Big Ears Festival | Knoxville, TN

Penguin Cafe

DATE, TIME & VENUE DETAILS TBD

Penguin Cafe was founded by Arthur Jeffes in 2009, bringing together a talented and disparate group of musicians initially to perform his father Simon Jeffes’ legacy of world-renowned Penguin Cafe Orchestra music, ten years after his untimely death in 1997. Since that time, Penguin Cafe has continued with Arthur creating new music in the PCO tradition of genre-blending, pastoral soundscapes, combining classical instruments like violins and cellos with unexpected elements like ukuleles and melodicas. The end result is music and performances filled with great joy and beauty that leaves the audience humming the tunes and wanting for more.  

The music of Penguin Cafe Orchestra has permeated popular culture, appearing in films (Napoleon Dynamite, The Founder, Mary and Max), television (The Handmaid’s Tale, Malcolm in the Middle), and countless advertisements. “Music for a Found Harmonium” became a folk-dance staple, having been featured on the original iconic Cafe Del Mar album, and “Perpetuum Mobile” provided the musical foundation for Avicii’s “Fade Into Darkness.”

BIG EARS
April 1 – 4, 2027
Knoxville, TN · USA

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