When Bay Area mandolin virtuoso and musical polyglot Mike Marshall takes the stage, there's just one thing you can always expect: the unexpected. Tonight's program features two of Mike's current projects, Choro Famoso and Big Trio.

Having first gained acclaim for his groundbreaking "newgrass" work with David Grisman more than two decades ago, Mike Marshall has become the leading proponent of an ebullient hybrid of folk-jazz-classical music that explores territory stretching all the way from Brazil through Appalachia to Europe and Africa, by way of Manhattan and the swamps of his native Florida.

Mike is joined by a group of superb jazz and Brazilian instrumentalists in Choro Famoso. With Mike on mandolin, 7-string guitarist Colin Walker, clarinet and saxophone player Andy Connell, and percussionist Brian Rice perform fiery Brazilian dance rhythms. Choro, the swinging strings, reeds, and percussion fusion from which samba and bossa nova grew, is rooted in the early 1900s when Portuguese, Italian, and Eastern Europeans brought their folk and classical traditions to a Brazil rich in the vitality of African, Indian, and Latin styles. Brazilian mandolinist Danilo Brito will be joining Choro Famoso and Mike Marshall tonight!

Big Trio combines Mike's mandolin, guitar, and mandocello with the impressive talents and boundless musical imagination of two members of the next generation of string instrumental virtuosos, Alex Hargreaves (violin) and Paul Kowert (upright bass). Mike spent the past year creating a body of music to highlight the talents of his two cohorts. The music incorporates Mike's love of traditional American roots musical forms with western classical music, Brazilian, Indian, and free form jazz influences, creating a unique form of new acoustic American instrumental music.