
ALT ASO @ Salvage Station featuring Kishi Bashi
SATURDAY, MAY 13, 2023, 7:00 P.M.
Darko Butorac, conductor
Kishi Bashi, guest artist
We head for the banks of the French Broad River to perform on Salvage Station’s massive outdoor stage. Featuring Kishi Bashi — a folk-infused, cinema-inspired artist known the world over for his cross-genre and multi- disciplinary approach to music-making — this ALT ASO performance doubles as the festival opener for Asheville Amadeus 2023. The final ALT concert of the year will feature representation from Kishi Bashi’s expansive catalog, including orchestrated versions of “I am the Antichrist to You,” “Can’t Let Go Juno,” and “Manchester,” alongside American symphonic favorites specially curated by Maestro Darko Butorac and Kishi Bashi himself!
ON THE PROGRAM
SET #1
Bernstein Overture from Candide
For Every Voice that Never Sang
Bittersweet Genesis
I Am the Antichrist to You
Penny Rabbit and Summer Bear
Theme for Jerome
Summer of 42
SET #2
Vrebalov “Gratitude” from The Sea Ranch Song
In Fantasia
Can’t Let Go, Juno
Manchester
Ashokan Farewell
Marigolds
Violin Tsunami
Atticus In the Desert
Honeybody
Philosophize in It
This Must Be the Place
ASHEVILLE AMADEUS FESTIVAL

Welcome to the new Asheville Amadeus Festival!
Building upon the success of our rock-themed Festival in 2019, the 2023 Festival moves in another exciting new direction, this year celebrating all things Americana with theater, art, music, culinary arts, and more. Featuring banjo superstar Béla Fleck as our Festival Headliner, Kishi Bashi as our Festival Opener, and 25+ partner organizations offering 40+ events throughout this extraordinary ten-day Festival, this is the most ambitious Amadeus in Asheville Symphony history!
There are endless ways to get involved in this year’s Festival, including attending the myriad of free or ticketed events, buying exclusive Amadeus merch, and drinking our exclusive collaborative beer. Click on the link below to learn more about this year’s Festival.
EVENT SPONSORS
PRESENTING SPONSOR
AMBER SPONSORS
BOHEMIAN SPONSORS
GOLDEN SPONSORS
Diana Bilbrey
Olivia & Gary Zahler
William Harlan & Stephanie Carter
David & Dianne Worley
This project is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts
MEET THE SOLOIST
We are proud to present featured guest artist for Asheville Amadeus 2023 and ALT ASO: Kishi Bashi, a folk-infused, cinema-inspired artist known the world over for his cross-genre and multi- disciplinary approach to music-making.
Kishi Bashi is the pseudonym of singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter Kaoru Ishibashi. Born in Seattle, Washington, Ishibashi grew up in Norfolk, Virginia where both of his parents were professors at Old Dominion University. As a 1994 graduate of Matthew Fontaine Maury High School, he went on to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music before becoming a renowned violinist. Ishibashi has recorded and toured internationally as a violinist with diverse artists such as Regina Spektor, Sondre Lerche, and most recently, the Athens, Georgia-based indie rock band, of Montreal. He remains based in Athens.
Kishi Bashi is also the singer and founding member of the New York electronic rock outfit, Jupiter One. In 2011, he started to record and perform as a solo artist, opening for Sondre Lerche, Alexi Murdoch, and of Montreal. He supported of Montreal on their spring 2012 tour.
Shortly after Ishibashi debuted his full-length solo album “151a” on Indianapolis label Joyful Noise Recordings, NPR All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen listed Kishi Bashi as his favorite new artist of 2012 noting that he created “a radiant, uplifting soundscape” with songs such as “Bright Whites.” Kishi Bashi has since been invited to play in major festivals such as SXSW and Austin City Limits and gone on an extensive US tour with supporting acts such as The Last Bison (from his native Hampton Roads, Virginia). In early 2013, Kishi Bashi held a North American tour across the United States and Canada, continuing in EU and UK in spring 2013.
In 2014 Kishi Bashi released his own line of coffee through Jittery Joe’s called Royal Daark Blend. Each purchase comes with an exclusive song download. 2016 saw Kishi Bashi release his new album “Sonderlust” live on NPR’s All Songs Considered.
Following on from “Sonderlust”, he released
his album “Omoiyari” (a Japanese word for the idea of creating compassion toward other people by thinking about them) in 2019, in support of his feature length documentary “Omoiyari: A songfilm by Kishi Bashi” which explores minority identity and the Incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII. After 4 years in the making and over $100,000 donated by backers across the globe, the film officially premiered at the SXSW Film Festival in March 2022.
In 2020 Kishi Bashi scored the entire soundtrack for the touching Apple TV+ kids show “Stillwater” with composer Toby Chu, and released it as an album featuring 18 tracks of uplifting orchestral tunes.
His Emigrant EP, released in 2021, is a very special companion piece to ‘Omoiyari’ and serves as a time capsule of the 2020 condition and a continuation of the concepts explored in ‘Omoiyari’.
In 2022 he announced the re-issue of his debut album 151a in honor of the 10 year anniversary of its original release, as his first double LP which includes original demo’s of all the album tracks. “151a (Demo-arigato Version)” is available now on all streaming platforms.
Kishi Bashi is also equally comfortable in the orchestral sphere, having recently performed with the Seattle Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Oregon Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Nu Deco Ensemble, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra on their DECLASSIFIED: Ben Folds Presents series.
MUSICIANS
CONDUCTOR
Darko Butorac
Praised by the Westdeutsche Zeitung for his “exceptional combination of passion, elegance and well‐timed pacing”, Darko Butorac has established himself as a conductor in demand with orchestras both in Europe and the Americas. He currently serves as the Music Director of the Asheville Symphony and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra.
FLUTE
Lissie Shanahan
OBOE
Alicia Chapman
CLARINET
Shannon Thompson
BASSOON
Michael Burns
HORN
Jeffery Whaley
Mike Brubaker
TRUMPET
Chris Underwood
Chris Imhoff
TROMBONE
Justin Croushore
Jon Grodrian
TIMPANI
Todd Mueller
PERCUSSION
Caleb Briedenbaugh
Matthew Richmond
Nathan Tingler
HARP
Emily Waggoner
TUBA
Beth Wise
VIOLIN I
Mariya Potapova
Marianna Brickle
Inez Redman
Karen Pommerich
VIOLIN II
Debra Anthony
Dorothy Knowles
Ginger Kowal
Abby Chetta
VIOLA
Kara Poorbaugh
Jenny Kozoroz
Beth Kramer
CELLO
Daniel Mumm
Franklin Keel
Katie Hamilton
BASS
Lee Metcalfe