Darol Anger, who first came to the attention of the bluegrass and acoustic music worlds through his work on fiddle with the original David Grisman Quintet, has been named as an associate professor at the Berklee School of Music.
Since his time with Grisman in the late 1970s Anger has continued to blaze trails as an innovator and educator. He was a co-founder of Turtle Island String Quartet, celebrated for bringing contemporary harmony and form to the venerable string quartet format, and performed and recorded with Psychograss with Tony Trischka, David Grier and Mike Marshall.
From the Berklee press release…
Evangelizing interest in contemporary improvising and vernacular strings, Anger is an innovative and popular clinician who also works with teachers and students of all ages in school, university, camp and festival settings across the United States. As a string educator, in the American String Teachers Association and with the Jazz String Caucus, he bring more than 25 years experience to teaching and residency experiences in jazz, blues, fiddle, chamber and orchestra settings. He has performed and taught all over the world with musicians such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Bill Evans, Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Marin Alsop, the Detroit Symphony, Mark O’Connor, Bela Fleck, and Stephane Grappelli.
Darol has also been instrumental in bringing attention to the brightest young stars in the burgeoning movement of string players who circle the periphery of classical, bluegrass and new acoustic music. His Republic of Strings projects have highlighted many of these talented artists, as in the video below. You’ll see Anger and Scott Nygaard (on guitar) with Brittany Haas on fiddle (now with Crooked Still), Tristan Claridge on cello (also with Crooked Still) and Paul Cowert on bass (Punch Brothers), shot in 2007.
Berklee says that Darol will teach improvisation and vernacular music styles. It’s a real coup for the school, and sure to accrue to the benefit of their string program.
