Holiday in Wales (Concert I)

Presenter: Santa Cruz Baroque Festival
Event: Holiday in Wales
Featured Artists: Cheryl Ann Fulton (Welsh Triple Harp) and Ensemble

Day and Time: Saturday, February 6, at 7:30pm
Location: UCSC Music Center Recital Hall (Heller & Meyer Drives, UC Santa Cruz campus).

Admission: Admission: $22 general, $16 senior, $5 college student, $2 K-12. $40-$55 3-ticket Flex Passes, $65-$90 5-concert Season Subscriptions.
Ticket Outlets: UCSC Ticket Ofc (http://www.santacruztickets.com, 831-459-2159), SC Tickets Civic Center Box Office, and SC Baroque Festival (http://www.scbaroque.org, 831-457-9693).

Opening 2010 with a Grand Tour of Early Music Worlds:

"Strike the Harp and Let's Be Merry" on February 6!

The Baroque Festival's 2010 season of "Musical Voyages" makes its first stop in 19th-century Wales, where Concert I, Holiday in Wales recreates the music of Welsh gypsy and harpist John Roberts. Acclaimed harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton and ensemble will take us to 1889 at Palé Mansion, where Roberts and his 9 sons performed for non other than Queen Victoria. Fulton is recognized as a leading pioneer in the study and performance of historical harps. This performance takes place at the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall and begins at 7:30 pm. Tickets are available through the UCSC Ticket Office (http://www.santacruztickets.com, 831-459-2159), the Civic Center Box Office, and the SC Baroque Festival (http://www.scbaroque.org, 831-457-9693). Admission: $22 general, $16 senior, $5 college student, $2 K-12.

This unusual program is based on the (true) legend of John Roberts (1816-1894), a Welsh gypsy who traveled the countryside as the "the celebrated royal and imperial Welsh harpist" available for "balls, concerts, lawn tennis and private parties." After growing up in a traveling family that lived off of the river, his mother's activities as fortune-teller, and community music making by the family's harp-playing men, John brought up his own family with 13 music-playing children. Taken together, the family played the Welsh harp, English harp, violin, double bass, cello, flageolet and piccolo. Aside from various dukes, earls, and ladies, the "Harpist of Wales" (Welsh: "Telynor Cymru") Roberts and his sons found themselves performing for Queen Victoria in 1889 at Palé Mansion. Roberts not only spoke English, Welsh, and Romani, but could also read and write, leaving behind autobiographical glimpses onto his life, as well as his talented descendents that survived into the 20th century (1). Historical harp specialist Cheryl Ann Fulton and ensemble bring this legend to Santa Cruz for an evening of imaginary time travel and mesmerizing music.

This opening concert will also feature the Baroque Festival's 2nd annual Instrument Exhibit (intermission), where local makers and performers will display a small collection of period instruments and be available for questions from concert-goers (period instruments are concise replicas and in rarer cases original specimens of historic instruments). A meet-the-artist reception for donors and subscribers concludes the evening. Under the season theme of Musical Voyages, the Festival will present a series of 5 travel-themed concerts this season, starting in February and ending in May.

Parking: UCSC charges $3 (cash) for weekend and evening parking.

More information on all events at our website:
http://www.scbaroque.org

(1) Summarized from: "The Roberts Tribe," Romani Wales Project, http://www.valleystream.co.uk/romany-roberts.htm
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