Playing For Change To Perform At The Lincoln Theater 2/27

Grammy Award-winning producer Mark Johnson traveled the world, recording and filming street musicians of different faiths, backgrounds, and ethnicities, and blended their contributions into one unified and moving performance.

The final product aired as a documentary on PBS called Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, and a collection of musicians from the film came together for a live performance at the 2009 SXSW festival as the Playing for Change Band. The group's fervent delivery of blues, gospel, reggae, and Afropop has led to an amazing run of sold out shows, moving audiences worldwide and earning their album, Playing for Change-Songs Around the World, a remarkable debut on Billboard's Top 10.

CAPA presents Playing for Change at 7:30pm on Monday, February 27, at the Lincoln Theatre (769 E. Long St.).

Tickets are $25 and $35 at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase tickets by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000. Students between the ages of 13-19 may purchase $5 PNC All Access tickets while available.

This Spectrum Series performance is made possible through the generous support of CAPA season sponsor American Airlines and Spectrum Series sponsor David and Mo Meuse.

What began as a PBS documentary with The Lofty goal of fostering hope and inspiration through music has now become a worldwide phenomenon. Inspired by the passion and energy of street musician Roger Ridley’s rendition of “Stand by Me,” Grammy Award-winning producer Mark Johnson set out across the globe on one of the most incredible journeys in modern music.

About the program: Johnson traveled the world, recording and filming street musicians of different faiths, backgrounds, and ethnicities, then blended their contributions into one unified and moving performance. Many of these artists would never actually meet, but their talents and passion were brought together in sonG. Johnson explains the process as, “layering musicians on top of each other. They could all hear whatever had come before them, and then they could find a way to make their track something that was more of a universal song.” The final product aired as a documentary on PBS called Playing for Change: Peace through Music and went completely viral on YouTube, with PFC’s “Stand By Me” video reaching well over 20 million views.

A collection of musicians from the documentary came together for a live performance at the 2009 SXSW festival as the Playing for Change Band. The group’s fervent delivery of blues, gospel, reggae, and Afropop led to an amazing run of sold out shows, moving audiences worldwide and earning their album, Playing For Change – Songs Around The World, a remarkable debut on Billboard’s Top 10.

PFC continues on their mission to inspire, connect, and bring peace through music with the release of Playing For Change Live, a special two-disc CD/DVD that documents their critically acclaimed 2009 world tour.

www.PlayingForChange.com