VIENNA – Village Harmony, the acclaimed teen world music singing ensemble, led by Suzannah Park, Will Rowan and Nadia Tarnawsky, will be performing for the third year at the Vienna Union Hall on July 7 at 7:30 p.m.
The group includes 25 teen singers ages 12-18, from nine states. The program includes traditional songs and choral arrangements from South Africa, Ukraine, Lithuania and the Balkans, American Appalachian and shape-note songs, and several renaissance works.
Village Harmony is an umbrella organization based in Vermont dedicated to the study and performance of ethnic singing traditions from around the world. Each summer they sponsor 10 ensembles like this one, both in New England and in numerous foreign countries, involving both teen and adult singers. Each group develops its own unique sound with a different international team of leaders, but all share common traits: a powerful, natural, unrestrained, vocal sound; a remarkable variety of vocal styles and timbres, as appropriate to the many varieties of ethnic and traditional music; and the visible, vibrant community among the singers and audience as they share in a joyous celebration of music.
Suzannah Park comes from a family of three generations of professional traditional singers and she is an arranger and teacher of Appalachian ballads and gospel songs. She began singing with Village Harmony herself when she was 12, and she is now in her 11th year as a Village Harmony leader. She will will bring her usual appealing mix of traditional Appalachian songs as well as rollicking sea chanties, gospel songs and Appalachian clogging. Will Rowan will lead some of his own compositions, as well as an exciting mix of Corsican, Occitan and Lithuanian songs. Nadia Tarnawsky, from Seattle, Washington, is an immensely powerful singer with deep experience in traditional Ukrainian and Balkan music as well as early music.
Suggested admission at the door is is $10, $5 for students and seniors. For more information call 293-2362 or 293-2674 or email viennaunionhall@gmail.com. Village Harmony’s many recordings and songbooks will be available for sale at the concert.
