Some Events of Interest

Holly Shropshire writes:

Celebrating 50 years of Piping and Drumming!

National Capital Area Scottish Festival
May 14 from 11 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Rockville High School
2100 Baltimore Rd., Rockville, MD
Indoor—Rain or Shine!

The Festival will be replete with Scottish pipe bands, including the City of Washington Pipe Band, the MacMillan Pipe Band, the MacMillan-Birtles Memorial Pipe Band, and the Rockville High School Pipe Band.

World-renowned, GRAMMY-nominee Bonnie Rideout is performing! Other performances by: the Irish Breakfast Band, Sleat, Scottish Country Dance Society of Washington! Plus: Celtic Dancers, Ceilidh Music, Children’s Crafts and Games! FOOD! And, Silent Auction for the Thrifty!

Come and hear the music of Scotland and experience Celtic culture right here in Rockville, MD.

Adults/$7, Seniors/$5, Kids (under 18)/$1. Food at 11:00. Show at 1:00.
Benefiting the One and Only Rockville High School Pipe Band!

Visit www.rhspb.org for more information. Save May 14 on Your Calendar!

Allison Hayward tells us:

I'd like to invite you to a concert at my house featuring steller uber-fiddler Darol Anger and also-steller uber-singer Emy Phelps. Darol and Emy will be exploring singer-songwriter territory the likes of which I expect none of us have heard before. Darol will amaze us with his fiddle and octave mandolin virtuosity. No animals will be harmed in the making of this concert.

Thursday, May 26, 2011
7:00 pm
7105 Churchill Road, McLean VA 22101

RSVP by email (allisonhayward@aol.com) to me!

Will it be more Phil Ochs or Phil Lesh? More Lowell George or "George IV"? More Ani DeFranco or Annie Lennox? Heck, who knows? But you'll miss out if you don't come!

Here's The Official Blurb:

Emy Phelps with Darol Anger
A special pairing of 2 unique and deeply affecting musicians, Virtuoso fiddler and multi-string master Darol Anger here focuses his talents in service of the singer-songwriter's art. Emy Phelps is a standout artist in a large field, a prolific songwriter with a riveting voice which plumbs the deepest emotions. A musician of note in the Pacific Northwest, she has made a 30 year music career while raising 3 sons and one daughter, achieving degrees in Theatre Arts and Special Education, and touring for 7 years with Brian Ransom's Ceramic Ensemble.
In combination, these 2 musicians bring out each other's special ability to convey deep emotional resonance and spark low-key fireworks.

Fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. Exceptional among modern fiddlers for his versatility and depth, Anger has helped drive the evolution of the contemporary string band through his involvement with numerous pathbreaking ensembles such as his Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux, his Duo with Mike Marshall, and others. He has performed and taught all over the world with musicians such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Bela Fleck, Bill Evans, Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, Mark O’Connor, and Stephane Grappelli. Today Darol can be heard on NPR's "Car Talk" theme every week, along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. He has recorded and produced scores of important recordings since 1977, is a MacDowell and UCross Fellow, and has received numerous composers’ residencies and grants. He has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings and motion picture soundtracks. He is an Associate Professor at the prestigious Berklee School of music.

Emy Phelps does not remember a time when she has not sung. Trained in theater arts, she participated in Ashland, Oregon's world-reknowned Shakespeare Festival programs including both Shakespeare and contemporary productions, and danced for 3 years in The Green Show, an ongoing Festival program. She was a founding member of Brian Ransom's The Ceramic Ensemble, which toured internationally from 1980–1987. As a member of that ensemble she did research on indigenous music in Peru. She is a musician of note in the Oregon region and has performed all around the Pacific Northwest since the late 80's.
She has released one recording entitled As It Should Be on Sweet Mercy Records, and has participated in many recordings including Patrick Brayer, Chris Darrow, Norma Tenega, and Duke McVinnie. Past venues include the New Music America Festival in Philadelphia, North By Northwest, the Moab Folk Festival, Wintergrass, The Britt Festival, and Northwest Folk Life Festival in Seattle.

From Sandy Hoar we have:

The April newsletter features Martin Hayes. He will be one of the instructors at the Irish CCE MAD (music arts and dance week) camp this summer for adults and kids. See the link below for
information. I have gone every year and it is great fun and local.
http://ccepotomac.org/www/FiddleWeek.htm