Wednesday, January 2, 2008

New Directions Cello 2008

I received a notice in the mail the other day about the New Directions Cello Festival, June 6-8, 2008. It's for all non-classical forms of cello playing and will be held this year in Ithaca NY, a mere 7-hour drive from here. I am contemplating going, mostly for the fun of toying with improvisation.

For many years, New Directions Cello was held at the Univ. of Connecticut, fairly close to me, but every year my daughter had a vocal recital that same weekend. Finally, the date of the vocal recital changed, and I was free to go--and they moved the festival to Wisconsin, and then California, too far for me to travel. So, this year, Ithaca sounds close. And according to MapQuest, the best route is through Schenectady, near where I lived when I was about 5 to 7 years old. I could also stop in to see Cellos 2Go.

According to the New Directions website, guest artists will include:

Montana Skies – guitar & cello duo from Georgia
Hank Roberts – group to be announced
Rushad Eggleston's Magic Wizard Band – rock trio
Gunther Tiedemann & David Plate - cello & guitar duo from Germany
James Hoskins - with Trio Sherefe – music of Balkans, Turkey & Middle East
Trevor Exter – with his trio.

I would love to hear Montanta Skies, after hearing some of their music online. Are they really from Georgia? I am not familiar with the others, except of course for Rushad, who has, thankfully, changed the name of his band again.

Is anyone else thinking on going?

8 comments:

Guanaco said...

Sounds like fun! Wish I could go. Maybe one day...

Here's a link to Montana Skies' blog. They don't update very often, but they sound like an interesting duo.

MMG said...

Y'know its a possibility. My husband has just decided that going to Romania for the stampshow in June during the height of tourist season and paying a minimum of $4,000 for airfare, etc for the two of us was just plain silly. This frees me up for other plans :)

Maricello said...

Thank for the link, G.

Marisa, I am glad you are thinking of going. I do think this event would be much cheaper than a trip to Romania! And possibly more musical. And it would be great to meet you.

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Melissa said...

This sounds like fun, but an improbable trip. That is the last week of school here with all of the attendant craziness that ensues. Maybe they'll move it south one year....

Mike Lunapiena said...

It's gonna be in Ithaca????!!!

That's so amazing, I can finally go!!! I'm so excited now!!

-Mike

And yeah, Montana Skies - cool stuff...

Maricello said...

Hope to see your there, Mike! Three people have told me Ithaca is a great college town, lots of culture, but even if I only see the Cello Festival, I think it will be worth the trip.

sonar said...

Hi Mari, I´m thinking about going to that Festival... sounds very nice! I´m from Brazil, hope we´ll play togheter then. Bye!

Bruno