Cynthia Sayer & Her Joyride Band 2018 China Tour

After 2015 China debut, Cynthia Sayer and Her Joyride Band has come back to China with “The American Music Revue” brought the authentic flavours of American music to thousands of audience in 6 cities across China.

From free outdoor concert for over 2,000 audience at Xihu Bloom Music festival, to live show at JZ Bar in Guangzhou; from free concerts for underprivileged children at Fushan Village Primary School in Baoding, Hebei to the improvisation master classes at Shenzhen Art School with elite Chinese instrument students and Beijing Midi School of Modern Music, our events have covered and inspired audience of all ages and students of different grades and musical levels with concerts, master classes, and workshops.

Concert Program

Four world-acclaimed traditional jazz musicians, Cynthia Sayer & Her Joyride Band, presented a delightful program of traditional music from the United States to thousands of Chinese audiences in different cities and venues as jazz bars, classical music hall, and university theater!

Audiences are brought on a musical journey that includes the hot swinging sounds of big city speakeasies and jazz joints, foot-stomping barn dances, lonely cowboys on the range, and rockin’ southern swamp parties with Hot Jazz, Western Swing, Bluegrass, Blues, and more!

“Cynthia Sayer is a rarity; a woman who plays banjo with drive and virtuosity.”

— THE NEW YORK TIMES

"A dazzling evening, a capacity crowd... Nobody wanted it to end."

— GUARDIAN NEWS (England)

Education Program

The musicians of Joyride Band, Cynthia Sayer, Dennis Lichtman, Mauro Battisti and Larry Eagle are not only top musicians in the world, but also experienced teachers who give workshops and masterclasses on their tours around the world.

These four artists introduced jazz to classical music students and traditional Chinese music students who have no trainings in improvisations. They also worked with community-based amateur band and performed together! Many attendees were surprised to learn by how use their traditional Chinese instruments to can improvisations and swings!

Social Benefit Program

Cynthia Sayer and Joyride Band presented free Children’s Concerts to 1,500+ underprivileged children at 3 schools for children from migrant workers’ families in suburbs of Beijing.

For most of the students, it was their first time to listen to the jazz music, watch a live show of a band, or to see a banjo (most of kids called Banjo "guitar"). To the musicians, the most touching moments were when the students came up to us after the concerts, with great curiosity in their eyes and took the courage to ask us, “will you come back next time?”

Tour Calendar

Oct. 28, Hangzhou
Xihu Blooms Music Festival

Oct. 30, Shanghai
Shanghai Jiaotong University

Nov. 1, Shanghai
School of Music, Shanghai University

Nov. 3, GuangzhouGuangdong Times Museum

Nov. 4, Guangzhou
JZ Club

Nov. 7, Shenzhen
Shenzhen School of the Arts

Nov. 8, Shenzhen
Lavo Jazz Bar

Nov. 10, Beijing
La Plantation

Nov. 12, Beijing
Beijing Chaoyang Bowen Experimental School (Supported by Beijing Sun Future Foundation )

Nov. 13, Xushui
Fushan Village Primary School (Supported by Beijing Sun Future Foundation )

Nov.14, Beijing
Dandelion Middle School (Supported by Ullens Center for Contemporary Art)

Nov. 15, Beijing
Beijing Midi School of Music

Words from Ping Pong

The drummer of the Joyride Band, Larry Eagle, is a two times Grammy Award winning musician and has traveled worldwide to perform. During one of the interviews Larry told us what makes it different to perform in China: the audience come to the concert with great curiosity and an open mind. In America and many other places, early jazz may have its image as an “old-fashioned” music style, but in China, it is fresh and novel, and the audience are open -- for us (the jazz musicians) the best gift is an open-minded audience.
Ping Pong have also learned from the true spirit of jazz -- for every song in jazz, no matter how many times we’ve heard it, we find something new at each concert; for every encounter with an audience, our artists share a performance that help us to discover a broader world, and each time it enable us to deepen the conversations that build the bridges between different cultures.
We’d also like to thank our friends, program partners, sponsors and presenters who have supported us and made this tour possible. This year we had included many more education events that bring performances to the underprivileged populations in China. Ping Pong Productions will keep working on the same direction in our future education programs, as part of mission to Bring China and the World Together through the Performing Arts.

Ping Pong Productions
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know more about Cynthia Sayer
and Joyride Band 2018 China tour!