17 past events with the violin tag

Travel with the MSO quartet across the world as you enjoy selections that will take you to Vienna, Germany, Russia, Italy, France, Spain, Ireland, and America! For more information visit www.munciesymphony.org

Join us for a Happy Hour at Gill Brothers store prior to the concert at 6pm. The concert starts at 7:30pm.

Presenting sponsor and host: Gill Brothers Furniture

Often referred to as the "poet of the violin," Joshua Bell is one of the world's most celebrated violinists. He continues to enchant audiences with his breathtaking virtuosity, tone of sheer beauty, and charismatic stage presence. His restless curiosity, passion, universal appeal, and multi-faceted musical interests have earned him the rare title of "classical music superstar."

Tickets on sale August 12, 2013.

For more information call the Emens Auditorium Box Office at (765) 285-1539 or visit www.bsu.edu/emens

MSO Young Artists Competition 2014 winner, Nathan Meltzer, violin

Join the Muncie Symphony Orchestra for the classical series finale program. Summing up the theme, On the Brink of Greatness, the MSO will present two "up and coming" violinists: Nathan Meltzer, 2014 MSO Young Artist Competition winner, and the future winner of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Bartok's "Concerto for Orchestra" will conclude the program. Pre-concert talk at 6:30pm in the Williams Lounge.

Art by Debra Grindhart Dragoo on display at The Artist Within Art by Missy Adams on display at Cornerstone Center for the Arts Art by Hannah Barnes on display at Gallery 308 Art by Hannah Barnes on display at Gallery 308 Art by Jessica Summers on display at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. Art by Jessica Summers on display at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. Art on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Christine Johnson on display at Muncie Makes Lab Photography by Lorri Markum on display at Rose Court

The Artist Within
313 S Walnut
Sprayart Colour Layers

A series of new paintings by local artist designer Debra Gindhart Dragoo. This exhibit of aerosol paintings is a design series where colours and textures combine creating fabulous funky fun! Celebrate local art, celebrate this artist turning 63 and celebrate paint your own pottery upstairs! This exhibit also includes Green Glam studio earrings from the “Onepairaday” artist challenge. Make plans to stop by for live music, light refreshments and birthday cake and to wish Debra a “Happy Birthday”. The exhibit is free and open to the public and will remain on display through September 26th during normal studio hours.

Cornerstone Center for The Arts
520 E Main
Pop Art Presidents

The show entitled “Pop Art Presidents” is a collection of paintings by Missy Adams honoring the lives and history of the 43 presidents of the United States.

Missy Adams is a local artist who took her love of portrait painting and history to create a series of paintings celebrating the colorful personalities and interesting lives led by the nation’s presidents. The show was painted with the limited color palette of red, white, and blue and utilizes shading and layering to create depth representing each president’s own personality. Each painting features a corresponding quote from that president displayed under their portrait.

Adams describes painting as her passion, love, therapy, and her nightmare at times. She started painting at a young age and has been primarily self-taught. She has experimented with watercolor, acrylics, oil, gouache, and even coffee to paint on glass, cardboard, canvas, and paper to discover what works best. She describes her style as not realistic per se, attributing her ability to see things differently from others as her inspiration.

For more information about the show visit http://www.cornerstonearts.org

Gallery 308
308 E Main
Kali Yuga

Gallery 308 will showcase the talents of abstract artist Hannah Barnes, with an exhibit entitled "Kali Yuga". The opening reception for the new exhibit will be held Thursday, September 3 from 5 to 8 p.m. The public is welcome.

Barnes said, "My inspiration for the exhibit is a reflection on a six week research trip to southern India that I took last summer. In Hindu cosmology, Kali Yuga is the name for the era the world is currently cycling through - the last of four in a cycle. It is marked by conflict, discord, and strife"

According to Barnes, she has been making abstract images since she was four years old.  She added, "A combination of my experience in India and the events of the last year inspired me to create a body of work that emphasizes the accumulation of patterns and structures marked by conflict, discord, transformation and degeneration."

Barnes is an Associate Professor of Painting at Ball State University. She creates work that draws on a familiar vocabulary of abstract forms and tropes to explore the nature of meaning within abstraction. Her work has been exhibited in such places as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Portland, Maine; the Academy of Fine Art and Design in Wroclaw, Poland; Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, and Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. Barnes recently completed a residency at the Heliker-LaHotan Foundation in Cranberry Isles, Maine, and she was the recipient of a 2013 Full Fellowship to attend the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT.

