Friday, September 25: Postponed due to weather
The Karl Dennis String Band
Karl Dennis, guitars/vocals
Laura Gulley, violin
Theodore Mook, cello
From Warren RI, Karl Dennis is a prominent fiddler in New England's folk and bluegrass scene. He was a founding member of the Neon Valley Boys (inducted into the RI Blue Grass Alliance Hall of Fame in 2023) and the Pegheads, and has appeared with the Lost Melody Ramblers and Cheap Music. Best known for his fiddle playing in the folk/bluegrass world, he is also an expert guitarist, vocalist and mandolin player, with a passion for writing songs of particular poignancy. Karl is also one of the world's master luthiers, having made many of the exquisite viols, vielles, violins, violas, cellos and guitars now occupying the hands of leading musicians around the world. (Including the guitar, violin and cello on this evening's program.) His profound historical insight and soul sensitive handling make him a care-taker for many precious string instruments and their pets, the human musicians that carry them around.
Since earning a B.S. in music and mathematics from Brown University, violinist Laura Gulley has become one of New England's most distinguished (and busy) musicians. She is a member of the RI Philharmonic; has performed historical violin/viola with Boston Baroque, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the Arcadia Players, Foundling, L'Académie, Bostonades, La Donna Musicale, and the Rowe's Lane Quartet; and has travelled throughout the US, France, Italy, and Taiwan with the Renaissance group Renaissonics. She has recorded with La Donna Musicale, three Telarc recordings with Boston Baroque, and two with Renaissonics. Laura collaborates with living composers (the RI composers Alec K. Redfearn and Steven Jobe, for example); an eclectic mix of bands & chamber groups (Braveyoung, The Body, the Amoebic Ensemble at Festival MIMI in Arles, Theophilus Root at the Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival in Pittsburgh); and directed the premier performance of Steven Jobe's five-act opera "The Legend of the Fairy Melusine" at First Works Providence. Being a lifelong student of Suzuki music education she also teaches Suzuki violin and viola at the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
After almost 30 years as a professional musician in New York City, where he performed on Broadway, with orchestras, chamber groups and contemporary music ensembles, cellist Theodore Mook relocated to rural Rhode Island. Currently, he and his architect wife curate a concert series, SwitchArts, in the small 19th century parish church they share, featuring an international roster of artists and poets of all styles. Being an active proponent of new music, Mr. Mook continues to commission and premiere works by living composers in the US and beyond. He has performed at the Library of Congress, the American Academy in Rome, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Kitchen, The Knitting Factory, and the Ijsbreker in Amsterdam; and with dozens of pop/jazz/rock artists (J.Z., Sting, James Taylor, Chris Martin). He also performs Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical music with a copy of the Christiani Stradivarius historical cello (built by Karl Dennis) and a small 7-string bass viola da gamba modeled after an instrument by Michel Colichon from the late 17th century. His extensive discography spans over 100 classical and contemporary works, on ECM, Sony, and New World Records.