Nordic Chamber Music: Denmark

• Mads Tolling, violin
• Colin Hogan, piano & keyboard

Two-time Grammy Award-Winning (Danish) violinist and composer Mads Tolling ("Mads has the amazing talent and skills that few young musicians can match. His music is both beautiful and refreshing exhibiting his superb mastery of the modern American Jazz music that is rarely seen among his peers." – Jean-Luc Ponty) and internationally-acclaimed jazz pianist Colin Hogan will bring a fresh take on Danish music – from classical to folk to jazz – to the Nordic Chamber Music stage. With a mix original compositions and arrangements of traditional folk tunes be prepared to be swept away by this awe-inspiring duo.

About Northwest Edvard Grieg Society

http://nwegriegsociety.org

About Nordic Chamber Music

Nordic Chamber Music presents chamber music concerts featuring music from each of the five Nordic countries each year, plus a sixth concert highlighting one of the countries neighboring the region. Musicians from the Pacific Northwest, across the US, and from abroad grace the NCM stage, brining works otherwise unheard in our region. With Laura Loge as Artistic Director, the series is produced by the Northwest Edvard Grieg Society.

About Mads Tolling, violin

Mads Tolling is an internationally renowned violinist and composer originally from Copenhagen, Denmark, now living in San Francisco. As a former nine-year member of both bassist Stanley Clarke's band and the celebrated Turtle Island Quartet, Mads has won two Grammy Awards, and was nominated for a third in 2015. He was the 2016 winner of the DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Violin Award. Mads has performed with Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Barron, Paquito D'Rivera, Leo Kottke, and Sergio & Odair Assad. Mads is a current member of Bob Weir's Wolf Bros & Wolf Pack Band.

After graduating Berklee College of Music in 2003, he was recommended by Jean-Luc Ponty to join Stanley Clarke's band. He has since been featured on NPR's Morning Edition, and his recordings have received rave reviews in Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Strings Magazine and DownBeat Magazine. Mads has performed for Danish royalty – Prince Frederik & Princess Mary – at the celebration of The Danish Embassy's 50-year Anniversary. Since 2021, Mads has been a member of Bob Weir & Wolf Bros project as part of the Wolf Pack with tours across the US, including at Red Rocks, The Greek Theatre, and Radio City Music Hall. He is featured on Weir's album Live in Colorado. Mads has written several arrangements of Grateful Dead tunes for the band, some of which are now also part of the Mads Men repertoire.

Mads has twice been commissioned to write violin concertos – for Oakland Symphony and Pacific Chamber Orchestra. He has performed his symphonic works and soloed with orchestras around the US and Japan.

Mads now leads his own groups – Mads Tolling Quartet and Mads Tolling & The Mads Men. His release, Playing the 60s, is a reimagination of classic songs from 1960s film, TV and radio, such as A Taste of Honey, Hawaii 5-0, and Mission: Impossible. The album features vocalists Kenny Washington, Kalil Wilson, and Spencer Day, and it spent two months on US jazz radio's top 30.

With his groups, Mads has performed over a thousand concerts around the world, including at The Hollywood Bowl, Library of Congress, and at the Bay Area's Paramount and Herbst Theatres. As a featured Yamaha Artist, Mads leads clinics and masterclasses in the US and internationally.

About Colin Hogan, piano & keyboard

Colin Hogan was born in San Francisco to a very musical family. He began studying drums in the 1st grade, started experimenting with the guitar in middle school, and finally discovered his true passion for piano in high school. Colin was a member of the world renowned Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble alongside "young lions" Ambrose Akinmusire, Justin Brown, and Thomas Pridgen while also studying with the Jazzschool's founder, Susan Muscarella. He then attended Cal State East Bay (Hayward) where he earned a BA in piano performance.

Colin has performed on 5 continents playing everything from jazz, funk, salsa, and hip-hop, to tango and Balinese gamelan. He has performed with many legendary jazz musicians including James Moody, Peter Erskine, Bob Brookmeyer, Roy Ayers, and Maria Schneider. In 2004 he performed with electric bass revolutionary Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone at the California Music Awards which was nationally televised. Colin is currently involved in many projects including hip-hop/R&B group Dynamic, local jazz/groove/experimental collective the Jazz Mafia, international cafe music group Trio Zincalo, and jazz/funk/fusion band The Hogan Bros. with brothers Steve and Julian. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.