO" for launch, July 6-11! :) Our hope is to make the virtual experience as meaningful as possible by maintaining our level-based classes, community-building activities, the ever-popular Elective Classes, as well as nightly play-along jams, and performances by both faculty and students. All students this year will be together in the ONLINE TRACK, and when you enroll, you will gain access to "Member Only" pages of the website, which is where we will share elective class options, and Zoom meeting links to all the classes. Students will even be able to create a profile and connect with each other through our member directory. :) http://www.MikeBlockStringCamp.com/
Read MoreJoin me this Friday, May 15th at 8:30-9:30p ET for a special Facebook Live concert fundraiser to help raise funds for Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic house built in the late 1930s. Fallingwater, recently added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. is unable to host visitors and lead tours at this time, preventing them from bringing in the necessary funds for regular care of the house, its collection, and the natural landscape. All of their major restoration projects are on hold.
Watch on Facebook, or Youtube.
Read MoreI’ve been doing a lot of arranging for an upcoming collaboration between Yo-Yo and Angelique, for which I’m serving as Music Director. Even though we can’t be together in person, we were able to release this virtual collaboration of the traditional song Blewu that I arranged - WATCH IT HERE!
Read MoreIn these quarantined times, we filmed a dance party music video for my song, My Heart Goes! :) you can WATCH IT HERE!
Read MoreMy wife, Hanneke Cassel, and I will be performing online for the #StayAtHomeFestival TONIGHT at 7pm EST! tune in at https://stayathomefestival.com
Read MoreStay safe. Stay healthy. I hope to see you in person again soon! Until then, stay tuned for some upcoming online music and video sharing …
Read MoreHERE you can read a glowing review from Bluegrass Today of of my recent folk album Walls of Time: "an album that’s singularly spectacular … a daring musical venture that brings new life to classic songs … Block breaks boundaries in wholly unexpected ways ... Walls of Time is an album that excels through invention and ingenuity. It reflects the vision of a true musical master … A transformative tapestry, it sets a standard few others will ever attain.”
You can get the album HERE!
Read MoreMy new album of Bach Cello Suites debuted at #4 on the Billboard classical charts! Right beneath Yo-Yo, where I belong. Thanks for listening :) you can still get your share: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/step-into-the-void
Read MoreI’ve got a once-in-a-lifetime album coming out in a few weeks, which you can buy NOW on Pre-Sale: Step Into the Void: The Complete Bach Cello Suites! https://www.brightshiny.ninja/step-into-the-void
The Bach Cello Suites have been a part of my life as long as I’ve been playing cello. In spite of my stylistic restlessness and years of artistic exploration outside of the Western Classical tradition, this is probably the repertoire I’ve played and thought about the most during my life, so I’m excited to share it with you all!
You may ask yourself, “did he record this in a bathroom?!”
NO! I payed for an ACTUAL recording studio this time, with MICROPHONES! :) It came out really beautifully, and your support of this project would be particularly meaningful.
You can purchase the album HERE:
https://www.brightshiny.ninja/step-into-the-void
Read MoreI’ve got a new holiday video of “The Swan” posted today. I recorded it earlier this month with the wonderful pianist Hugh Sung, who is one of my online colleagues teaching through www.ArtistWorks.com/cello. Watch The Swan HERE! :)
Read MoreI just self-released a completely improvised duo album with the brilliant Jazz cellist from Berlin, Stephan Braun - it is called 13 Shades - 13 Farbtöne, and you can purchase it HERE! We have known each other for many years, and it was special to spend a day in the studio together this summer when he came through Boston.
Read MoreSo grateful that my new folk album, Walls of Time, charted #3 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart! :) It also charted in the top 15 of the World Music and Classical Crossover charts :) If you don't already have it, you can get it here: https://www.brightshiny.ninja/walls-of-time
Read MoreWatch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5zXITuiNrU&feature=youtu.be
New Music Video of my original song, "Cornelia's Song", featuring dancer Jenna Pollak. Videography/editing by Aaron Hauser
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5zXITuiNrU&feature=youtu.be
Read MoreI’m excited to announce that I’m releasing a new American folk album, Walls of Time, and you can get it for 50% off during this Pre-Sale before November 8th! Just takes a few clicks, starting HERE. Use the discount code BRIGHTSHINY50
In the pursuit of expanding the sound of what “American” music sounds like, Walls of Time features some incredible musicains from other cultures/styles: Wu Tong (China), Sandeep Das (India), Tunde Jegede (Nigeria), and Derek Gripper (South Africa), in addition to American musicians Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, Joe K. Walsh, Zachariah Hickman, Dietrich Strauss, and Mark Erelli.
Read MoreI’m happy to release “It’s Time to Dance”, a new album of original pop/rock songs! You can get it HERE!
Read Morehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpIASyDafDM&feature=youtu.be
Contemporary Khaliji-style tune co-written by Mike Block (cello) and Amal Waqar (oud), with Tareq Rantisi (percussion) and Ceren Turkmenoglu (violin)
Read Morehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMUXbS3E6MI&feature=youtu.be
I really enjoyed playing with Nigerian/British Kora Player Tunde Jegede in a studio for a day outside of London, and I wrote this tune for us to play together :)
Read More