PUTNEY-Next Stage Arts and Twilight Music present an evening of traditional and contemporary Scottish and fiddle music by duos Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas and San Miguel Fraser (Galen Fraser & Maria San Miguel) on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m. at Next Stage.
The musical partnership between Alasdair Fraser, "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling," and Californian cellist, Natalie Haas, has been described as "spanning the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy," according to their promotional materials.
Fraser and Haas have traveled together the last 16 years to festivals and concert halls across the world. This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His searched for and found in Haas a cellist who could help return the instrument to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where, he says, it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra.
This duo blends their understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In addition to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks, such as Last of the Mohicans and Titanic. In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.
Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, has performed and recorded with a who's who of the fiddle world, including Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, and many more.
San Miguel Fraser is a project bringing together Galen Fraser, a Berklee graduate and son of Alasdair Fraser, and Maria San Miguel, a native of Castile and graduate of Oviedo Conservatory with family roots in the traditions of her homeland. Together, they combine fiddling and string arrangements with the singing of San Miguel and the cittern accompaniment of Galen.
"Surprises abound in this project," say organizers, "with fresh compositions and startlingly touching and deeply thoughtful arrangements."
San Miguel Fraser has performed at Celtic Connections, Festival de Ortigueira, Bellingham Celtic Festival, Bolao Folk, and at many other venues around the world.
Next Stage is at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney. Tickets are $28 in advance, $32 at the door, and $10 for access to the livestream. For information, call 802-387-0102. Advance tickets are available at nextstagearts.org. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.