Fire & Grace & Ash- Folk & Baroque

2459 Washington Avenue,Cleveland OH 44113

30 April, 2022

Description

A collaboration of mandolin, fiddle, and guitar that explores Bach, Vivaldi, Tango, Celtic, Spanish, American, more! Grammy Winning music. Fire & Grace“…exuded life, emotion, warmth and depth.” Otago Daily Times, New Zealand *** JUST ANNOUNCED: SPECIAL GUEST SOPRANO AMANDA POWELL *** Fire & Grace is an eclectic collaboration between guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga. Thisunique duo explores the connective musical elements of classical, folk, and contemporary traditions fromaround the world. Fire & Grace’s repertoire is vast, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi, tango to Celtic tunes,traditional Bulgarian to American fiddle tunes and waltzes, all played with a sense of discovery andcommitment to the elements of passion and virtuosity — fire and grace — found in these diverse traditions.Recent and upcoming performances have included engagements at the Carmel Bach Festival, the MozaicFestival, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, the Electric Earth Concerts, the Monterey Museum of Art, andwith Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas. In March and April 2017, Fire & Grace toured to New Zealandwith appearances at the UPSURGE Festival, the Festival of Colour, and the New Zealand School of Music.The group’s self-titled debut album combines melodies from Argentina, Bulgaria, and Western Europe withdance elements from baroque and folk musical traditions. Edwin Huizinga Performing both baroque and modern repertoire, Canadian violinist Edwin Huizinga has appearedalongside Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Dawn Upshaw, Mike Marshall, and Stevie Wonder, and has beenfeatured as a soloist with the San Bernardino Symphony, the Sweetwater Music Festival, the Trinity AlpsChamber Music Festival, and the Banff Summer Arts Festival. Edwin is a founding member of the baroqueensemble ACRONYM which has released six full-length albums of previously unknown and unrecordedbaroque music. Edwin also performs all over the world with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. As a modernviolinist, Edwin has performed in the US and Germany with The Knights NYC, and occasionally works with AFar Cry. Edwin is also a member of the Juno-nominated indie rock band The Wooden Sky, and has recentlybeen commissioned to write a piece for Canada’s 150th anniversary. He is a founding member of theClassical Revolution–an organization dedicated to shaping the future of concerts and jam sessions inalternative locations around the world–and serves as Artistic Director of the Big Sur Music Camp. William Coulter Guitarist William Coulterhas been performing and recording traditional guitar music for over twenty years. Hismost recent solo recording, The Road Home (Gourd Music) was met with critical acclaim, and in 2005, hereceived a Grammy Award for his contribution to The Pink Guitar, a collection of solo guitar arrangements ofHenry Mancini’s music. Musical collaborations have been a mainstay of William’s career and have includedmany tours and recordings including Song for Our Ancestors, with classical guitar virtuoso Benjamin Verdery,Time to Sail and One Sweet Kiss and Westward with Kerry-born Irish singer Eilis Kennedy, Simple Gifts –Music of the Shakers with cellist Barry Phillips, and Celtic Requiem with Irish vocalist Mary McLaughlin. Hisbook of transcriptions, Celtic Crossing, published by Mel Bay, includes all of the music from his recording ofthe same name. William maintains a classical guitar studio at the University of California at Santa Cruz atteaches at many summer music camps.1/2 Ashley Hoyer Southern California based composer-instrumentalist Ashley Hoyer’s myriad talents and musical accomplishments defy easy description or classification. Fluent on mandolin, violin, and cello, Hoyer crafts melodies, sonic textures and haunting harmonies that distinguish her works easily from the norm. Classically trained in violin as a child, Hoyer discovered the mandolin at age eight, then took up the cello in college. Described as a "mandolin phenomenon" by the San Diego Tribune and highly sought after by a wide range of musicians needing to round out their sound, Hoyer has performed in folk clubs, festivals, bars, dance halls, orchestras, and recording studios. Her duo with accordionist Samantha Harvey, Sam ‘n Ash, was featured on the wildly popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale,” and Hearth Music raved that The Syncopaths, an in-demand, nationally touring, folk quartet with whom she plays regularly, are "a helluva a band to imitate, and I doubt anyone could do justice to their virtuosic tunes." Hoyer also collaborates with violinist, Edwin Huizinga, and guitarist, William Coulter, fusing Bach with traditional and contemporary folk tunes. The trio premiered their "Partita Americana" at the 2018 Carmel Bach Festival. Her all-original folk trio, Long Story Short, plan to tour their debut album in 2022. Always captivated by composition, Hoyer initially began writing music in fiddle tune form. Craving a new creative medium, she forayed into composing for chamber ensembles and orchestra. The Channel Islands Orchestral Suite, an eight-movement piece, is her most ambitious undertaking yet. A world premiere was performed by The Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra in October 2019. A studio recording is scheduled for February 2022. Some past performances include: Carmel Bach Festival, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Wintergrass Festival, Lake Eden and Arts Festival, Millpond Festival, Northwest Folklife Festival, Freight and Salvage, Blackstone River Theater, The Station Inn, Swallow Hill, Bijou Theater, UCSC, CSSM, CSUCI, Cal Tech. Amanda Powell AMANDA POWELL, soprano, has been praised as “the star of the evening” (Seen and Heard International, UK) and "charismatic and theatrically arresting” (San Francisco Chronicle). A highly versatile musician, she is at home in repertoire from Monteverdi to Mozart to Ravel, and has toured internationally as soloist in baroque opera, oratorio, and crossover folk programs. Her tour performances with GRAMMY-winning baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire (Jeannette Sorrell) include such venues as the National Concert Hall of Ireland in Dublin, the Irish National Opera House, the Aldeburgh Festival (UK), the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the National Gallery in Washington, and Zellerbach Hall in San Francisco, among others. Her 2019 debut as Messiah soloist with the Calgary Symphony won kudos as "the soloist of the night... singing to perfection." As a recording artist, Ms Powell has been featured on several Apollo's Fire albums including Sugarloaf Mountain, Sephardic Journey, and Christmas on Sugarloaf Mountain, all of which received rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic and debuted in the top ten on the BILLBOARD Classical Chart. Her 2015 solo debut album, Beyond Boundaries, is an intimate program of folk, jazz, and global music. She is a fluent improvisor and has collaborated with such artists as Bobby McFerrin and Sheila Jordan.