February 10, 2017 - New York, NY

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts Presents the U.S. Premiere of AND NOW MOZART Infectious Lunacy and Musical Mash-ups from Igudesman & Joo Virtuosos in Music and Comedy Shred the Classics for Fun For kids and adults ages 8 to 88 March 25, 26 at NYU Skirball Center

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts will present the U.S. premiere of And Now Mozart, featuring the inspired lunacy of comedy virtuosos Igudesman & Joo, on March 25 and 26 at 8 pm at NYU Skirball Center.

If Trey Parker and Matt Stone played the violin and piano, if Penn and Teller performed music instead of magic, and if Seth Macfarlane had a twin, they would be the brilliantly outrageous Igudesman & Joo. Children and adults ages 8 to 88 will be tickled.

Violinist Aleksey Igudesman and pianist Hyung-Ki Joo are the inventive comic duo whose hilarious mix of music, pop culture and pure zaniness has won them fans of all ages and cultures worldwide. As evidence, their YouTube sketches have attracted close to 40 million viewers.

Highly trained musicians, their inspired silliness can start with Rachmaninoff or Liszt and find its way through martial arts, movie classics, rock, hip hop, folk, heavy metal and disco, step dancing and Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. Igudesman & Joo share the subversive comedic sensibilities of such influences as “South Park,” SNL, Ricky Gervais and the “Portlandia” team.

“There’s no real definition for what we do,” says Igudesman. “It’s a kind of theatrical comic event that works on multiple levels.”

As an antidote to the stuffiness of most concerts, Igudesman and Joo transform the concert stage into a musical Pee-wee’s Playhouse, where the three Bs can be Bach, Beethoven and Bond, James Bond. Igudesman and Joo don’t just play the violin with a vibrating milk frother or use wood blocks to tickle the ivories, they do it with dazzling virtuosity. The result, as Vanity Fair puts it: “the craziest, most hysterically funny music ever.”

Their comic and musical madness has also developed a huge celebrity following. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel jumped on stage for an encore performance with them at Carnegie Hall. John Malkovich rocked in his Bach skit. Terry Jones of Monty Python has said the duo “brings surrealism to the concert hall and takes its trousers down”

Literally, as Igudesman often performs in boxer shorts.

And, while most of the concert is played for laughs, Igudesman & Joo do show off their considerable musical chops with compositions of their own or from the classical repertoire. Ironically, if Igudesman and Joo weren’t such gifted serious musicians they wouldn’t be quite as funny. Their talent and extensive musical knowledge give them the freedom to be reverently irreverent.

The two met as teenagers, training at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, England. Each has a distinguished solo career, composing, arranging and performing with orchestras and chamber groups worldwide, as well as working on film scores and mentoring young musicians. The successful collaboration was born out of a desire to create a concert that they would actually want to attend.

Click for video preview: http://bit.ly/1n2vAwN

YouTube Channel with 40 million views: http://www.youtube.com/user/igudesmanandjoo

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mlc0x7eihomz5p5/AAD-ann59oX_qxfbqA2RQHKKa?dl=0

NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. The NYU Skirball mission is to showcase and support diverse and eclectic talent from around the world, while cultivating audiences for live performance through deeper engagement opportunities. For more information visit: www.nyuskirball.org.

Tickets: And Now Mozart will play March 25 and 26 at 8 pm at NYU Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets range from $35 – $65. All tickets may be purchased online at www.nyuskirball.org, by phone at 212.998.4941, or in person at the NYU Skirball Center Box Office: Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00–6:00 P.M. The NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square, New York, New York 10012.