Music Greats, Reider and Tolling, in a Garden with a View

Two Bay Area acoustic musicians unite for an eclectic afternoon exploring jazz and folk music traditions from all around the world. Accordionist and composer Sam Reider is joining forces with violinist Mads Tolling for a genre-busting concert featuring Danish folk songs, Argentinian tango, Venezuelan waltz, Django Reinhart, alongside American music from closer to home.

SAM REIDER is a Latin GRAMMY-nominated pianist, accordionist, composer, and educator from San Francisco, California. His original music explores the confluence of various streams of American music, from jazz and folk to pop and chamber music. He has appeared as a bandleader and soloist at major festivals and venues around the world and his performances and original compositions have been featured on NPR, PBS and the BBC. Reider has performed, recorded and collaborated with a range of artists including Jon Batiste, Jorge Glem, Sierra Hull, Laurie Lewis, and Paquito d’Rivera. From his genre-bending acoustic ensemble The Human Hands to his duo collaboration with Grammy-nominated Venezuelan artist Jorge Glem, Reider’s unique compositional voice and melodicism runs throughout his eclectic projects. His 2022 solo piano record of original music Petrichor received four stars and made the Best of 2022 in Downbeat Magazine. Reider and Glem’s album Brooklyn-Cumaná was featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk and was nominated for Best Instrumental Album in the 2023 Latin GRAMMY Awards. Reider’s latest release The Golem and Other Tales (2024), features his groundbreaking ensemble the Human Hands performing a large scale instrumental tone poem based on the legend of a clay man brought to life. In addition to his work as a performer, Reider is a prolific composer and has worked with a variety of ensembles and soloists including the San Francisco Girl’s Chorus, Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, Del Sol Quartet, and Grammy-nominated violinist Tessa Lark.

MADS TOLLING is two-time Grammy Award-winning violinist and composer from Copenhagen, Denmark, now based in the San Francisco Bay Area. A former member of both Stanley Clarke's band and the Turtle Island Quartet, Mads has performed with renowned artists like Chick Corea, Ramsey Lewis, Paquito D’Rivera, and Leo Kottke. He recently was a part of the late great Bob Weir’s Wolf Bros. Mads leads his own ensembles, and tours as a soloist.

After graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2003, Mads joined Stanley Clarke's band on the recommendation of Jean-Luc Ponty. He has been featured on NPR’s Morning Edition and received praise from the Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle. In 2016, Mads won DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Violin Award. Mads has performed for King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark at the Danish Embassy in Washington D.C.

Mads has written violin concertos for The Oakland Symphony and Pacific Chamber Orchestra and has performed them around the U.S. and Japan, including with The Hawaii Symphony and Orchestra Kanazawa. In Bob Weir & Wolf Bros, Mads has recorded three albums and toured extensively, playing venues like Red Rocks and Radio City Music Hall. With hundreds of concerts worldwide, he leads Mads Tolling & The Mads Men and recorded the album Playing the 60s, which reimagines songs from 1960’s TV, film and radio. The release topped US jazz radio charts and peaked at #5.

Mads is a featured Yamaha Artist, offering clinics and masterclasses globally.