Ms. Barnes received an MFA in Visual Art from Rutgers State University of New Jersey and a BFA in Painting from Maine College of Art. In 2008 she joined the School of Art at Ball State, where she teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses in painting and drawing, as well as undergraduate senior projects and graduate seminars in studio art practice.  Born in Massachusetts, Barnes resides and works in Indianapolis, IN.

According to Barnes, "My work engages the interplay of drawing and painting to explore ideas of structure and fragmentation, surface and depth, perception and illusion, and the indeterminacy of images. My recent work draws on the fragile and indexical qualities of watercolor to foreground touch, trace, mark, process, and impermanence."

Gallery 308, which provides space for local and regional artists with monthly "First Thursday" exhibits, is in its 14th year as a nonprofit art gallery.  For more information about the Gallery 308 exhibit opening, contact sherry@jackscamera.com. The gallery is open Fridays from 3-7pm and Saturdays from 12:30 – 5:00pm.  Admission is free. The show continues through September 26.

Gallery 308, located at 308 East Main in downtown Muncie,  is a 501(c)(3) community art gallery which exists to provide exhibition space for artists, encourage innovative work and serve the community as a cultural and educational resource. The Gallery opens a new exhibit every First Thursday. Contributions to Gallery 308 are tax-deductible. For more information about upcoming exhibits, volunteer and donor opportunities, please call 765-289-8575 or visit http://www.gallery308.org.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E Main
Interiority: New Paintings by Jessica Summers

Jessica Summers has been selected to exhibit for the month of September at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Company. Her oversized drawings and oil paintings command attention, as the viewer feels included in the scene, or just offstage. The artist explains, “I honor the tradition of artists representing the contemporary domestic interior and choose to use my suburban home as the subject and setting for my work.”

Beneath the exceptionally detailed surface, Summers’ pieces “explore modern relationships in which couples cohabitate but for numerous reasons rarely connect.”  Her use of dramatic lighting and sharp camera angles, along with eye contact to acknowledge the audience, brings intimacy into the these private spaces while the artist remains in control of what is revealed or concealed, undoubtedly leading her viewers to seek for more information in details, angles and shadows.

Summers holds a BFA in 2-Dimensional Studies and Art Education from Bowling Green University and an MFA from Bowling Green State University, where she is currently an adjunct professor in Fine Arts. The winner of numerous awards, Summers was invited by Ohio’s First Lady, Karen Kasich, to be the Fall Spotlight Artist at the Ohio Governor’s Residence, where she delivered an artist talk that was later televised. She has also had solo exhibitions at Durham Arts Council in Durham, North Carolina and Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia. Jessica has also participated in a number of invitational small group shows at Indiana University South Bend, University of Findlay in Ohio, and Portland ArtsPlace in Portland, Indiana, among others.

There will be an opening reception on Thursday, September 3, 2015 from 5 to 8 PM and the artist will speak about her work and answer questions, beginning at 6:15 PM. Light refreshments will be served, and the public is invited to attend. There will be art-related activities for both children and adults.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing is located at 224 East Main Street, next to Muncie Civic Theatre. For information, call 765-284-8422, visit Gordy Fine Art & Framing on Facebook, or go to http://www.gordyframing.com.

Grace Episcopal Church
300 S Madison
Violist Katrin Meidell and Friends

I would to let you know that Grace Episcopal Church has begun a concert series on First Thurs. We realize we are several minutes away from the center of downtown but we wanted to support the art scene and downtown Muncie. Our concerts are planned to run from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Our main hallway has in the past been for hanging art works and will be on First Thurs. events.

The Sept. 3rd concert will feature violist Katrin Meidell and friends.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S Walnut

Featured Projects from Muncie Public Library’s UDo Makerspace
Muncie Public Library's UDo makerspace hosted a six week Google Maker Camp for the second year in a row. The purpose of maker camp is to help inspire and instruct young innovators, engineers, and artists. Our featured projects included felt finger puppets, cardboard guitars, circuits and LED's, and even a DIY terrarium.

