ETHEL

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03.03.10
Turtle Island Quartet Celebrates Coltrane, Hendrix in Denver
Turtle Island Quartet wowed the audience with "A Love Supreme: The Music of John Coltrane."

02.23.10
A Convincing Portrayal of Ibsen's Vision
Aquila's Enemy of the People maintained a clean and contemporary edge which highlighted brilliantly the play's perpetual relevance.

03.12.10
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Tours & Projects

TruckStop® - Touring 2010

TruckStop® will be touring exclusively in the Southwest in September 2010.

During the inaugural TruckStop® tour in 2007-2008, ETHEL traveled 40,000 miles and visited ten cities in eleven months. This tour resulted in a body of work that was created in collaboration with one or more artists in the communities where ETHEL was working. In October 2008, ETHEL’s TruckStop® steered its way to the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the world premiere of ETHEL’s TruckStop®: The Beginning, featuring ETHEL and four award-winning TruckStop® artists. The characteristically eclectic program featured GRAMMY® award-winning Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Jeff Peterson; NAMMY® (Native American Music Award) award-winning and 2008 GRAMMY® award winner, flutist Robert Mirabal from Taos Pueblo, New Mexico; the “Queen of Tex-Mex” Tejano Conjunto accordionist, Eva Ybarra, from San Antonio, Texas; and Kentucky Blue Grass legend, Dean Osborne. The result was music that is at once familiar and fresh; an organic exploration of the American musical melting pot.

Continuing the success of the TruckStop® project, ETHEL has received a grant from the NEA in support of a TruckStop® tour of the Southwest in the 10-11 season.

Joining the quartet in performance will be Jeff Peterson and Robert Mirabal. Concert repertoire will include original works composed by the members of ETHEL in collaboration with the guest artists and selections from ETHEL's repertoire of works by the most adventurous contemporary American composers of the past 15 years. Included will be music by Don Byron, John King, Neil Rolnick, Julia Wolfe, John Zorn and Marcelo Zarvos, as well as music by ETHEL's students from the Native American Composers and Artists Project.

ETHEL offers outreach to the communities surrounding each venue by providing an open rehearsal prior to each concert and a question and answer session with quartet members following performances. Because ETHEL's unique repertoire spans the classical, modern, jazz, rock, world and blues idioms, audiences have access to a wide range of genres and direct contact with the quartet. Open rehearsals allow audience members first hand access to ETHEL's working process and to the collaborations with invited musical guests.

Guest Artist Bios:

Musician, writer, singer and storyteller, Robert Mirabal, is Native America's most dynamic and best-selling artist. In addition to the music and instruments he creates, he is also a celebrated painter, poet and playwright. He is the author of A Skeleton of a Bridge, a book of poetry, prose and short stories. Mr. Mirabal is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Award and the New York Dance and Performer's "Bessie" Award for composition.  www.mirabal.com

A master of the slack key guitar, Jeff Peterson studied at the University of Southern California and the University of Hawaii as well as privately, with a wide variety of artists. Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2, a recording featuring Peterson, won the first-ever GRAMMY® award for Best Hawaiian Recording in 2005. www.jeffpetersonguitar.com