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Silkroad faculty performance part of Summer Music Festival series Wednesday at Gobin
The Greencastle Summer Music Festival will host the Silkroad Global Musician Workshop faculty performance as this week's free 7:30 p.m. festival event in the sanctuary of Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church.
A freewill offering will be taken to support the workshop's scholarship fund, which helps students from all over the world attend the week-long workshop being held this week at the DePauw University School of Music.
The festival itself is funded by donations from individuals, local businesses including the Inn at DePauw, and an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation.
Concerts by the workshop participants will follow Thursday through Sunday evenings, all beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Gobin, 307 Simpson St. (southwest corner of Hanna and Locust streets), Greencastle.
"This is one of my favorite nights of the year," multi-style cellist, singer and artistic director of the Global Musician Workshop Mike Block said, "with world-class musicians of different backgrounds all collaborating with each other for the first time to share something brand new with the community of Greencastle."
Performing in Wednesday's concert will be Bayla Kouyate (percussionist from Mali), Bassam Saba (oud and flute player from Lebanon), Celia Woodsmith (American blues musician), Danny Mekonnen (Ethiopian-American saxophonist) Edward Perez (Latin jazz bassist), Hankus Netsky (improvising and Klezmer multi-instrumentalist), Hanneke Cassel (Celtic/American fiddle), Mike Block (multistyle cello and voice), Sandeep Das (Indiana tabla), Shane Shanahan (world percussion) and Wu Man (Chinese Pipa).
"This is the fourth year DePauw has hosted the Global Musician Workshop, which along with the Silkroad project itself, was the brainchild of Yo-Yo Ma," explained Eric Edberg, professor of music emeritus at DePauw and founding artistic director of the Greencastle Summer Music Festival.
"The festival has been honored to partner with both Silkroad and the School of Music to present the opening faculty concert every summer," Edberg added. "The opportunity to hear these amazing performers, coming together and creating special, one-time-only arrangements, in the intimate space of Gobin is unique in perhaps the entire world. Each of these performers has a major international career, usually performing in large venues for thousands of people. This event is one of the things that makes Greencastle truly extraordinary."
Edberg says the participant concerts on Thursday through Sunday nights will be extraordinary opportunities as well.
"Professional and student musicians have come to Greencastle from all over the world," he said. "The last three years have shown that the participant concerts are as engaging as the faculty concert. It's a truly amazing series of musical events."
The festival continues on Wednesday, July 4 with a special concert featuring pianist Claude Cymerman performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue," jazz musician Steve Snyder, Bill Wieland reading a Mark Twain story, and audience singalongs.