Brian O’Neill: percussionist, vibraphonist, composer
"…Percussion master and musical polymath…"—Boston Phoenix
"…Brian's not just a great musician; he's also a first-rate composer."—Huffington Post
First 2 CDs as leader made the "10 Best Albums for 2011"—Huffington Post
"…incredible musicianship…"—DOWNBEAT
"…positively mesmerizing, and more than occasionally tranquilizing."—The Brooklyn Rail
"…may be, in the long run, a better exoticist than [John] Zorn…"—AllAboutJazz
"Percussion master and musical polymath…"—Boston Phoenix
Latest newsletter
Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica this Sat 1/28 + Klezwoods this Thurs…Jan 23, 2012
My latest albums
Via orchestrotica.com
From $8.99 (Nov 2010)
From $7.99 (May 2011)
Orange press photos by Robin Holland.
Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica Shows (3):
Visit orchestrotica.com for info about my group!
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1/28/12 | Lily Pad | Cambridge, Cambridge |
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2/24/12 | DROM | New York, NY |
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5/27/12 | Artsquest presents the Esquivel Big Band in a Luau at the Levitt — Levitt Pavillion Steelstacks | Bethlehem, Bethlehem |
Other shows (11)
My various bands and ensembles...
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2/2/12 | Center for the Arts @ University of Buffalo | Buffalo, NY |
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2/4/12 | Norwich Performing Arts Center | Norwich, NY |
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2/17/12 | Cafe 939 @ Berklee College of Music | Boston, MA |
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3/3/12 | University of New Hampshire | Durham, NH |
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3/5/12 | Boston Jewish Music Festival — Temple Ohabei Shalom | Brookline, MA |
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3/17/12 | Balkan Music Night | Concord, MA |
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4/3/12 | Gould Performing Arts Series | Bethel, ME |
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4/4/12 | Gould Performing Arts Series | Bethel, ME |
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4/4/12 | Grand Theatre | Ellsworth, ME |
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4/7/12 | Museum of Fine Arts (MFA): Remis Auditorium | Boston, Boston |
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5/12/12 | TBD | Brunswick, ME |
About Brian
Brian O'Neill is a versatile multi-percussionist based in New York City and Boston. A "percussion master and musical polymath" (Boston Phoenix), he has performed in a variety of contexts including opera and classical (Boston Festival Orchestra, Arizona Opera Ring Cycle Orchestra, Flagstaff Symphony), as a concert soloist (Sun City Symphony), pop music (Donna Summer, Archie Bell, the Del-Larks), and jazz (Peter Erskine, Wallace Roney, Ernie Watts). While he continues to freelance as an orchestral player and theatre drummer, he has become active in the global music scene performing music from Europe, the Middle East and Latin America regularly. As a multi-percussionist, he has performed with his Mexican roots band La Tuza, klezmer-Balkan-Mediterranean hybrid The Klezwoods, Mexo-Americana all-stars The David Wax Museum, sephardic trio Aljashu, flamenco guitarist Juanito Pascual and others.
Brian's musical adventures have brought him to Japan, the Hawaii International Jazz Festival, the prestigious Festival de Mexico, and Carnegie Hall in New York. Currently, he leads a "marvelously flexible" ensemble (Boston Globe) called Mr. Ho's Orchestrotica, which is comprised of two unique ensembles: a vibraphone quartet interpreting exotica music from a third-stream perspective, and the world's only big band performing Brian's transcriptions of the lost music of Juan Garcia Esquivel, the Mexican arranger and king of space-age-bachelor-pad music. In 2010, his Exotica for Modern Living recording series launched with an homage to Esquivel that received "four stars" from the Sunday Times London and was deemed "deliciously demented and entertaining in equal parts" by the Wall Street Journal. "O'Neill may be, in the long run, a better exoticist than [John] Zorn"—AllAboutJazz
As a double agent, Brian is sometimes spotted on his first, and perhaps the most ubiquitous percussion instrument—the piano—and recently joined the contemporary chamber quartet CORDIS. Keep up with Brian and learn about his addiction to studying global tambourine techniques at crashandboom.com or on Twitter (@orchestrotica). Audio/Video, Bands/projects, Show calendar.