Arts Calendar: Music in Chittenden County

Spencer Lewis will perform a solo concert of guitar & violin instrumentals and songs inside the fine acoustics of the red brick building that is Congregation Ruach haMaqom on 168 Archibald St in Burlington, Vermont on January 25th. This is his first concert in Burlington since his FlynnSpace performance in 2007.

Lewis’ signature sound combines the precision of the acoustic guitar with the sustained elegance of the violin. On stage, the live-looping of guitar and violin overdubs allow him to move in unpredictable directions, often spontaneously, to mirror or eclipse the music from his internationally known 26 album catalog.

His reflective instrumental folk grooves once described as ‘somewhere between melancholia and celebration’ can be meditative or stirring as he employs an inimitable cross flat- picking technique that combines the Carter Family's 'church -lick', Mississippi John Hurt’s fluid finger-picking, and Ramblin’Jack Elliott's interpretive style, all of which are played in a variety of tunings.

The songs he sings are transcended from folk, folk-rock and old-time music with embedded reflections of loss, change, and spiritual optimism.

Jason Baker plays the T10 Listening Room at The Double E in Essex, featuring songs from his latest release, "Common Man Blues" and maybe some special guests.

NOTE THE NEW DATE!

Presented by Young Tradition Vermont with the Bread and Butter Farm. $20 Tickets through Bread and Butter Farm 200 Leduc Farm Road Shelburne, VT, 05482. mail@breadandbutterfarm.com 802-985-9200

Brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn grew up playing music together around their hometown of Carlow, a small town in the southeast of Ireland. After moving to Dublin in 2012, they quickly became a staple of the live music and session scene in Ireland, playing their own original songs as well as folk songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and America.

In 2014 they came to the attention of Arbutus Yarns’ music filmmaker Myles O’Reilly, whose videos gained international attention for the brothers. After a chance meeting at Electric Picnic in September 2015, the brothers performed onstage with Glen Hansard, who invited them to open for him on his European tour the following October.

Since their debut EP was released in 2015, they have been busy touring Ireland, the UK and Europe, opening for acts such as Villagers, Roy Harper and Lisa Hannigan (whose band they played in for her Irish tour, June 2016). They have since played sold out headline shows in Ireland, France, Switzerland and the UK.

In 2017 they launched their debut album to great acclaim. Their second album ‘The Hare’s Lament’ was released in March 2019. They have been nominated four times in the RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards, scheduled for 10/25/19 in Dublin, Ireland. Be among the first to see them in North America.

Jason Baker plays "Socio-Political Americana" at Radio Bean in Burlington, highlighting songs from his recent release "Common Man Blues" to celebrate two years of performing solo (February 7 2018 - February 7 2020)!

Plotting TURNmusic’s next turn, Ann Decker, the experimental chamber collective’s founder and director, charted two distinct paths in search of convergence. In the first, TURNmusic explores the entwined history of Native American and African cultures in post-colonial America, drawing on selections from storyteller/composer Valerie Coleman’s Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes. This is contrasted against the second path: the fusion of chamber music and funk. In this section, TURNmusic take on Trevor Weston’s Dig It, an homage to the insurrectionist dance music that soundtracked his youth—particularly fellow New Jersey natives like Parliament Funkadelic and the Jimmy Castor Bunch.

Inspired by this brew of American traditions, funk, collaboration, compassion, and revolution, TURNmusic performs these new compositions alongside the Flynn’s first community artist-in-residence, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR). Dating back to his celebrated Voodoo Violin Concerto, and continuing through his recent 24-Hour Protest Song—performed on Church Street in Burlington with local artists and activists over an unbroken daylong stretch—DBR has fused his refined classical background with earthy abstractions and the courser textures of jazz, funk, and hip-hop throughout his career.

TURNmusic’s record of celebrating the incredible work of local musicians and music creators (including the recently launched The Late Set, an aprés concert happening that reaches into Vermont’s rich creative community), makes them natural collaborators with the likeminded DBR. For this show, DBR grounds TURNmusic’s centuries-spanning set in the present, finding resonance in the issues and styles of the here and now.

The orchestra will take on challenging and exciting works, showcasing their musical abilities with pieces such as Mario Gaetano’s Two Designs, played by the VYOA Percussion Ensemble, Franz Liszt’s Les Préludes, and the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Maestoso. VYO Senior Soloist Nathan Wu is the second featured soloist of the season, performing the first movement of Samuel Barber’s Violin Concert, Op. 14.

Altan is an Irish folk and traditional music group, which formed in Gweedore, County Donegal in 1987. The popular outfit, who are led by the world-renowned fiddler and vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, have been driven by many critically acclaimed albums and a relentless touring schedule. They emerged during the 1990s as one of Ireland’s premiere traditional musical groups and have since sold millions of records worldwide.

With their exquisitely produced award-winning recordings, ranging dynamically from the most sensitive and touching old Irish songs all the way to hard hitting reels and jigs, and with their heartwarming, dynamic live performances, Altan have moved audiences from Donegal to Tokyo to Seattle. Throughout, there has been the unwavering commitment of the band to bringing the beauty of traditional music, particularly that of the Donegal fiddlers and singers, to contemporary audiences in a way that brings out all its qualities and destroys none. In fact, Altan have always believed that Irish traditional music is a modern music in every sense and its growing influence and popularity have proved them right.

The seeds of the band lie in the music and fun of gatherings and sessions in kitchens and pubs in Donegal where virtuoso music was heard in an atmosphere of respect and intimacy - it is here that the band's heart lies till whether they are performing on tv in Australia or jamming with Ricky Skaggs on the west coast of the United States.
Altan's international status and success found a very practical recognition when they were signed in 1996 to Virgin Records, the first Irish band of their kind to be signed by a major label. The band gained gold and platinum albums in Ireland and toured larger venues, literally throughout the world, with tours in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe as well as regular successful U.S. tours.

In spite of a hectic touring and recording schedule, Altan continues fresh in their vision of bringing the beauty and joy of traditional music to audiences everywhere, and have always promised themselves to continue as long as it's fun - fortunately, it still is.

Tickets can be purchased at the Flynn Box Office. All Tickets are $37.50. 802-86-FLYNN / 802-863-5966 https://www.flynntix.org/Productions/SearchResults.aspx?sd=3/2/2020&ed=3/2/2020