12 Girls Band

Nederlander Concerts presents the Twelve Girls Band at the Greek Theatre.

Nederlander Concerts welcomes the Twelve Girls Band to the Greek Theatre, October 5 and to the Grove of Anaheim October 9th. The Twelve Girls Band is a refreshing and innovative blend of East and West, pop and traditional, making this band China's international sensation. With the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing fast approaching, the world's attention is already turning to the culture of China. And the biggest success story in that country's burgeoning music scene is Twelve Girls Band. Shanghai coincides with a very special milestone in the career of Twelve Girls Band: "Live From Shanghai," their first pledge drive event on PBS, which airs this June on stations around the country. Notably, this debut marks the very first time an Asian artist or group has been celebrated with a PBS special. This fall, Twelve Girls Band also launches their first major U.S. tour. Set to begin October 2nd in Oakland, CA., the tour will include a debut at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (Oct. 5), following the Grove of Anaheim (Oct. 9) as well as concerts in over 30 major markets in the States, the tour will cap a spectacular year for the ensemble.

Twelve Girls Band was formed in 2001, after its accomplished players-all of whom studied music at the most prestigious conservatories and schools across the People's Republic of China, and have played in China's top orchestras-were culled from a rigorous audition process. More than 4,000 young musicians applied, answering ads that were placed in newspapers across the country. The idea behind the group was to fuse the ancient traditions of Chinese classical and folk music with the sounds of Western pop, classical, and jazz music. The musicians perform expertly on an array of ancient and fascinating Chinese instruments, including the stringed and bowed erhu; the pear-shaped plucked lute called a pipa; the guzheng zither; the yangqin hammered dulcimer; a transverse flute called the dizi and the vertical flute known as the xiao; a single-stringed zither called the duxianquin; and the hulusi, a three-piped gourd flute. Twelve Girls Band 's first international release, 2003's Beautiful Energy, debuted first in Japan in 2003 and sold nearly two million copies there, giving Twelve Girls Band the record for both the fastest- and highest-selling Chinese release in Japanese chart history. Their follow-up, 2004's Shining Energy, broke another Japanese sales record with the highest number of sales of any album in a single day. Their first US release, 2004's Eastern Energy, reached No. 1 on the Billboard World Music album chart, and scored Twelve Girls Band the No. 62 spot on the Billboard Top 200-the highest-ranking debut for any Asian artist in Billboard chart history.