Tickets are $15 at the door and $13 when purchased in advance.

Call 641-472-7634.

"Chamber music should be just like this — intimate, bonding and conversational."  said the American Record Guide about Red Cedar Chamber Music, a notable chamber music ensemble from Marion, IA coming to Fairfield on June 8.  Jan Boland, flute and John Dowdall, guitar, two core members of this group, will regale us to a flute & guitar recital on Sunday afternoon, June 8, 2008, 2:00 p.m. at The MainStay Inn, 300 N Main, Fairfield, IA. Refreshments will be served.

They’ll bring “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum!”, a concert of music inspired by the folk traditions of America and Europe. The program includes the music of America’s most famous 19th-century popular composer Stephen Foster, George Gershwin and folk music from Bolivia, Ireland and Hungary. 

The centerpiece of the concert is Red Cedar’s composer-in-residence, Andrew Simpson’s new composition Fireflies: A Folk Set for Flute and Guitar, commissioned by RCCM.  The sections are each inspired by a folk song, musical style or social issue that are part of the American folk tradition.

This program is funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, the James & Norma Jean Rosborough Foundation and the Alliant Energy Foundation.

RCCM will return in September with a quintet formation and in March and June 2009, forming a trio, and as a quintet with the Avalon String Quartet. 

Jan Boland, Flute

John Dowdall, Guitar

    PROGRAM

Traditional Bolivian:

Desde Santa Cruz

Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738):

Fanny Power

Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864):

Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair

Wilhelm Popp (1828-1903)

Hungarian Dance

Traditional Shaker Song, arr. Jan Boland

Simple Gifts

George Gershwin (1898-1937),

arr. John Dowdall & Lyle Dockendorff:

Prelude II

Summertime

    INTERMISSION

Andrew Earle Simpson:

Fireflies — A Folk Set for flute and guitar:

In the Sunflower Patch

Intake Manifold

Stars in my Crown

Sun on the River

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Sweet by and by

According to Red Cedar's Artistic Director, John Dowdall, "I began playing guitar in 1964 because I loved the music of Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, the Chad Mitchell Trio and other folk artists who were the voice of America at that time. I realize now that I was attracted not only to the melodies and the messages the songs conveyed, but also to the intimacy and interactive quality of the performances. Classical chamber music shares the same intimacy and communicative power as folk music and it seemed natural to ask Andrew to create a composition inspired by the American folk tradition.”

Executive Director Jan Boland adds, “Each of the six-movements of Fireflies is inspired by a different facet of American folk music, ranging from the haunting austerity of Appalachian mountain music to the exuberant folk-pop sounds of John Denver and the wistful musings of the hobo song Hallelujah, I’m a Bum. This delightful new commission will join other music Andrew has written for Red Cedar Chamber Music on our upcoming all-Simpson compact disc.”

Andrew Earle Simpson, currently Composer-in-Residence for Red Cedar Chamber Music and the Cantate Chamber Singers in Washington, DC, is Associate Professor at the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

www.redcedar.org.

Listen to Desde Santa Cruz

Traditional Bolivian:

Design and copyright 2009 Freddy Niagara Fonseca

Fairfield Creates