The duo of Rolf Erdahl and Carrie Vecchione will present The Spirit Sings, a program on the transformation of African American music Sept. 26 at the Grand Marais Public Library. The world’s only professional oboe/bass duo will also appear in concert Sept. 25 at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
The Grand Marais Public Library will present The Spirit Sings, a program of African American music as it transformed from slave songs to jazz at 1 p.m. Sept. 26.
The program will feature the music of OboeBass! (the duo of Rolf Erdahl, double bass and Carrie Vecchione, oboe), the world’s only professional oboe/bass duo.
Erdahl and Vecchione have had a unique career focused on reaching, involving and educating people through the creative power of music. Their repertoire is virtuosic, demanding, and accessible, with folksong, jazz, tango, and literary inspirations. They make contemporary chamber music comprehensible, meaningful, engaging, and inspiring for their audiences.
Vecchione and Erdahl are both classically trained musicians with doctorates in music performance and extensive performing and teaching experience. When they married, they discovered very little had been written for their combination of oboe/ English horn and double bass. Talented composer friends stepped into the breech and the variety of styles and expressions of the music written for them convinced them to pursue a career as a duo specializing in new music for oboe and double bass.
Their series of original programs blend storytelling, performance, and children’s literature about music to bring basic musical concepts and history to life. “As we pass on the traditions of the past, we help people be part of what is to come in the ongoing, wildly rollicking, and ever relevant history of classical music,” they said.
Spirit Sings explores the legacy of African Americans and their contribution to American music, from slave songs that evolve into our unique American music form, jazz, and also pivotal classical performers like the great opera singer Marian Anderson. This program is part of their Pages of Music series and is best for 5th grade through adult audiences.
The duo appears the evening before in concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts, September 25 at 7:30 p.m.
For more information contact the library at (218) 387-1140.
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