Chris NORMAN - David GREENBERG – Shelley PHILLIPS: TRIO
David Greenberg, Chris Norman & Shelley Phillips: Three of the most imaginative and dynamic performers in traditional folk and early music in North America join forces to present music that runs the gamut from Cape Breton, French Canadian, American, Irish & Scottish to that music’s roots and connections to 18th music. World-class playing on fiddle, flutes, pipes, harp, oboe, and vocals served up with wit & integrity.
David GREENBERG - Cape Breton violin, Baroque violin
David Greenberg's double career as both a baroque violinist and traditional fiddler began at an early age. David studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie at Indiana University's Early Music Institute, and moved to Canada in 1988 to join the Toronto-based baroque orchestra Tafelmusik. With Tafelmusik for 10 years, David performed orchestral, chamber, and solo roles in North America, Europe, and the Far East, and on more than forty recordings. David also plays the vielle (medieval fiddle). He won first prize at the Erwin Bodky International Early Music Competition in 1988 with the Medieval Quintet, and he recorded vielle soundtracks for Atom Egoyan's film The Sweet Hereafter. David has gained the reputation in Cape Breton music circles as being one of the few people from outside the Nova Scotia island to have achieved a fluent command of the Cape Breton music idiom. With his wife, Kate Dunlay, he published Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton, The DunGreen Collection.
Chris NORMAN - flutes, pipes, songs
Born in Halifax, NS into a music loving family, Chris' influential work for the past 30 years as performer, composer, recording artist, teacher and flute maker has won him worldwide recognition. His busy performing schedule includes solo engagements and concerts with a variety of ensembles, appearing frequently as soloist with orchestra and touring with his own Chris Norman Ensemble. In years past Chris has also appeared worldwide as a member of the international folk trio, Helicon, the all-star Celtic fusion group, Skyedance, the acclaimed early music group, The Baltimore Consort and across Europe with Concerto Caledonia. Norman's flute playing can be heard featured on the Oscar winning soundtrack of Titanic and other Hollywood films including, Soldier, and the Stone of Destiny. His solo CD releases have received unanimous praise from critics and audiences alike and appeared on Billboard's crossover charts.
Shelley PHILLIPS - Celtic harp, baroque & traditional folk oboe
Shelley Phillips (Celtic harp, oboe, oboe d’amore, oboe da caccia, and folk flutes) is much in demand as a studio and pick-up musician for the professional folk music crowd in America, Ireland and the UK. In addition to performing and recording, Shelley is director of the Santa Cruz Community Music School, where she runs trad music camps for children and teens, maintains a private studio, as well as presenting concerts and workshops with visiting musicians of the highest caliber. She is a member of the Coulter/Phillips Ensemble and the Anjali Quartet, and has toured internationally with Irish singer Éilis Kennedy and Irish piper Paddy Keenan, including 10 concerts in Taiwan, and 33 concerts in Germany and Switzerland, and has played with various baroque groups including the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra in Ashland, OR and Tempest in Halifax, NS. She has appeared on myriad recordings on the Gourd music label including her solo albums: The Fairie Round, Pavane,
The Butterfly and The Wood Between the Worlds.
RECENT REVIEWS:
"These two well-traveled musicians are convincing, entertaining ambassadors for the wide-ranging facets of early music, music of the Canadian Maritimes, and traditional Scottish music they played. . . [Their] Telemann was sheerest pleasure, with its effortless tunefulness and sparely, brilliantly sketched harmonic framework. . . David Greenberg’s agile partnering of Chris Norman and his various sizes of flute left listeners with the impression of two lithely vocal lines with sweetly complimentary harmonics and interlocking, subtle fundamentals. This was magical, in fact. . . I enjoyed every minute of it, and was particularly impressed by the seamless transitions among the various styles included in the concert. The evening was brilliantly programmed and executed by the duo." - - Boston Musical Intelligencer
Chris and David are the consummate entertainment package with virtuosic skill and engaging charisma. . . Their love for their music is enticing and one is easily caught up and hooked into their passion. . . . A memorable concert. - - Bay Chronicle, New Zealand (09/10)
