[FA Worldmusic] Kitka and Trio Kavkasia in Concert (SF, Oakland, Santa Cruz - 1/26-28)/Call for Volunteers

[Shira Cion]

Dear EEFC and World Music List-Serve Friends,

Don't miss the West Coast debut performances of the AMAZING Trio
Kavkasia, specialists in the incredible traditional vocal music of
Caucasus Georgia.

A full press release is attached below for inquiring minds. More info,
including sound bites from Trio Kavkasia's new album "The Fox and The
Lion" (Traditional Crossroads) can be found at http://www.kitka.org.

Kitka is in need of a few reliable concert volunteers at each venue to
help out with box office, CD sales, and house management. Those
interested in volunteering can contact Kitka's volunteer coordinator,
Deborah Crooks, at 510.444.0434 or at info at kitka.org.

We are extremely excited about these performances!

Shira Cion
for Kitka
shira at kitka.org
510.444.0323

PRESS RELEASE:
Kitka hosts West Coast Debut of internationally acclaimed specialists
in traditional polyphony of Caucasus Georgia.
Performances in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and Oakland: January 26-28,
2007

... exotic, beautifully modulated style... haunting beauty... The New
York Times

Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble hosts the West Coast debut performances of
Trio Kavkasia, an internationally acclaimed ensemble specializing in
the ancient and strikingly beautiful traditional harmonies of Caucasus
Georgia. Kitka and Trio Kavkasias program, entitled Songs from Beyond
the Black Sea, will feature material ranging from gentle lullabies,
lyrical love songs, and sublime sacred pieces to rowdy dance tunes and
robust table and work songs.

Kitka and Trio Kavkasia's performances will take place:
   Friday, January 26 at 8:00 p.m. at the Church of St. John the
Evangelist, 1661 15th St., San Francisco;
   Saturday, January 27 at 8:00 p.m. at Holy Cross Church, 126 High St,
Santa Cruz; and
   Sunday, January 28 at 5:00 p.m. at The First Unitarian Church of
Oakland, 685 14th St, Oakland.

For tickets and additional information, visit http://www.kitka.org or
call (510) 444-0323.

ABOUT GEORGIAN FOLK MUSIC
  The dense and powerful polyphonic vocal music of Georgia, a tiny but
storied nation in the Caucasus Mountains, runs like a bolt of
electricity through the listener who has only heard traditional Western
choral music. A traditional Georgian song's three parts relate to each
other like a Mvbius strip, with unexpected chords, beating dissonances,
and ringing unison tones that create richly ornamented textures that do
not follow Western rules of tuning, harmony, or melody.

TRIO KAVKASIA
  Trio Kavkasia consists of three Americans (Alan Gasser, tenor; Stuart
Gelzer, bass and bowed chunir; and Carl Linich, tenor and plucked
panduri and chonguri) who together share more than forty years of
experience studying, performing, and teaching the traditional sacred
and secular vocal music of Georgia. Kavkasia's pure, authentic sound
was perfected during numerous extended visits to Georgia. The trio
spent 1995 as artists in residence in Tbilisi, the countrys capital,
studying and singing with the greatest living masters of Georgian
music. Performing at Tbilisi University and appearing often on national
television, the trio became famous throughout the country for their
mastery of the rich and extraordinarily beautiful music of Georgia. In
1997 each Kavkasia singer was made a State Prize Laureate and was
awarded the Silver Medal of the Georgian Ministry of Culture "for
profound knowledge of the folk music of Georgia and his role in its
popularization around the world." Recent appearances include
performances at Lincoln Center in New York City, at the Tbilisi Opera
House, and for National Public Radio. This year, Trio Kavkasia
celebrates the release of their third CD, The Fox and The Lion, on the
Traditional Crossroads label. Previous releases include Songs of the
Caucasus on Well-Tempered Productions, and O Morning Breeze on the
Naxos World label. Kavkasia means Caucasus in Georgian.

