Goat Rodeo: A World Class Collaboration at the Bowl THIS Sunday

One of the best things about living in Los Angeles is the Hollywood Bowl.

If you’ve been, you know what I mean.

If you haven’t been, you owe it yourself and your loved ones to experience one of the greatest live performance venues ever constructed. Situated against the Hollywood Hills, comfortably distanced from its teaming city surroundings, the Bowl is arguably the beating heart of the entertainment capital of the world.

It’s our Carnegie Hall, the West Coast version of the-stage-that-intimidates-and-challenges-the-best-of-them. How do you get to the Hollywood Bowl? Practice, practice, practice.

This Sunday we continue our World Festival series with a world class collaboration between icons of the bluegrass world and legendary cellist Yo Yo Ma.

Ma’s 2011 album “The Goat Rodeo Sessions” documented a high-noon type of creativity that pitted the songs of mandolinist Chris Thile, bassist Edgar Meyer, and multi-instrumentalist Stuart Duncan against the classical stylings of Ma, who presided over the proceedings.

The album title, according to Ma, came about because “If there were forks in the road and each time there was a fork, the right decision was made, then you get to a goat rodeo.”

With a crew this busy (Ma’s schedule alone is locked several years in advance), difficulty in scheduling the sessions alone could have derailed the whole thing, but the stars aligned and the resulting album earned the ensemble project two Grammy Awards, including Best Folk Album of 2013.

As you might guess touring in support of this album proved impossible, again due to schedules, so they set up one concert in 2012 and streamed it to movie theaters nationwide.

Clearly, a gathering of greats like these is like witnessing the passing of a comet. You don’t miss it.

Aoife O’Donovan also appears as guest vocalist.

Find out more info and buy tickets here.

— Chris Douridas