Friday, October 24, 2008

Stones Unturned "Returns" for Midwest Concerts


Celtic Duo “Stones Unturned” featuring Martha Waldvogel-Warren and Christopher Layer to perform acoustic concerts in Grand Rapids and Holland, Michigan and Lafayette, Indiana.

“When we first met in music school, we had no idea that we would be collaborating on three CD’s and countless concerts in Europe and North America!” Said Uilleann Piper/Irish Flute virtuoso, Christopher Layer. After 25 years of musical partnership, Harpist Martha Waldvogel-Warren and Christopher Layer will be bringing their amazing renditions of Celtic Dance tunes and love songs to stages here in Michigan this November.
The duo, who call themselves “Stones Unturned” formed in the 1990’s to “present traditional music in a new light” The duo recorded three of their CD’s in the Swiss "Unterland" in the town of Winterthur. “We wanted to create live music: acoustic, no overdubs, so we recorded live to 2 microphones….Something that sounded like we were playing in your living room.” Said Layer. Concert reviews in Switzerland have called their performances, “Enchanting” and “Filled with the authentic sounds of Ireland and Scotland”.
The duo will give concerts in Holland, Grand Rapids, and Lafayette, Indiana this Fall with several more performances to come next spring in greater Michigan. “Well, after Martha and her husband Urs moved to Michigan to raise their two young children, Benji and Ellie-Rose, we knew we would have to find some new places to share our music with the public. As it turns out, folks in Michigan love trad music and we have had an amazing reception in Michigan so far!” Said Layer.
“Folks can expect to hear Scots and Irish tunes, fast and furious, as well as some really sweet ballads and American folk tunes that are timeless. Both of us play traditional music, but both of us love how trad tunes influenced Baroque composers like Bach or Telemann too, so we usually feature one piece of theirs as well. Neither one of us believes that "classical music” should wear a powdered wig and high collar, so we are pretty "free" with our interpretations. We are looking for things like improvisation and groove in Baroque music: two things that were abandoned for a long time during the 20th century when folks interpreted that early music.
Layer, is the Uilleann Pipe soloist of the Trinity Irish Dance Company, flautist for Early Music New York, Artist In Residence for the Moab Music Festival, and is frequently featured as a soloist with major symphonies in the U.S. Waldvogel-Warren’s talents were honed at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and is considered one of the great masters of Trad-Classical crossover music.

Dates and times:
Thursday, November 13th, 7pm, Third Reformed Church, 111 w. 13th st., Holland, Michigan
Friday, November 14th, 8pm, Wealthy Theater, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Sunday, November 16th, 3:30pm, Loeb House Inn, Lafayette, Indiana