Swannanoa Solstice 10th Annual Holiday Concert Dec.16th
November 12, 2012
Grammy award-winning guitarist, INDIE award-winning duo: Al Petteway and Amy White, along with multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock lead the 10th anniversary edition of A Swannanoa Solstice, Sunday, December 16 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. at Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in downtown Asheville, with festivities beginning in the lobby prior to the performances with complimentary Wassail. In this annual winter holiday celebration, world-renowned musicians Petteway and White along with Bullock and a host of special guests share holiday songs old and new, religious and secular, joyful and poignant, in a warm and intimate winter concert. Petteway and White contributed music to the newly released Ken Burns film for PBS, The Dust Bowl.
Presented in partnership with The Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College, A Swannanoa Solstice again offers two performances in order to meet the audience demand for this popular winter gathering and concert.
This year’s special guests include:
- Sheila Kay Adams, world-renowned Appalachian storyteller and traditional Appalachian ballad singer;
- The Twisty Cuffs, local Cape Breton-style stepdancers;
- Highland pipes and percussion band Brizeus, featuring piper E.J. Jones;
- Host and emcee Doug Orr, president emeritus of Warren Wilson College and founder of A Swannanoa Solstice
A Swannanoa Solstice showcases all manner of seasonal sounds and festivities, with well-mastered Celtic and Appalachian songs and music on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, piano, Celtic harp, Irish bouzouki, vocals and world percussion. Through music and storytelling and poetry, the featured artists explore shared winter traditions from the area, the country, and from around the world. The melodies played by Petteway, a virtuosic acoustic guitarist, draw from a broad variety of cultural influences from Middle East tonalities to Scottish jigs. White, on piano, mandolin, guitar, Celtic harp and percussion, draws on her classical background to create beautiful and compelling original compositions and arrangements of traditional favorites. Bullock, a multi-instrumentalist who plays the guitar, mandolin and bouzouki is hailed as a master musician whose style skillfully embraces Celtic and Classical music.