Hope College will feature Michael Bellar and the AS-IS Ensemble on Saturday, Jan. 26, at 2 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre in downtown Holland.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Michael Bellar has performed music on six continents, but being a native of North Carolina, he stands by his slow, Southern roots. Along with creating music and touring with his group, the AS-IS Ensemble, Bellar has also toured and or recorded with Amos Lee, Art Garfunkel, Howie Day, Wheatus, Jump Little Children, Teddy Geiger, Euro pop superstar Giorgia and Jay Clifford’s Rosebud. His national TV appearances include “Late Night with David Letterman,” the “Late Show with Conan O’Brien,” the “Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, the “Ellen Degeneres Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Regis and Kelly,” and the “CBS Morning Show.” Bellar has produced and scored music for CUT Music, Fluid, Bang Music and Razorhead.
Bellar is the founder, composer and keyboardist of the AS-IS Ensemble. This alt-jazz group has performed at such venues as Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center; the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.; South by Southwest; and the JVC, Bell Atlantic and New York City Winter Jazz Festivals; along with being the former house band at the world-famous Blue Note jazz club in New York City. The group has opened for John Scofield, Tea Leaf Green, Medeski Martin & Wood, Grant Green Jr. and JFJO. The group has recorded three studio CDs: “Turned On Turned Up,” “Like It Is” and “REACT!”
In a review of the ensemble’s first performance in New York City, “Billboard Magazine” hailed the group as “Generation Next.” The “Charleston Post and Courier” praised Bellar and the ensemble for perfecting their own brand of jazz.
In addition to presenting the 2 p.m. concert, the group will perform with the Peter Kyle Dance Company on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26, at 8 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre. Tickets are required for the two evening dance concerts, and can be purchased online at tickets.hope.edu/ticketing or at the ticket office at the DeVos Fieldhouse by calling (616) 395-7890.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St.