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CURATIONS & PROVENANCE

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ARTIST/CREATIVE/EDUCATOR

Name: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
City/Place: Los Angeles, California
Country: United States

Life & Work

Bio: Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer, music director, producer, DJ, and educator based in his hometown of Los Angeles, California.

The depth and range of Atwood-Ferguson’s work is vast, having contributed to over 500 recordings, and 2,500 live concerts. He has a rare gift and serious devotion and dedication to developing it; he effortlessly bridges diverse genres and generations of musical and cultural elements into cohesive and magical presentations. And it’s his ability to connect with music of all styles, forms and traditions that sets him apart. Miguel’s interests are many and he performs, tours and records with ensembles ranging from electronic, avant-garde, jazz, classical, hip-hop, and pop to name a few from countries all around the world. Many long years of practice and study prepared him for what is now a life of constant composing, conducting, performing, improvising, and producing.

Miguel’s formal violin lessons started at age 4, though he recalls experiencing music as early as in utero. “I experienced live music while my mom was pregnant with me when she went to weekly music nights with my dad at their friend’s house.” The child of two musical parents – his mother a special-education teacher, his father a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and accomplished recording artist – Miguel was raised in a creative environment, growing up in the famed artist district of Topanga Canyon. With so many influences to mention, both musical and other, Miguel thinks back fondly on what he listened to growing up, “Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, opera, country music, Motown, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles . . .” In addition he listens to and finds great inspiration from, “My friends and colleagues, as well as greats such as John Coltrane, J.S. Bach, Maurice Ravel, Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Hermeto Pascoal, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Bernard Herrmann, Henri Dutilleux, Fritz Kreisler, L. Subramaniam, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Béla Bartók, Claude Debussy, Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Parker, McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Thelonious Monk, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Woody Shaw, Eric Dolphy, Larry Young, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, J Dilla, James Brown, Kenny Kirkland, Dave Holland, Brad Mehldau, Mulgrew Miller, Michael Jackson, James Jamerson, Madlib, MF Doom, etc . . .”

Currently working on various solo, duet, ensemble, and concept records where he is the lead artist, Miguel also makes time to write and perform arrangements for a wide array of artists and bands as well as leading his groups Quartetto Fantastico, The Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble and specialized orchestral configurations. It is his goal “to build toward having an orchestra that plays music from across the globe with international musicians of Peace and Love.” All of this was set up by a career as a session violist and budding symphonic composer that started in his days as a junior high-school student at Paul Revere Middle School when The Pacific Palisades Symphony performed his ‘Serenade in D Major’. (By the age of 17, Miguel had already been the feature of segments on KCET and the Disney Channel, highlighting his incredible talents. It was clear then, that with focus and determination, Miguel would reach great heights, and when he presented his final project as a high school senior at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, his first viola concerto ‘In Memoriam Of Love Lost’, his path was all the brighter). He would move on from Crossroads to the University of Southern California, where he graduated with a degree in Viola Performance, and a growing resumé.

As a violist, Miguel appeared with Big Boi (Outkast) at the 2004 Kid’s Choice Awards on Nickelodeon, with Rihanna on the Jay Leno Show and at the 2007 American Music Awards, with Christina Aguilera on her 2006 MTV special ‘Back to Basics’, and with John Legend and Kirk Franklin at the 2008 BET Gospel Celebration. He also played with Shakira, Wyclef Jean and Gnarls Barkley at the 2007 Grammy Awards, with Hall & Oates on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Extra, and The Megan Mullally Show, and with Pink at the 2008 American Music Awards. In 2009, Miguel was on the season finale of ‘America’s Got Talent’, backing up Susan Boyle. Miguel returned to CBS studios again to perform on ‘American Idol’ backing up Lana Del Rey and to Warner Bros. to perform with both Father John Misty and Mikal Cronin on The Conan O’Brien Show in 2014 and Robert Glasper in 2016. Miguel had the honor of playing violin on stage with Lady Gaga for her career breakthrough performance of The Sound of Music at the 87th Annual Oscar Awards in 2015. In 2017, Miguel had the honor of arranging for and performing with a string quartet on the Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon for artists Anderson .Paak and Knxwledge supporting their duo group 'NxWorries.'