College of Architecture and Planning First Year Design Students Retrospective
Students within the First Year Program at the College of Architecture and Design at Ball State University learn and develop environmental design principles and skills through presented questions and a series of explorations. This exhibit is a celebration of the exemplary responses to these questions throughout the 2014-2015 academic year. Individual projects displayed within the exhibition include: "The Order of Things," "Defining Spaces," "Translations," "(S)P(L)ACE and EVENT," "Folding Space," "Biomimicry," and "Stitching the Urban Fabric of Muncie”.

Faces of the Cheonggyecheon, Christine Johnson (BLA '16)
During the spring semester of 2015, Christine Johnson (BLA '16) conducted an observational photography study about the Cheonggye Canal in Seoul, South Korea, and the people that came to visit from the middle of winter to spring. From that she has produced maps, drawings, photos, and videos that look deep into the history and culture of the Cheonggyecheon and into the experiences of those who visit. She hopes that through this project she can raise awareness about how important these types of landscapes are to people in the form of social, insightful, and pleasant experiences.

Mutual Bank Marble Wall
110 E Charles
Afterhours Art Reels – Phantom of the Paradise

Muncie Downtown Development Partnership, in collaboration with The Fickle Peach, presents After Hours Art Reels following the First Thursday Gallery Walks in June through September. Come enjoy the gallery exhibits from 5-8pm throughout DWNTWN, and join us afterwards at dusk for these great cult and art film classics!

Our final show is: Phantom of the Paradise. Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 American musical film horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma, and starring Paul Williams, William Finley and Jessica Harper. In the film, a disfigured composer writes his music for a woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, a record producer betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise. Betrayed, the composer dons a new appearance and exacts revenge on the producer.

The story is a loosely adapted mixture of several classic European works: Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Faust by Goethe/Christopher Marlowe.

Initially, the film was a box office failure and received negative reviews, however it earned praise for its music, receiving Academy Award and a Golden Globe nominations. Over the years, the film has received much more positive reviews and has since become a cult classic.

The Ball State University student short film shown prior to this month's movie is "WHOLE" . Film by the Rieth Brothers. This film was the winning short film for the 2015 BSU Frog Baby Film Festival.

Films are projected onto the Mutual Bank wall on Charles Street at dusk. Seating will be available on the Fickle Peach patio area located at 117 E. Charles St. for guests who are 21 and up. Viewers who are not yet 21 can watch the films from the sidewalk surrounding the patio area. A hot dog food cart and beverages will be available.

This will be the final film of the summer series. Go to our website to see the film trailer.

http://www.downtownmuncie.org/after-hours-art-reels/

Rose Court
125 E Charles

Life is short, capture it! Born and raised in Delaware County, and a graduate of Ball State University, Lorri Markum has spent most of her life behind a lens. Her professional career began with a love of music and live performance. After landing her first concert photography job photographing Aretha Franklin, and soon after, Sir Elton John, she has spent nearly twenty years photographing the top artists, and legends in music.

Though most of her work is known through her work in the music industry, her true love as a photographer lies in pursuing photojournalism and street photography in black and white. She enjoys capturing moments as they naturally unfold, the common, the forgotten, the subtle, and the bizarre from New York City, to New Orleans.

A collection of Lorri Markum’s photographs will be on display during September 3 from 5–9 p.m. at the Rose Court on East Charles Street. The works are black and white canvas prints of street scenes, and nature, from Indiana to Mississippi, New Orleans to Muscle Shoals. All will be available for purchase.

Artwork by Jim Faulkner, on display at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. Artwork by Holly Lay, on display at Muncie Makes Lab Performances by choreographer Sidra Bell in The Old Cintas Building

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E Main
The Paintings of Jim Faulkner

Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company will open The Paintings of Jim Faulkner on First Thursday, February 4, 5 – 8 pm.  Included in the show will be more than a dozen watercolor paintings by the artist who will be on hand to engage with viewers and answer questions.  Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.

Faulkner’s dedication, sensitivity, and skill as a painter for more than 50 years has made him one of the most loved and revered artists in this region and statewide. His artistic excellence and contributions to Muncie's cultural vitality were honored last summer during the inaugural Mayor's Arts Awards where Faulkner was recognized with the award for Artist in the Community.  He has been a full time painter since 1977 at his country home that he shares with his wife Eleanor.  They are both great animal lovers and his studio is in a restored barn. 

