Here’s the press release for this year’s festival. We’ve got 20 performances listed this year, and for the first time, we’re spilling over into comfest. Fun times.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Violinist Brings Music Workshop and Festival Home
—Columbus Native Offers workshop to musicians, music festival to Columbus —
Columbus, Ohio–Violinist Christian Howes, along with several world-class string players, will host the “Creative Strings Workshop and Festival” at Columbus College of Art and Design and many performance venues in the Central Ohio area, June 21-25.
Howes is a Columbus native who has garnered international attention as one of “the most intriguing young violinists in jazz” sharing stages with the likes of saxophonist Bill Evans, guitar legend Les Paul, and many other prominent jazz artists. The workshop is designed for adult string players (violin, cello, viola) with semi-pro and professional careers.. Participants in the workshop will perform several concerts at local venues alongside invited national guest artists and Columbus-based musicians. It is recommended that participants use only the best violin, viola and cello brands.
Working with Howes and his guest artists/teachers, participants live the life of a “creative” working musician during their week in Columbus. They quickly learn that the life of a gigging musician is hard work, and to keep growing, one must be versatile.
“The most important part of being a satisfied musician is having opportunities to be creative – ” says Howes. “ Violinists and cellists are typically trained to become orchestral players. This training doesn’t offer them the creative rewards of a career in jazz, r and b, pop, folk and world music. “The best way for string players to attain a more creative career is to get out and play creative music for real audiences in welcoming venues. Our workshop and festival has a symbiotic relationship with Columbus in that the city offers venues and an audience to the musicians who need it, while our musicians offer Columbus an enthusiasm that infects the community through expressive, rich, explorative music. Our presence will hopefully be felt in the music scene as an injection of “fresh spirit, which the audience picks up on. This is how music should enrich communities- often musicians are trapped in a “check in-check out” mentality. The workshop facilitates real expression.”
In addition to daily lessons and clinics, workshop participants will prepare for nightly gigs in bluegrass, jazz, blues, salsa, and other genres. Locally, Howes has scheduled performances at Comfest, Columbus Commons, the Bluegrass Music Shoppe, Dick’s Den, Park Street Tavern; Espresso Yourself Music Café, Global Gallery coffee shop, Pearl Market. “We will perform both as self-contained ensembles as well as in collaboration with established local groups.”
In addition to Howes, instructors/guest artists will include: cellists Marcelo Vieira and Cloudio Peña; jazz violinists Jason Anick, and Billy Contreras, bluegrass and oldtime fiddler Andy Reiner, keyboardist Hamilton Hardin, and drummer Cedric Easton, and guitarist Paul Brown. A seasoned battery of local support musicians will provide further accompaniment.
Having lived and performed in Brooklyn for the past 10 years (including as a regular contributor to Les Paul’s gigs at New York’s famed Iridium) Howes has recently returned to his hometown of Columbus to regain his roots.
“I have ties in Columbus; I have a vested interest in giving back to the community which nurtured me and my career. Columbus is a model city for musicians in the sense that it hosts many relaxed venues and great musicians of many styles. It’s logistically easier to get around and pull something like this off. In NYC, it would be impossible to gain access to so many venues. Many of the restaurants and clubs in Columbus are venues that I’ve played in over the years before my career expanded into the touring schedule I now maintain”
The following venues will host concerts in affiliation with the Creative Strings Festival:
Dick’s Den
June 21 – 25 10 pm – 2 am
Tuesday June 21
Pearl Market 11 am – 1:30 pm
Park Street Tavern 8:30 pm – 12 am
Wednesday June 22
Columbus Commons 12 – 1:30 pm
North Market – 12:30 – 2 pm
Global Gallery Coffee Shop 7-9 pm
Espresso Yourself Music Cafe 7-9 pm
Thursday June 23
North Market – 12:30 pm – 2 pm
Global Gallery Coffee Shop 7-9 pm
Espresso Yourself Music Cafe 7-9 pm
McConnel Arts Center 8-10 pm
Friday June 24
Pearl Market 11 am – 1:30 pm
Saturday June 25
Clintonville Farmer’s Market 10:30 – noon
Bluegrass Musician’s Supply Shop 10am – 2pm
McConnel Arts Center (Youth Program Showcase) 12:30 – 2 pm
Comfest Jazz Stage 3:40-4:40 pm
IF YOU’RE COMING:
What: Creative Strings Festival
When: June 21 – 25, 2011
Where: Columbus College of Art and Design