In orchestral settings, Miguel has joined the likes of John Williams, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Michael Tilson Thomas, Zubin Mehta, Emanuel Ax, James Galway, Sarah Chang, Feist, Roy Hargrove, Francisco Aguabella, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, Ray Brown, Brad Mehldau, Guru (Gang Starr), Vince Mendoza, and Henry Mancini among many others. In 2013, through a NEA grant, Miguel was commissioned to write a concerto for Flute, Viola, and Jazz Orchestra which was premiered to great acclaim.

As a studio musician, he has recorded for Mary J. Blige, will.i.am, Dr. Dre, Flying Lotus, Anderson .Paak, Raphael Saadiq, Kobe Bryant, Seu Jorge, Heath Ledger, Lianne La Havas, John Cale, Swizz Beatz, Eddie Murphy, No I.D., Barry Manilow, Kimbra, David Foster, Joss Stone, Bilal, Michael Bublé, Marisa Monte, Common, Randy Jackson, and on Ray Charles’ Grammy winning album ‘Genius Loves Company’.

As a featured artist, Miguel has performed and/or recorded alongside Hubert Laws, Billy Higgins, Brian Blade, Kamasi Washington, Flying Lotus, Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner, Erykah Badu, The Roots, Chaka Khan, Robert Glasper, Alphonse Mouzon, Airto Moreira, Buster Williams, The Cinematic Orchestra, Harvey Mason, Saul Williams, Billy Childs, Henry Grimes, Patrice Rushen, Ndugu Chancler, Hiatus Kaiyote, Bennie Maupin, Ravi Coltrane, Eric Harland, and The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Miguel has had the honor of performing in the personal bands of Anderson .Paak, Flying Lotus, Austin Peralta, Kamasi Washington, Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner, Makaya McCraven, Jamael Dean, Dwight Trible, Mulatu Astatke, Arthur Verocai, Bebel Gilberto, Azar Lawrence, Wadada Leo Smith, Carlos Niño, Mia Doi Todd, Nate Morgan, Alex Cline, Vardan Ovsepian, Josh Nelson, and Chris Abani among many others.

Miguel has performed at top venues throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South America, Australia, and Europe. In addition, he’s been a featured performer on the internationally acclaimed BBC Radio 1 program ‘Worldwide’ in London hosted by Gilles Peterson and on Los Angeles-based stations KUSC 91.5 FM, KCRW 89.9 FM and KPFK 90.7 FM. Miguel has also been a part of 3 TED Conference events as a performer, composer and guest programmer.

One of Miguel’s most incredible gifts is the ability to record ‘orchestras’ of himself, and was coined “The One Man Orchestra” by will.i.am. As a 1 man orchestra, Miguel composes for violin, viola, cello, and sometimes basses, piano, keyboards and percussion, and plays all of the instruments. A major part of his livelihood has been doing just that for esteemed people such as Oprah Winfrey, who in 2011, chose to use ‘Own It’, a song Miguel made with will.i.am for the Black Eyed Peas album ‘The Beginning’, as the theme music for the main promo of her new TV Network ‘OWN’.

Another of Miguel’s great achievements was in 2009 when he composed and conducted the historic ‘Suite for Ma Dukes’ concert in Los Angeles leading over 60 musicians, whom he chose and contracted, in tribute to the transcendent modern hip-hop producer J Dilla. As composer and conductor that legendary February night, Miguel featured special guests Bilal, Posdnous (De La Soul), Talib Kweli, Karriem Riggins, Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner, and more. The Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble has featured guest appearances by Sly Stone, Shuggie Otis, George Clinton, Seu Jorge, Kamasi Washington, Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Leon Ware, Flying Lotus, Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave, Moses Sumney, Marie Daulne (Zap Mama), J Rocc, Coco (Quadron), Georgia Anne Muldrow, Austin Peralta, James Gadson, Mayer Hawthorne, José James, Meshell Ndegeocello, Aloe Blacc, Pharoahe Monch, Daedelus, Sara Gazarek, Nai Palm (Hiatus Kaiyote), Deantoni Parks and Ndugu Chancler, among others.

