Acoustic Office
Plant Riverside District, which is widely known as Savannah, Ga.’s Entertainment District, is pleased to present Acoustic Office With Ricardo Ochoa at District Live, located at 400 W. River St., on Sunday, July 2 at 5:30 p.m. This special live performance will showcase an extraordinarily talented instrumental quartet combining eclectic musical styles with thunderous virtuosity, playful sophistication and palpable emotion.
Acoustic Office features acclaimed Savannah Philharmonic and Velvet Caravan violinist Ricardo Ochoa, GRAMMY Award-nominated pianist Assaf Gleizner, GRAMMY Award-winning bassist Marc Chesanow and talented New York City drummer Uri Zelig. Together, this impressive group of experienced musicians fuses global music with an American sensibility, blending classical, jazz, tango and world music influences in high-energy live performances.
“We enjoy playing music from all over the world,” Ochoa explains. “Music is an important way to communicate with people. It’s a true emotional experience.”
Ochoa is best known for his virtuosic violin performances with the Savannah Philharmonic and as a founding member of Velvet Caravan, a popular gypsy swing band and SXSW favorite that has toured nationally and earned critical acclaim. Once the youngest member of the Venezuela Philharmonic, Ochoa has served as a soloist with a number of top symphonies and orchestras across the United States. As Connect Savannah has observed, “the energy [Ochoa] emits while soaring through violin leads is completely contagious and entrancing.”
GRAMMY-nominated Israeli pianist Assaf Gleizner has been working as a composer, music director, orchestrator/arranger and pianist in New York City and around the world for the past 15 years. His most notable projects include composing and orchestrating the off-Broadway and international tour hits "The Office: The Musical" and "FRIENDS: The Musical" as well as orchestrating and arranging Stephen Schwartz's 70th birthday concert at Broadway's Hudson Theatre. He also arranged, orchestrated and produced the GRAMMY-Award nominated album Move On: A Sondheim Adventure with world-renowned jazz artist Cyrille Aimée.
Mark Chesanow, a GRAMMY Award-winning jazz musician, serves as the Acting Principal Bass with the Savannah Philharmonic and also performs live with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra and the Charleston Symphony. Throughout his career, Chesanow has shared the stage with top artists, including Wycliffe Gordon, Rod Stewart, Bernadette Peters, Isaac Hayes, the Marvelettes and The Moody Blues. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Memphis and a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in Double Bass performance.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Uri Zelig graduated from The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City with honors and works as a musician around the United States. Over the last decade, Zelig held the lead drum chair for a number of popular hit Off-Broadway parody musicals, including “'Friends: The Musical” and “The Office: The Musical.” He currently plays with jazz greats Terry Waldo, Art Baron, Vince Giordano, Saul Rubin, Bill Crow, Bruce Barth, George Cables and Ed Polcer and frequently performs at legendary New York venues, including Birdland, Zinc Bar, Arthur’s Tavern and The Cutting Room.
General admission tickets to Acoustic Office With Ricardo Ochoa are $25 per person and are available at plantriverside.com or by clicking HERE.
For a complete District Live schedule, please visit plantriverside.com/district-live or follow @districtlivesavannah on Instagram.