FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Emily Pinkerton | 412-999-3443 | emily@emilypinkerton.com
Appalachian Chamber Folk:
Multi-media, Murder Ballads & an All-Star Cast of Folk & Classical Performers
Sunday, October 13 at 4pm | Levy Hall, Rodef Shalom
4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Folk art meets fine art in old-time and classical music double-feature with Pittsburgh favorites The Early Mays and Rochester-based fivebyfive, performing Rounder Songs for banjo and chamber ensemble by Emily Pinkerton and Patrick Burke.
Original art projections by Joanne Wiggins
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WATCH Rounder songs trailer with original artwork of Joanne Wiggins
LISTEN to live performance of Rounder Songs with fivebyfive
HI-RES IMAGES
Artwork by Joanne Wiggins
Emily Pinkerton and Patrick Burke
The Early Mays
fivebyfive
Appalachian Chamber FolK
Multi-media, Murder Ballads & an All-Star Cast of Folk & Classical Performers
Sunday, October 13 at 4pm | Levy Hall, Rodef Shalom
4905 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213
CONTACT: Emily Pinkerton | 412-999-3443 | emily@emilypinkerton.com
Folk art meets fine art in old-time and classical music double-feature with Pittsburgh favorites The Early Mays and Rochester-based fivebyfive, performing a song cycle for banjo and chamber ensemble by Emily Pinkerton (songwriter/ethnomusicologist) and Patrick Burke (composer and co-founder of NOW Ensemble).
Fresh from their win at the 2019 Independent Music Awards (Best Eclectic EP), Patrick Burke and Emily Pinkerton come “home” to Pittsburgh to celebrate Rounder Songs, an album they released on New Amsterdam Records in late 2017. Based on songs from Kentucky and West Virginia, the movements tell stories of a forsaken lover, a gambler, a murderer, and a mill laborer who strikes a deal with the devil. The folksongs go hand in hand with original art projections by painter Joanne Wiggins (joannewiggins.com), exploring narrative threads of violence against women and environmental degradation.
Rounder Songs has its first incarnation at the University of Pittsburgh’s MOTE series (Music on the Edge) in 2013, but Pinkerton and Burke later expanded the piece in to a multi-movement song cycle, releasing an EP with grammy-award winning producer Jesse Lewis and NOW Ensemble. After 13 years in the steel city, Pinkerton and Burke moved away to Albany, New York last year to teach songwriting, composition and music theory at The College of Saint Rose.
“HONEST AND INTRIGUING, ROUNDER SONGS UNITES THE TRADITIONAL WITH THE MODERN IN A STUNNING, BEAUTIFUL FASHION. “
--ANDY JURIK, POPMATTERS
www.emilypinkerton.com | facebook.com/patrickburkecomposer
Funding for Rounder Songs was provided by the Investing in Professional Artists Grants Program, a partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Endowments. It was also supported by New Music USA, made possible by annual program support and/or endowment gifts from Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Francis Goblet Charitable Lead Trusts, The Fidelity Foundation, The Rogers & Hammerstein Foundation, Anonymous.
From Mountain Stage to major folk festivals, The Early Mays sing Appalachian-inspired songs over a lush accompaniment of fiddle, banjo, guitar, cello and harmonium. They burst on to the folk scene in 2014 with a #2 debut on the National Folk-DJ Charts: an eponymous album that showcased heart-melting harmony vocals. Most recently, they took home the blue ribbon in the Neo-Traditional Band Competition at Clifftop 2016 (The Appalachian String Band Music Festival), appeared on NPR's Mountain Stage in 2017, and hit the #1 position on the folk charts with their latest release, "Chase the Sun." Last year Ellen Gozion and Emily Pinkerton began collaborating with Nicole Myers (of Cello Fury) whose lyrical playing adds new harmonic depth to their performances. Look for brand new songs—“The Ballad of Johnny Fall” and “On a Dying Day”—that resonate with traditional tales of ramblers and ne’er-do-wells.
“THIS IS INSTRUMENTALISM AND HARMONY SINGING TO MAKE THE HEART SOAR.”
—ISABEL BOOTHBY, UK OLD TIME NEWS
fivebyfive is a NY-based quintet with a mission to engage audiences in the collaborative spirit and creativity of modern chamber music by commissioning, arranging and performing a wide range of works for its instrumentation. The group performs works of todays leading composers, supports emerging composers from around the world, and collaborates with artists across the disciplines. Through its workshops and educational concerts fivebyfive aims to spark young peoples unlimited creative potential. The winner of the 2018 Eastman/ArtistShare New Artist Program for its commissioning project for new works inspired by the stained-glass artist Judith Schaechter, fivebyfive also has received funding from New Music USA, the Decentralization Grant of New York State, the Rochester Community Foundation and the Farash Foundation.
“A FIVEBYFIVE PERFORMANCE HAS THE COLLABORATIVE SPIRIT OF CHAMBER MUSIC AND THE WELCOMING SOUND OF CAMRADERIE…”
—DAVID RAYMOND, CITY NEWSPAPER