About the Event
This special barn dinner, auction and performance will be co-hosted by Musica Sierra and The Grizzly Cubs Parents Club (GCPC) from Loyalton Elementary School on June 5th, at The Lost Marbles Ranch, in Beckwourth Ca.
Event details:
5:30 PM Doors
6:00-7:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Premier Performance “Musical Headwaters”
6-8:45 PM: Silent Auction Open
9 PM Silent Auction Closed
9 PM Bonfire
*We will be following all Sierra County Department of Health guidelines for live performances.
Musical Headwaters
Headwaters - the source of a stream - Musica Sierra presents Musical Headwaters, a residency program bringing musicians and composers to the headwaters of the middle fork of the Feather River to compose and perform original works which reflect the natural world. Musical Headwaters generates a music curriculum to enhance the outdoor learning landscape experience. Our partner in this endeavor is Learning Landscapes, an educational program of the Feather River Land Trust, and created by Rob Wade. Learning Landscapes enhances children's contact with the natural world through place-based learning and hands-on stewardship experiences.
About the Music
The music in the program features a newly commissioned song cycle, “The Rivers are Our Brothers,” written and performed by vocalist and composer Majel Connery, along with Baroque violin (Edwin Huizinga) and Baroque bassoon (Ben Matus). The cycle is based on a quote from the Native American leader, Chief Seattle, who believed we must relate to our environment the way we relate to our closest kin. Each song begins “I am a river,” or “I am rain,” giving the power of first-person speech to these important elements of the Sierra Nevada landscape. The program also includes pieces arranged for Baroque violin and bassoon from Handel’s Watermusik, and other water-themed pieces from the Baroque era.
Take a listen to the demo “The Rivers are Our Brothers”
About the Artists
Majel Connery is a creator, producer, and educator with 15 years of experience executing music productions in a variety of settings both public and private. Connery has held artist residencies and professorships at Stanford University, Princeton University, Oberlin College, and Wellesley College, and has collaborated with noted arts organizations and cultural institutions including the Whitney Biennial, the Kennedy Center, the Toledo Museum of Art, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, and The Kitchen. Her recent endeavors include on-stage improvisation for the Radiolab Live show, "Sex Ed," and writing music for Radiolab's series, "Gonads." Connery holds an A.B. in music from Princeton and a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of Chicago. She is bicoastal, based between Berkeley, CA, and Rockaway Beach, NY
Canadian-born violinist Edwin Huizinga is quickly establishing a reputation as one of North America’s most versatile violinists. Edwin will be recording his first solo album, an album with his folk-rock band the Wooden Sky, as well as an album with his duo Liquid Gold, with Grammy award-winning guitarist William Coulter. Edwin can be found on stage all over the world with ensembles such as Tafelmusik, The Knights NYC, A Far Cry, Brandywine Baroque, and more! This season marks Edwin's 10th season as a SweetWater violinist, and as a soloist at the Carmel Bach Festival, as well as his third season as the Artistic Director of the Big Sur Land Trust music camp for young teenagers. This season will also mark his second season as Artistic Director of a ground-breaking mixed-genre series featuring some of Toronto’s biggest names in classical, indie rock, bluegrass, and theatre called Stereo Live.
Bassoonist Ben Matus developed a love for Early Music at a young age while growing up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. As a boy soprano, Ben's favorite music to sing was from the Baroque and Renaissance eras. Now, Ben indulges his childhood dreams playing historical bassoons and dulcians in New York City and around the country with wonderful colleagues and friends. Ben studied modern bassoon at the Eastman School of Music and historical bassoons at the Juilliard School. In his spare time, he can be found making and drinking coffee, reading, playing lute poorly, or cannot be found as he is deep in the woods. Ben is thrilled to be playing this incredible music in this wonderfully beautiful part of the world.