Audience Choice Award “Best Streaming Series 2020-2021”
- San Francisco Classical Voice
MusiKaravan is an intimate musical adventure that brings the intrepid quest of Etienne Gara’s and YuEun Kim’s 6-month pandemic road trip - through snow storms, tsunamis, ostriches and unexpected human interactions - into concert halls everywhere.
Now touring concert venues as a trio of two violins and a cello, MusiKaravan was born in April 2020 in response to the closure of all concert venues. Etienne Gara and YuEun Kim, violinists of L.A.-based chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum, decided to take to the road with their instruments and Boris, their 1971 VW bus, to bring music where it was most needed.
Living out of their vintage Volkswagen and performing concerts for farm workers, winemakers, random passersby, and even the occasional turkey, Etienne and YuEun traversed the west coast from Mexico to Canada and back over six months in 2020 and 2021. Filming their 4000 mile trek as it evolved, their resulting 15-episode video series received the Audience Choice Award for Best Streaming Series in 2021 from San Francisco Classical Voice. Enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of viewers, their goal was to celebrate the dedicated people who “worked hard to feed us physically and emotionally with quality products.”
MusiKaravan captures and transforms the delirious energy of Delirium Musicum into more intimate, impromptu musical picnics. Performing selections for all ages and backgrounds, our trio punctuates the concert with stories and photo projections from MusiKaravan’s original 6-month journey. Short pieces from French chansons to audience favorites like Monti’s Czardas, from Brahms’ Hungarian Dances to Brazilian and Korean pop tunes, from Vivaldi to Charlie Chaplin, are selected during the concert together with the audience. It’s never the same concert twice!
MusiKaravan shInes a special light on our instinctive and essential desire to connect with one another, to share the emotional challenges we all face, every day. More than a concert, the immediacy of a MusiKaravan show is a deeply human experience where music opens hearts and creates unforgettable memories.
Violinist and visionary Etienne Gara is Artistic Director of the critically-acclaimed chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum - a Warner Classics exclusive artist - and an award-winning soloist. He has recorded a solo album on a Stradivarius from 1714, performs throughout North America, Europe and Asia, and is broadcast internationally. An in-demand and eclectic artist, he was featured on Leonard Cohen’s last album. He and Delirium Musicum remain unswervingly committed to “saving the world one delirious note at a time.”
Violinist YuEun Kim, an international competition winner and in-demand soloist and chamber musician, performs around the world on both Baroque and modern violin, and has a YouTube channel boasting over 14,000,000 views. When not playing the violin, YuEun can be found enjoying the hottest food she can find.
Cellist Stella Cho was raised in the UK and made her solo début at London’s Royal Albert Hall at the age of fifteen. Since then, she has concertized throughout Europe, South Korea, and the U.S. and has been featured on national television and radio on numerous occasions. Her super-power is being a human GPS – she can point you to any restaurant at anytime, anywhere.
Ryan Baird, double bassist, has played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Phoenix Symphony, and the Fort Worth Symphony, as well as in numerous festivals in the U.S. and Canada. He has completed numerous ultramarathons; the craziest distance he’s run so far is 100 km.
NOTE: MusiKaravan performs as a trio (Stella and Ryan take turns)
