TAXIDRIVERSAID.COM

Monday, February 18th, BLUEGRASS EXTRAVAGANZA AT CARNEGIE HALL

FEATURING THE WORLD BELOVED, A BLUEGRASS MASS BY CAROL BARNETT AND MUSIC BY JOSEPH MARTIN & PEPPER CHOPLIN

Nancy Menk, Joseph Martin & Pepper Choplin, Conductors Distinguished Concerts Singers International

President’s Day – Monday, February 18 –

7:00pm Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents an exhilarating evening of bluegrass music with a festival chorus of 300 singers on Monday, February 18 at 7:00pm at Carnegie Hall. Taking place on President’s Day, the concert will feature The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass by Carol Barnett, a uniquely thrilling work combining the solemnity of a classical choir-based Mass with the sparkling down home sound of banjo, mandolin and fiddle. In addition, all-new, improvisatory bluegrass accompaniments will deepen and enliven a selection of choral works by Joseph Martin and Pepper Choplin.

Special guests, joining the Distinguished Concerts Singers International—comprised of 18 choirs hailing from across the US, Canada and Ireland—are the acclaimed bluegrass band Monroe Crossing. While bluegrass music and a church mass might seem like an unlikely pairing, composer Carol Barnett, in writing the work, recalled the country music with a church flavor that she heard a child. “My highest hope,” says Barnett, “is that listeners coming from one tradition—classical or bluegrass—and perhaps dubious about the other might discover something new and wonderful in the combination, as I have.” Bluegrass band Monroe Crossing lent their expertise to the Mass’ creation and, since premiering it in 2007, have performed the work over thirty times across the country. Nancy Menk, Chair in Music at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, is Guest Conductor. The concert will also present the debut of an exciting collaboration between composers Joseph Martin and Pepper Choplin and Monroe Crossing who will inject bluegrass style and infectious energy into a series of the composers’ choral works. Martin and Pepper, each of whom will conduct at the concert, chose pieces with early American, gospel or folk elements for the band to accompany, who will improvise and decorate the songs in their own fresh style. Highlights include Choplin’s “Sing Shout Praise,” set for folk instruments and infused with earthy rhythms and primal folk harmonies, and Martin’s “Great, Great Morning,” a menagerie of spirituals and gospel songs overflowing with rustic energy.

Visit here for TICKETS or 212-247-7800 or in person at the Carnegie Hall Box Office 

ngeremia: Noam Pikelny - Jim Thompson’s Horse

tragicabbot:

World’s First Online Bluegrass Academy Goes Live

Bluegrass, roots and country musicians from Memphis to Melbourne will now be able to deepen their knowledge of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and upright bass online from a roster of award-winning Bluegrass luminaries with today’s launch of the ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass. Unlike other video-based sites and DVDs, this innovative online music academy gives students the opportunity to send their teacher a recorded video of themselves practicing and receive personal feedback and individualized instruction in the form of a video response. These videos are then paired and posted in the online Academy’s Video Exchange™ library, available to all enrolled students.

(via The ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass)

songbiscuit: Chris Thile & Michael Daves perform Rabbit in the Log at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City

A little late getting around to this, but the fine folks over at Garden and Gun magazine did a great issue on the ‘bluegrass nation’ in their last issue. Features include:

Sam Bush: The Man Who Broke All the Rules

The Brothers Avett: When the Music Stops, There’s No Place They’d Rather Be Than Their North Carolina Home

The Unlikely Ambassadors of Bluegrass: Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers

I’ll be posting some of the videos on their site in due course.