For the convenience of concertgoers 

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry of

the West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

Mailing address

2000b South Club Drive

Landover, md 20785

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-sixth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,651st Concert

Chris Brubeck’s Triple Play

Chris Brubeck, piano, trombone, bass

Peter Madcat Ruth, harmonica

Joel Brown, guitar

December 23, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
The musicians will announce the programfrom the stage.

The Musicians

When Chris Brubeck, Joel Brown, and Peter Madcat Ruth perform together

as Triple Play, they captivate audience members of all ages, consistently

earning standing ovations and high praise. Brubeck and Madcat have been

playing together since their youthful collaboration in the rock-and-roll band,

Sky King. Brown and Brubeck have been playing together for twelve years,

having toured with folk singer Bill Crofut. Triple Play’s most recent CD,

Watching the World, earned a four-and-a-halfstar rating (out offive) from All

Music Guide, with the comment, “It’s great to hear a group that combines

top-notch musicianship, potent originals, and a touch ofhumor.”

Chris Brubeck first distinguished himself as a jazz musician, performing and recording with his father, the legendary jazz pianist Dave Brubeck. 

Chris Brubeck sings and plays bass, trombone, piano, and guitar. In the past

few decades he has earned international acclaim as a composer, performer,

and leader of his own groups. His irrepressible enthusiasm is matched

by his fluid command ofjazz, blues, folk, funk, pop, and classical musical

styles. Brubeck has appeared on stage with such diverse artists as Bob Dylan,

Bela Fleck, Stephane Grappelli, B. B. King, Bobby McFerrin, Gerry Mulligan,

Willie Nelson, Dawn Upshaw, and Muddy Waters, and has been featured on

dozens ofrecordings. He has written three musicals and hundreds ofsongs,

including covers sung by rhythm-and-blues legends Bobby Womack and

Patti Labelle.

An award-winning composer, Brubeck clearly understands the nuances of

contemporary music. Over the last decade he has created an impressive body

ofsymphonic work while maintaining a demanding touring and recording

schedule with his two bands, the Brubeck Brothers Quartet and Triple Play.

His recent compositions include Convergence: Concertofor Orchestra, commissioned and performed by the Boston Pops to celebrate the 100th anniversary

ofBoston’s Symphony Hall, and Interplayfor 'Three Violins and Orchestra,

which won the 2002 ascap Deems Taylor Award for best composition for 

television broadcast.

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Peter Madcat Ruth has established an international reputation through his

exhilarating virtuosity on the harmonica. Numerous national television and

radio appearances, symphony orchestra performances, radio and television

advertisements, and harmonica workshops attest to his reputation as one of

the best and most versatile harmonica players in the world. He is equally at 

home playing blues, country, folk music, jazz, and rock and roll. Performance

Magazine refers to him as “a harmonica virtuoso who is rapidly approaching

legend [sic] status.” Madcat’s music has been evolving since he started playing 

nearly forty years ago in Chicago, where he studied harmonica with Big Walter

Horton. He later moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where he was a key presence

in two ofthe city’s finest progressive rock bands—New Heavenly Blue and

Sky King. By the mid 1970s, Madcat was touring the world with Dave Brubeck. 

Madcat later turned to solo performing, infusing the folk and blues tradition

with elements ofrock and jazz. In 1990 he teamed up with guitarist and

singer Shari Kane to form the duo Madcat and Kane.

Guitarist Joel Brown’s eclectic career has taken him to England for a

recording with the London Symphony Orchestra and to Carnegie Hall for

concerts with soprano Dawn Upshaw. He has appeared at Alice Tully Hall

with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Barbican Centre

in London, the Chamber Music Festival at Saratoga, New York, Music in

the Mountains in British Columbia, the Metropolitan Museum ofArt, and

the Tanglewood Festival. In addition to touring and recording with Triple 

Play, Brown has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Martinu Chamber

Orchestra in the Czech Republic and the Saint Cecilia Orchestra in Italy as

well as many other orchestras across the United States. He is a founding

member ofthe trio Tritonis, which has recorded five new pieces that Brown

commissioned. He is the featured guitarist in a Koch International Classics

recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Bach to Brubeck; with

Frederica von Stade in Across Your Dreams with the Empire Brass on King’s

4

Court and Celtic Fair; and in Bill Crofut’s final recording, Dance on a Moonbeam, on Telarc Records. This year Brown’s newest CD, Christmas Cedar and

Spruce, was released on Albany Records, and features Chris Brubeck and

Peter Madcat Ruth as well as members ofhis own family. He is senior artistin-residence at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.

5
Next Week at the National Gallery ofArt

National Gallery Orchestra

Jose Serebrier, guest conductor

Carole Farley, soprano

New Year Concert

Music by Johann Strauss Jr., Tchaikovsky, and other composers

December 30, 2007

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

6

Next Month at the National Gallery

New York Chamber Soloists

Music by Carter, Fried, Mozart, Saint-Saens, and Vivaldi

January 6, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Vilnius String Quartet

Music by Beethoven, Brahms, and Narbutaite 

January 13, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Jeni Slotchiver, pianist

Music of North and South American origin by Busoni,

Gottschalk, Guamieri, Guastavino, Ignone, Viana, and Villa-Lobos

January 20, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Central Bucks Ffigh School West Chamber Choir

Music by Cage, Caldwell, Gjeilo, Ohrt, and Samson 

January 27, 2008

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court