Renowned musician Mitzie Collins and a host of popular folk musicians present the 16th annual “Mitzie Collins and Friends Concert” of world music, a blockbuster favorite among Eastman audiences, presented as part of the Eastman School of Music summer concerts.
At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 15, in Kilbourn Hall, the audience will be treated to an eclectic and exciting mixture of musical cultures and styles as they hear an old-time Southern string band, an ensemble of hammered dulcimers, Greek dances on the guitar, the mbira (African thumb-piano), the kokle (Latvian psaltery, a plucked string instrument), the bodhran (Irish frame drums), conga drums, and percussive Irish and urban hip-hop dancing.
The program includes the Wild Root String Band, which specializes in high-energy Southern old-time tunes and songs from the Appalachian region. The band includes banjo player Michelle Burack, guitarist Dave Frenzel, fiddler Tom Owens, and Bruce Brown on the standup bass.
Striking Strings Hammered Dulcimer Ensemble will play selections from Latvia, Russia, Japan, and Germany, as well as regional New York State fiddle tunes. The ensemble is directed by Collins, a graduate of the Eastman School of Music who is known nationally and internationally as a virtuoso player of the hammered dulcimer and is the founder of her own recording label, Sampler Records Ltd. Linda Taggart, a member of the Striking Strings, will also play the kokle and ethnomusicologist Jim Kimball, faculty member at SUNY Geneseo, will join the group on concertina and fiddle.
Nicholas Goluses, world-renowned performer and professor of guitar at the Eastman School of Music, will draw on his Greek heritage as he plays a series of “Epitafios” by Mikis Theodorakis. Glenn West, who is teaching a summer institute at Eastman, will present a short selection on the African mbira of the Shoshone tribe.
Concluding the program will be a presentation of “Cross Cultural Connections.” Conceived by SUNY Brockport professor Edward Murphy, the dance composition contrasts and combines the percussive tradition of Irish dancer and urban hip-hop dancer, each accompanied by drums: the bodhran for Irish dancing and congas for hip hop.
Tickets are $8, with discounts available for families, UR ID holders, and full-time students, and are available at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office, 108 East Ave.; by phone (585) 454-2100; online at esm.rochester.edu/concerts; or at the door.
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Calendar Listing:
Wednesday, July 15
7:30 p.m.
Mitzie Collins and Friends Concert of World Music:
Eastman Kilbourn Hall, 26 Gibbs St.
Tickets: $8 (discounts available for families, UR ID holders, full-time students) available at Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office, 108 East Ave.; by phone (585) 454-2100; online at esm.rochester.edu/concerts; or at the door.
For more information, visit www.esm.rochester.edu or call (585) 274-1110.