Evento

Stanley Greenthal Ensemble - Winter Solstice Concert

Celebrate the winter solstice with traditional and original tunes, songs and poetry, performed by the Stanley Greenthal Ensemble. A tradition for many years in Seattle and the San Juan Islands, Stanley Greenthal will bring his ensemble- Kip Greenthal, Christos Govetas and Kim Goldov- to Bellingham for the first time. Each year the ensemble creates new instrumental compositions and unusual arrangements of seasonal songs not heard at other holiday concerts.

Stanley Greenthal is an internationally acclaimed songwriter and instrumentalist, who stretches musical borders from Scotland, Ireland and Brittany to Greece and the Balkans. He sings and plays guitar, bouzouki, laouto and lavta (Greek and Turkish lutes). With five recordings to his credit, Sing Out! magazine described his latest, First Song, as "a fascinating voyage to the highlands of Scotland, the Breton lands and the islands of the Mediterranean." His wife Kip Greenthal adds harmony vocals and percussion, and compelling spoken word pieces set to music.

Christos Govetas has performed extensively in the U.S., Canada and Greece. He sings and plays clarinet, oud and bouzouki and performs regularly with his group Dromeno in Seattle, and across Canada and the U.S. Christos is the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Northwest Folklife Fellowship Award honoring his cultural contribution to the Greek-American and Folk dance communities. He also recorded and performed with Bill Frisell's group, The Intercontinentals.

Kim Goldov plays violin in several groups specializing in folk music from around the world, including the trio North Sea (fiddle tunes from the Shetland islands and Norway), and the popular Balkan dance band extravaganza, the Bucharest Drinking Team. He also plays klezmer music from Eastern Europe, and was a member of Yeni Ses (traditional and modern folk music of Turkey and beyond).

Greenthal's original compositions, Breton dances, and Cretan syrtos- sparked by Govetas' hypnotic clarinet and Goldov's soulful violin- create a blazing solstice hearth for this unique winter evening.