The Music House: Spring 2013 Series
Saturday, January 26, 7:00 p.m. Ensemble Vermillian
Frances
Blaker, recorders, David Wilson, violin, Dan Smith, theorbo
Barbara
Krumdiek, cello, John O’Brien, keyboard
Ensemble Vermillian was founded by
sisters Barbara Blaker Krumdieck and Frances Blaker to explore the potential
for color and texture possible in the virtuosic compositions for cello and
recorder written in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Based in Davidson,
North Carolina and Berkeley, California, the members of EV have traveled to
meet, research, rehearse, and perform together since 2000. Having studied at
conservatories in Denmark, the Netherlands, Ohio, and Indiana respectively,
they use a blended approach to rearrange and reinterpret Baroque music to
create a sound that's both resonant and relevant.
Saturday,
February 9, 7:00 p.m. The Kickin’ Grass Band of Raleigh, NC
Jamie Dawson, mandolin-Lynda Dawson,
guitar and lead vocals- Hank Smith, banjo,
Pattie Hopkins, violin and vocals and
Patrick Walsh-bass and vocals
The Kickin Grass Band takes the stage, and suddenly you’re
captivated by pure, strong voices telling true‐to‐life stories spiced with innovative
bluegrass instrumentation. You fall in love with the rootsy, Americana style,
and can’t wait for more. In 2012, they released their fourth album, Walk
With Me which represents an exploration of life’s passages, a close-to-home
chronicle of heartbreaking loss and hopeful beginnings. “There were
life-altering events for all of us, both individually and as bandmates and
close friends,” explains Lynda Dawson. “We felt strongly that we needed to
capture and express the emotional journey we had endured through our music,
especially now that we’re on the other side looking back.” To take in the album as a singular experience
is to travel with the group from a questioning uncertainty to an understanding
acceptance. The message: the big answers may be beyond our grasp, but our
communal search for them binds us together. If you look hard enough you may
just find an answer—and a comfort—in the people who walk with you.
Saturday, March 2, 7:00 p.m. Carol Ingbretsen-Jazz singer
Carol Ingbretsen , a Raleigh native and
ECU School of Music graduate, is a highly talented and versatile vocalist who
performs in a variety of musical situations and styles. Carol has been a
featured soloist with The North Carolina Symphony, The Carolina Ballet, The
Cary Community Choir, and the Sandhills Community Chorus. Professional chorus
appearances include Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians, The National Opera
Company, and The Raleigh Oratorio Society. Carol is a member of the North
Carolina Master Chorale’s 22-voice professional chamber choir. An
accomplished jazz vocalist, Carol has appeared with many of the best jazz
musicians in North Carolina and is the featured singer for The Tar River Swing
Band of Rocky Mount, and The John Brown Jazz Orchestra.
Sunday, April 7, 3:00 p.m. Beverly
Biggs and Elaine Funaro, harpsichords
Elaine
Funaro, harpsichord, is a
frequent performer at international early music festivals and Artistic Director of Aliénor, a
non-profit organization that sponsors a world-wide competition
for new harpsichord
music. While she is regarded as one of the leading performers of new music for the
harpsichord, Funaro’s repertoire spans the entire history of the instrument.
Funaro has premiered pieces
on five continents, performing in Amsterdam, Rome, Manchester, Berkeley,
Boston and Tokyo.
In addition to her many solo recitals, including concerts at the Smithsonian
Institution and the
Library of Congress, Funaro has played with numerous symphonies and
chamber
music ensembles.
She has recorded for the Arabesque, Centaur, Gasparo, Wildboar and the
Classic Concert
labels.
Beverly
Biggs, harpsichord, is
Artistic Director of
Baroque & Beyond – North Carolina, a period music
concert series
based in Chapel Hill. Prior to moving back home to North Carolina, she lived
for many years in
the Pacific Northwest where she was founding artistic director of two period music
organizations.
Biggs has recorded CDs from the baroque, classic and early romantic periods
on harpsichord and fortepiano, with other instruments, exclusively for the Bravura Discs label. She has toured
throughout the western United States and Canada in solo and duo
performances, played with symphony and chamber orchestras, and performed hundreds of concerts
with period-music
ensembles. Biggs owns an Italian virginal, Flemish and French harpsichords, and
several period pianos
Saturday, May 4, 7:00 p.m. Patrick Ball/Shira Kammen
Patrick Ball is one of the
premier Celtic harp players in the world and a captivating spoken word
artist.
In playing the ancient, legendary brass-strung harp of Ireland with its
crystalline, bell-like voice, and in performing marvelous tales of wit and
enchantment, he not only brings new life to two cherished traditions, but
blends them in concert to create “a richly theatrical and hauntingly beautiful
performance.”
Multi-instrumentalist
and vocalist Shira Kammen has spent
well over half her life exploring the worlds of early and traditional music. A
member for many years of the early music Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars
Nova, and Medieval Strings, she has also worked with Sequentia,
Hesperion XX, the Boston Camerata, Kitka, as well as the Oregon, California and
San Francisco Shakespeare Festivals.
Sunday,
May 19, 5:00 p.m. Je
t’aime!...An Afternoon of French Song
Serena Hill-LaRoche,
soprano-Michael LaRoche, baritone-Catherine H. Garner, piano
Je t'aime!... An afternoon of French Song is
a program designed to explore the rich history of the mélodie, from the early
romantic composers through the turn of the century and well into the mid-20th
century. Song groups, cycles and individual selections will demonstrate
the progression of styles and settings that have defined this treasure of
western culture. Performed in the ideal space for musical intimacy, you
will experience the marriage of text and music in the manner that it was
originally conceived by these French masters. South Carolina based soprano
Serena Hill LaRoche (Coker College faculty member) and baritone Michael LaRoche
(ECU graduate) collaborate with pianist and ECU faculty member Catherine Garner
in duets and songs by Chausson, Fauré, Liszt, Poulenc, Dupont, Boulanger,
Chaminade, Debussy and Satie.
Suggested donations:
$20 per concert/$100 for the series
Seniors-$15 per concert/$75 for the
series
Students-$5 per concert/$25 for the
series
All concerts include a wine tasting.
Reservations Required!
Email (themusichouseingreenvillenc@embarqmail.com)
phone [(252) 367-1892]