KITKA
  Currently celebrating its 27th concert season, KITKA, which means
bouquet in Bulgarian and Macedonian, began as a grassroots group of
amateur singers from diverse ethnic and musical backgrounds who shared
a passion for the stunning dissonances, asymmetric rhythms, intricate
ornamentation, and resonant strength of traditional Eastern European
womens vocal music. Since its informal beginnings, the group has
evolved into an internationally-recognized professional ensemble known
for its artistry, versatility, and mastery of the demanding techniques
of Balkan and Slavic vocal styling. Through a busy itinerary of live
and broadcast performances, recording, educational programs, master
artist residencies, commissioning programs, and adventuresome
collaborations, KITKA has exposed millions to the haunting beauty of
their unique repertoire. KITKAs voices have been featured frequently
on National Public Radio including special appearances on Performance
Today, All Things Considered, and A Prairie Home Companion. The exotic
and emotive power of KITKAs singing has been utilized in a number of
film soundtracks, including  Jacobs Ladder, Braveheart, and Queen of
the Damned, as well as in the American Conservatory Theaters
critically acclaimed productions of Hecuba, starring Olympia Dukakis.
In 2002, the group toured Bulgaria, where, as international guests of
honor they shared the stage of the National Palace of Culture in Sofia
with the world-renowned Bulgarian Womens Choir Le Mystere des Voix
Bulgares. In 2005, KITKA journeyed to Ukraine to perform and gather
traditional songs with the countrys most celebrated folk singers.
KITKAs field research in Ukraine led to the creation of a new
vocal-theater piece, The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between the Worlds
featuring original music by Ukrainian composer Mariana Sadovska and
stage direction by Ellen Sebastian Chang. The Rusalka Cycle premiered
to sold-out houses and wildly enthusiastic public acclaim in Oakland in
the fall of 2005. The Rusalka Cycle will be remounted in San Francisco
and tour nationally and internationally in the 2007-2008 season.

KITKA has recorded seven albums on their own Diaphonica record label.
Their most recent CD, music from The Rusalka Cycle: Songs Between the
Worlds, will be released in January 2007 and will be available at all
Kitka and Kavkasia performances. Also this winter, a new public
television special produced by Forest Creatures Entertainment, Kitka
and Davka in Concert: Old and New World Jewish Music,  is being
broadcast nationwide.

The singers of KITKA are: Zlatka Baneva, Leslie Bonnett, Briget Boyle,
Shira Cion, Catherine Rose Crowther, Juliana Graffagna, Phoebe
Jevtovic, Janet Kutulas, and Natalia Ukrainska. For further
information, visit: http://www.kitka.org.

The collaboration between Kitka and Trio Kavkasia is part of a
multi-year master artist residency project entitled Song Routes in A
New Land, and is supported, in part, by grants from the National
Endowment for the Arts, The East Bay Community Foundation, and the
Walter and Elise Haas Fund.

TICKETS
  Ticket prices for Kitka and Trio Kavkasia: Songs from Beyond the Black
Sea performances range from $20-$25 Reservations can be made on-line at
http://www.kitka.org or by telephone at 510.444.0323. Tickets for all
concerts are also available via the brownpapertickets.com 24/7 ticket
hotline at 1.800.838.3006.

###

CALENDAR LISTINGS: Classical/Choral, World/Folk

KITKA and TRIO KAVKASIA present Songs From Beyond the Black Sea
  Traditional Polyphony from Caucasus Georgia

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
  Friday January 26, 8:00 p.m.
  Church of St. John the Evangelist
  1661 15th St., San Francisco, CA
  Tickets: $22 advance / $25 door
  Reservations and information: http://www.kitka.org, or 510.444.0323
  or http://www.brownpapertickets.com, 24/7 box office hotline:
1.800.838.3006.

SANTA CRUZ, CA
  Saturday, January 27, 8:00 p.m.
  Holy Cross Church, 126 High St., Santa Cruz, CA
  Tickets: $22 advance / $25 door
  Reservations and information: http://www.kitka.org, or 510.444.0323
  or http://www.brownpapertickets.com, 24/7 box office hotline:
1.800.838.3006.

OAKLAND, CA
  Sunday, January 28, 5:00 PM
  First Unitarian Church, 685 14th St., Oakland, CA
  Tickets: $22 advance / $25 door / $20 seniors & students
  Reservations and information: http://www.kitka.org, or 510.444.0323
  or http://www.brownpapertickets.com, 24/7 box office hotline:
1.800.838.3006.
Learn more...

Shira Cion
Executive Director/Vocalist
KITKA
1201 Martin Luther King Jr. Way
Oakland, CA  94612 USA
Tel: 510.444.0323
Fax: 510.444.1013
shira at kitka.org
http://www.kitka.org