The Swannanoa Gathering is a series of weeklong workshops in the folk arts hosted by Warren Wilson College.
It draws students from as far away as Japan, Australia, France and Hong Kong to take classes in everything from fiddle to clogging to storytelling.
Some of the programs feature public concerts by staff members in the Warren Wilson College’s Kittredge Theatre. All shows begin at 7:30 pm in the college’s Kittredge Theatre. Tickets are $22 per concert (during Old- Time Week, ticket price includes dances following concerts). Children under 12 are $11. Limited tickets are available in Asheville at Malaprops Bookstore, in Black Mountain at Song of the Wood, at the Warren Wilson College bookstore and at the door. Check or cash only. For concert info, call 771-3761.
• Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert I on Monday, August 1 is the first of three concerts combining the staffs of Fiddle Week with Mando & Banjo Week, featuring some of the world’s finest fiddle, mandolin and banjo players covering a variety of ethnic traditions. The first show will feature the wide-ranging music of mandolin virtuoso Mike Marshall, banjo legends Tony Trischka and Country Gazette’s Alan Munde, old-time fiddler Kilby Spenser, classical music from mandolinist Caterina Lichtenberg, Celtic fiddlers Laura Risk and Liz Knowles, blues mandolinist Rich DelGrosso, bluegrass fiddler Matt Combs, and the innovative music of mandolinists John Reischman and Matt Flinner.
• The Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert II on Tuesday, August 2 features Beausoleil’s Grammy- winning fiddler Michael Doucet, the dazzling and eclectic multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, old-time duo Paul Brown and Terri McMurray, guitar/mandolin player David Surette, Québécois fiddler Pascal Gemme; swing greats Don Stiernberg and Greg Ruby, bassist Kevin Kehrberg, contradance fiddler Laura Lengnick and Fiddle Week Coordinator Julia Weatherford.
• The series concludes on Wednesday, August 3, when Fiddle/Mando & Banjo Weeks Concert III will highlight an extraordinary lineup of great players featuring jazz fiddle great Christian Howes, bluegrass mandolinists Alan Bibey and Mike Compton, ‘world music’ fiddler Eden MacAdam-Somer, banjo innovator Bill Evans, old-time fiddler Emily Schaad, eclectic cellist Malcolm Parson, bluegrass-and-more fiddler Alex Hargreaves, Mexican fiddler Paul Anastasio and bluegrass guitarist Ed Dodson.
The Swannanoa Gathering Folk Arts Workshops run through August 12th at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, just east of Asheville, NC. Tuition is $540 per week. Housing and meals are available for $425 per week. Registration for each week is limited. For more information on the workshops and a free catalog, call or write: The Swannanoa Gathering, Warren Wilson College, PO Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815-9000 (828) 298-3434, or 771-3761, or visit the Gathering’s website at www.swangathering.com.