Press Releases

American Masterpieces: Cultural Currents
Tours Dates and Venues Announced

Baltimore, MD - October 16, 2009 - Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced tour dates and venues for the upcoming American Masterpieces Cultural Currents tour. The tour highlights music ensembles whose work reflects the cultural traditions and artistic expressions of immigrant communities that have made the mid-Atlantic region their home over the last several centuries.  The Foundation will provide support for the presentations of Cherish the Ladies, The Holmes Brothers, The Klezmatics, Music from the Crooked Road Tour: Mountain Music of Virginia, Paquito D'Rivera and the Funk Tango Quintet, and Tirtha.  Performances will take place in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia during the 2009-2010 season.  Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation will provide $189,250 to the presenting organizations in support of the artist fees for the Cultural Currents tour.

As part of the Cultural Currents tour, artists will perform pieces from their repertoire that exemplify and celebrate genres or works that are artistically, historically and culturally significant. For a complete list of tour dates and venue, click here.
 
2009-2010 American Masterpieces Cultural Currents tour roster:
 
Cherish the Ladies
Cherish the Ladies began as a concert series featuring the brightest lights in Irish traditional music and has grown from a one-time concert concept to an ongoing sensation and one of the most successful and sought after Irish-American groups in Celtic music. The group takes its name from that of a classic Irish jig and initially won recognition as the first and only all-women traditional Irish band. Cherish the Ladies combines all the facets of Irish traditional culture with a unique blend of virtuosi instrumental talents, vocals, arrangements and step dancing.

The Holmes Brothers
Rooted in blues and gospel, The Holmes Brothers' chilling harmonies and inspired musicianship mix Saturday night roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of a Sunday church service. Their ability to perform sanctified gospel, lowdown roadhouse blues, deep soul, authentic country and pure pop all in one set offers a borderless view of American music.  Recipients of the coveted Blues Music Award from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation for Band Of The Year in 2005, the group has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The CBS Saturday Early Show, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, as well as the nationally broadcasted National Public Radio programs All Things Considered, On Point and Here and Now.

The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics are world-renowned and award-winning stars of the Klezmer world. Erupting out of New York City's East Village in 1986, the group revitalized Klezmer with music that is steeped in Eastern European Jewish tradition and spirituality, while incorporating eclectic musical influences including Arab, African, Latin and Balkan rhythms, jazz and punk. They have topped the Billboard world music charts on several occasions and have garnered numerous awards and accolades throughout their 22-year career, including a 2006 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album and a New York Jewish Music Award for Best Klezmer Band in 2006.
 
Music from the Crooked Road Tour: Mountain Music of Virginia
A touring festival of old-time, bluegrass, mountain gospel and flat-foot dance, The Music from the Crooked Road celebrates the vibrant, living musical culture of Southwest Virginia where making music is, and always has been, an integral part of life. The tour features: National Heritage Award Fellow and Appalachian guitar master Wayne Henderson, bluegrass banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor, family old-time string band The Whitetop Mountain Band, old-time fiddle and banjo masters Kirk Sutphin and Eddie Bond and, representing the next generation of Blue Ridge musicians, the up-and-coming bluegrass band Amber Collins & No Speed Limit, and a young keeper of ancient mountain ballads and songs, 19-year-old Elizabeth LaPrelle.
 
Paquito D'Rivera and the Funk Tango Quintet
Born in Cuba, Paquito D'Rivera began his career as a child prodigy. The award-wining clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer is recognized in the Latin, Jazz, and Classical music worlds for his highly acclaimed gifts and accomplishments. D'Rivera has received a total of nine GRAMMY awards and numerous nominations, the most recent being for Funk Tango, the first release of his new label, Paquito Records.  D'Rivera is a recipient of the 2005 National Medal for the Arts, and was named one of the 2005 National Endowment for the Arts' Jazz Masters.

Tirtha
Pianist Vijay Ijer unveils a new joint project called Tirtha (pronounced "Teer-tha"), an exciting trio collaboration with two internationally renowned young Indian musicians living in the United States. Pioneering guitarist Prasanna is a celebrated virtuoso performer of South Indian classical music as well as an accomplished composer in a wide range of Western and non-Western forms. The prodigiously gifted young tabla player, Nitin Mitta, has emerged as one of North America's most in-demand Indian percussionists.  Performing original compositions by Iyer and Prasanna, the trio generates a full ensemble sound, achieving a natural and organic synthesis of musical traditions. 
 
Funding for these tours is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts' Regional Touring Program. Additional support is made possible through partnerships with the Delaware Division of the Arts, Maryland State Arts Council, and the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.



Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation celebrates and supports the wealth and diversity of the region's arts resources and works to make those resources widely accessible both in the region and beyond.