Music of the British Isles with quartet “Bare Necessities” at Berea College May 7
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4/29/09
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| It’s been nearly 31 years since Bare Necessities, a Boston-based quartet, began to play weekly country dances. Now well-known for their improvisations on English country dance music, the group will be performing at a Berea College on May 7.
The 8 p.m. concert in Phelp Stokes Auditorium is the final Berea College Convocation for the 2008-09 year. Admission is free and open to the public. The four members of Bare Necessities are Jacqueline Schwab (piano), Peter Barnes (flutes and whistles), Earl Gaddis and Mary Lea (violin and viola). Using the expertise of their classical, folk, and jazz backgrounds, the group pushes the bounds of British-based traditional music in their improvisations and explorations of these beautiful melodies. They specialize in British-Isle dances, playing music primarily from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Interwoven with their unique style, the resulting sound is inventive and playful chamber and folk music. Bare Necessities have toured England, the United States, and Canada. The band’s recordings include “English Country Dances,” “Take a Dance,” and “Nightcap.” |