In 2016, Miguel had the honor and great responsibility of orchestrating and conducting the entire Season 1 of the acclaimed 'Luke Cage' series by Marvel Comics. Miguel helped define the character of the music for the series by selecting the instruments that you hear on the soundtrack and by the unique way in which he wrote for them each episode. Miguel at times composed his own unique melodies around those of the credited composers in addition to helping conceive of the sound of the score itself by choosing to have the sound of muted brass throughout the soundtrack adding to the sinister qualities of some of the gangster characters of the show and by having the harp featured in the particular way Miguel chose to write for it.

Later in 2016, Miguel was reunited with Dr. Dre as he was called upon to orchestrate and conduct the score for Apple Music's 'Vital Signs' bio pic series starring Dr. Dre.

Miguel concluded 2016 with performing Suite For Ma Dukes at the London Jazz Festival to rave reviews. An organizer of the London Jazz Festival remarked that Miguel's performance was "One of the best performances in the history of the London Jazz Festival."

2017 saw Miguel continuing to score, write, record and perform towards his own projects like presenting Suite for Ma Dukes in Los Angeles, London, North Sea Jazz Festival, and New York's Lincoln Center all to great acclaim as well as producing the musical score for the recently released Puff Daddy's 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop' documentary of Bad Boy Records.

In 2017, modern icon, Questlove of the legendary band The Roots, reached to Miguel asking him to arrange and conduct a very special Orchestral concert for Amazon Music which featured the Roots, Chaka Khan, Robert Glasper, Erykah Badu, Black Thought, and Bilal. After the great success of that concert, Questlove employed Miguel once again in 2018 to arrange the bulk of the music for ‘4U: A Symphonic Celebration of Prince’ which is still currently touring globally to critical acclaim.

2018 and 2019 included Miguel leading his own groups to extremely receptive large crowds in New York, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cape Town South Africa, and Geneva Switzerland.

Recently, Miguel had the honor of being a co-writer on the song ‘Make It Better’ featuring one of the biggest legends of recorded Music- the Great Smokey Robinson. The song is featured on the 2020 Grammy winning R&B album of the year ‘Ventura’ by Anderson. Paak. Additionally, Miguel arranged and recorded string orchestras of himself on two songs.

In 2021, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson’s debut record 'Les Jardins Mystiques' will be released on the Los Angeles indie label ‘Brainfeeder’.

Contact Information

Contact by Webpage: http://www.miguelatwoodferguson.com/connect-1
Record Company: Brainfeeder

Media & Markets

▶ Twitter: MiguelAtwdFrgsn
▶ Instagram: miguelatwoodferguson
▶ Website: http://www.miguelatwoodferguson.com
▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/miguelsokaviola
▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCLjUIiNAp6JB58HxVxh4LfQ
▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/7Lk6pVooHad3TIwkb6GQdU?si=72d0499df5b64d35
▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/27WhSdin9UzPN6wf5a0SPx?si=580d7949396b40c8
▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/4q7JXNMPSRDwqeKAz9jHlX?si=c03350e2c32a4920
▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/2tDtIh52EB26AAZUKtKev7?si=792e67ae4ef94fc7
▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/0XTdyTQDPAzTWcrnPnYV6b?si=9f5b307d8fa84b0a
▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/7vO8z936RDeskc2fn5VrZA?si=558284abc7d2411f
▶ Articles: http://www.miguelatwoodferguson.com/press

Clips (more may be added)

0:15:05
The Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble: 'Epsilon Eridani/When You're Older'
By Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

64 views
0:13:19
MIguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble feat Flying Lotus "Drips/Take Notice"
By Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

59 views
4:23
The Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Ensemble: 'Deliver the Word' feat. Aloe Blacc
By Miguel Atwood-Ferguson

56 views

This Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Vertex is within giant steps of all other vertexes in our matrix — and by extrapolation — within close, discoverable steps of the entire planet. Access...
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