Art Hounds: Holiday folk concerts, a beloved musical and symphonic cheer

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

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Concerts at the Cedar Cultural Center

Renee Vaughan, who plays the Swedish folk instrument the nyckelharpa, recommends a concert on Friday that will bring a mix of musical holiday folk traditions.

Red Thread will perform along with Minneapolis and Duluth-based folk band Ponyfolk, Friday at 8 p.m. at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.

Renee says: Red Thread is fronted by one of my absolute favorite singers, Sarah Larsson, with her lush, warm voice, coupled with these incredible harmonies, and it's mixed with a deep love of cultural lineage.

Their music spans from Yiddish and klezmer and Slavic, Scandinavian, Irish, English and American winter traditions, and they'll be sharing the stage with Ponyfolk. They're able to have this folk sound that creatively blends folk and rock and jazz and Nordic influences.

I'm sure there'll be opportunities to get up and move, but you can also sing, and it'll be like this lovely musical quilt covering the audience.

— Renee Vaughan

While you’re looking at the Cedar website, musician Leslie Vincent recommends you check out a performance there on Sunday at 2 p.m. by Ben Cook-Feltz, with Ann Reed and Zippy Laske.

Leslie says: He's an INCREDIBLE singer and performer. His “Holiday Shindig” is coming up on December 14 and features lots of my other favorite performers in town, including Zippy Laske, who I'm obsessed with.

— Leslie Vincent

A musical classic in Rochester

Voiceover actor Rebecca Brokaw-Sands is excited to see Rochester Repertory Theatre’s production of “Little Women: The Musical” this weekend.

Based on the classic story by Louisa May Alcott, the musical follows the four March sisters from childhood to adulthood. The remaining performances are tonight through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

Rebecca says: “Little Women” itself is a fantastic, heartwarming story that focuses on family and dreams and hope and following your own path, even when it's not the one that others would have chosen for you or the one that seems traditionally laid out by society.

The music is fantastic and supported very well by the voices in this cast. Amber Feind as Jo knocks it out of the park.

— Rebecca Brokaw-Sands

Symphonic celebration in Grand Forks

Stacy Bach is a band director at East Grand Forks High School, and she suggests coming back to her school’s auditorium this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. for the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra’s Yuletide Concert.

Expect holiday favorites, including Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” plus classic carols that invite the audience to sing along. The winner of the Young Artist Concerto Competition will also be featured.