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Performing Arts

click "Play" to hear Maria Bachman on the Festival and Philip Glass]


Telluride 2009 5 Devotees of the Telluride Musicfest have already gotten their tickets. For Festival virgins, the following is the schedule:

All Concerts at 7:30PM
    •    June 24 CONCERT #1 at Mai Home (at Skyline Ranch)
    •    Featuring Trio Solisti, founding ensemble
    •    Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op 49
         Schoenfield Cafe Music
         Mendelssohn Trio No. 2 in C minor, Op 66

    •    June 28 CONCERT #2 at Mai Home (at Skyline Ranch)
    •    Artists: David Harding, viola; Wendy Sutter, cello; and Trio Solisti
         Beethoven Duet with Obligato Eyeglasses for viola and cello Woo 32
         Ravel Sonata for violin and cello
         Mendelssohn Sonata in D major for cello and piano
         Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor

27 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Maria Bachman on the concert series]

Telluride 2009 5
The seven year itch may ring true for marriages, but fans of the Telluride Musicfest have grown more ardent over the years – and with good reason. The heavy breathing always begins when the Hungarian beauty picks up her 18th century instrument, a Niccolo Gagliano violin, and starts fiddling: The ensuing pyrotechnics mesmerize.

She is Maria Bachman, artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest and a member of the Trio Solisti, recently described by The New Yorker as "the most exciting piano trio in America." The musical materiality between her and her colleagues,  Alexis Pia Gerlach on cello and Jon Klibonoff on piano, is the reason: their complicity is perfect and other-worldly. They play as one.

23 June, 2009 /

by Daiva Chesonis

Otdofsccoversmall[1] Penguin Books author Kaya McLaren is touring Colorado. She will be in Telluride at Between the Covers Bookstore & Café on Tuesday, June 23, 7-9 p.m. to read from and discuss her latest novel “On the Divinity of Second Chances.”  This is our first-ever Book Clubs Mixer. A store full of women who like to read-'n'-discuss plus some wine … what could be more fun, right?"

If you’ve ever been given (or given someone else) a second chance, you’ll relate. If you live in a ski town, you’ll relate. (She actually started the novel on a snow day!) If you have children going in a multitude of directions, you’ll relate. If you think dancing can save a relationship, you’ll relate. If you’re menopausal, you’ll relate.

Kaya McLaren's previous book is "The Church of the Dog."  She’s as enthusiastic about living as she is about dogs. (Can you relate?) With weekly closings of some of America’s finest independent bookstores, gathering at creaky floored shops and talking about books is more important than ever. Thanks for your continued support of Telluride’s indie bookstore … We’re only as good as our readers!
 
22 June, 2009 /

Thursday night's closer for Telluride Bluegrass was David Byrne. OK, skeptics, maybe David Byrne doesn't represent bluegrass for you, but what a show! Everyone was dressed in white- David, the band, the three very energetic dancers, and at the end of the evening the crowd,...

20 June, 2009 /

The 2009 Telluride Bluegrass Festival kicked off Thursday morning with a great set by two artists who really need no introduction to Telluride audiences. Tim O'Brien has performed at TBF for over 25 years, and the 36th running is Jerry Douglas' 25th appearance. Gentlemen, it...

19 June, 2009 /

Rattlin Bones Roots music goes global when Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson perform at the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Saturday, June 20.

Country music by any name – bluegrass, roots, Americana –  is as southern as Martha White's self-rising flour, the Confederate Flag and hospitality, the genre derived from the Scots-Irish who settled in the Appalachian Mountains to the Africans who worked plantations in Georgia. But like so many industries, that sound has been outsourced, in this case with great success.

19 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Jerry Douglas]

Tn_NEADobro player Jerry Douglas is definitely Telluride's B.M.O.C.  this weekend. He is in town celebrating his silver anniversary at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 25 years at the 36th annual gathering of the tribe of legendary artists on a first name basis with the crowd: Sam, Bela, Edgar, Bryan, Peter, Emmylou, Tim – and Jerry.

You might say Jerry is the alpha and omega of this year's Telluride Bluegrass: he and Tim (O'Brien for the uninitiated) kick off the fun and games with a special duet set Thursday morning. Jerry joins the group who have come to define the Festival (as above) to close the curtain on Sunday night. In between, he should be everywhere you want to be...


18 June, 2009 /

TimO,Bela1995 They are an odd couple, the flame haired Irishman and the soft spoken guy from Ohio, but they are also two of the top musicians in the world. When the curtain goes up on the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Thursday afternoon, the opening act is dobro titan Jerry Douglas and Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Tim O'Brien. Who could ask for anything more...

Jerry is celebrating #25. Tim sends a salute:

Tim on Jerry:

"Jerry Douglas is a well traveled, universal bridge between traditional bluegrass and every other kind of music. He seems like my brother who just happened to reinvent the Dobro. The two of us have worked together closely at various times over the years, but our intersections have been infrequent in the past decade, so Thursday's Bluegrass show will be a wonderful reunion. We've each grown some while apart, so it'll be fresh and instructive. I'm hoping the tempos will be a little slower. He's like Sam Bush in that the only way to keep up with him is to start out earlier than him.

17 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" for Mike Farris interview]
Farris Mike Banner 2 If your church on Sunday morning, June 21, 2009, is the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, expect a rousing, spiritual Baptist or roots tent revival in a most unusual package: a tall white guy in dark glasses accompanied by an 11-piece band, Roseland Rhythm Revue (horns, back-up singers, etc). The guy will be singing as if his life depended on it – and it does. Meet Mike Farris.

In the 17th century, a poet stirred by the rich polyphony of church music declared that the music showed him the way to heaven's door. Ditto for Mike: the man who once found salvation in a bottle, now finds it through his music. For Mike, playing music is like praying. It shines a light on his soul. It keeps this rocker sober and soulful.

14 June, 2009 /