“I am very taken by the constant change taking place in everything,” says Faulkner.  “The new that decays, becoming the old.  In the natural world, both new and old seem to hold my interest…  I paint the meadows, woods, homesteads, towns, and people of the Midwest, trying to find meaning in the stillness of an old abandoned farm, or the quiet of a snow-covered wood, or even the aging of the human face.”

“Weathered buildings and bent trees are central to the images in this exhibition,” says gallery owner Carl Schafer.  “They are evidence of the constant winds and shifting limestone bedrock in our region that have pushed them and allowed them to settle at slightly precarious angles.  Over the course of his career, Faulkner has succeeded in defining East Central Indiana’s wide open landscape.”

At 6:15, Carl and Barbara Schafer will introduce Faulkner to those attending, and tributes that have been gathered from his close friends and colleagues will be read.  Those attending the event will be invited to write their memorable experiences with the artist and things they find impressive about his accomplishments.    

Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company promotes talented artists from East Central Indiana and offers expert design and craftsmanship for framing and displaying treasured family possessions and works of art.  The Paintings of Jim Faulkner may also be viewed during regular business hours: Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5:30 pm, Saturday, 9 am – 3 pm.  Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company is located at 224 East Main Street, next door to Muncie Civic Theatre.  For more information, visit www.gordyframing.com or call 765-284-8422.

Grace Episcopal Church
300 S Madison

Grace Episcopal Church will host a youth concert at 7:30pm and an art display opening at 5pm. We will be featuring Maya Kilburn a student at Yorktown Middle School who will be performing 3 violin pieces by Brunch, Kreisher and Bartok. She is an accomplished violinist winning the junior divisions of both the Muncie Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition and the New World Youth Orchestra Concerto. Also we will feature Minghao Yan, a junior at the Indiana Academy who will be performing traditional Chinese music on the erhu, a traditional Chinese 2-string instrument. He will also tell the audience about his family’s traditions at the Chinese New Year which begins Feb. 8 this year.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S Walnut
CritChat: An Open House

For the last eight months, Muncie Makes Lab has been home to CritChat, a free, community meet-up developed and facilitated by artists Holly Lay and Braydee Euliss.  This monthly gathering invites local artists of all kinds to participate in conversation about their own work and the work of others. Painters, photographers, sculptors, and makers of all types are encouraged to bring completed work, work in progress, and even unrealized ideas with the sole intention of sharing. By enabling dialogue, promoting collaboration, and providing critical feedback, the group hopes to build community & support for emerging area artists.

Artwork by several CritChat members will be exhibited together publicly for the first time during “CritChat: An Open House” at Muncie Makes Lab on First Thursday, February 4, 5 – 8 PM. Featured in the exhibit are artists Spencer Davis, Kara Clark DuQuette, Michael DuQuette, Holly Lay, Rochelle Martin, Jannell Summers, and Seth Winn. Artists will be present throughout the evening, and guests are encouraged to ask questions and engage them in conversation about their work. Light refreshments will be served.

Both artists at the helm of CritChat hold BFA degrees from Ball State University School of Art. Holly Lay exhibits her photography and video work throughout the country. Braydee Euliss is the Gallery Manager at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. and received the “Next Generation Artist” award at last year’s inaugural Mayor’s Arts Awards.

Find out more about CritChat & join the conversation every 3rd Thursday of the month from 7 – 9 PM at Muncie Makes Lab, 628 S. Walnut St. Muncie, IN 47605. No rsvp necessary. Muncie Makes Lab is a design/build, make, discuss, display, and workshop lab for students, faculty, staff from Ball State University as well as the Muncie community.

The Old Cintas Building
500 E Jackson
Sidra Bell

Following their first event last December, Muncie Arts & Culture Council resumes hosting pop-up events in the old Cintas building on First Thursday, February 4, 5 – 8 PM. Visiting choreographer Sidra Bell will showcase brand new choreography with the help of several BFA Dance Majors from Ball State University. Three rolling performances will take place at 5:45, 6:30, and 7:15 PM with music and opportunity to speak with Bell and the dancers before and after each showtime.

Sidra Bell, Artistic Director of Sidra Bell Dance New York, is currently a Master Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, an Adjunct Professor at Ball State University and was an Adjunct Professor at Barnard College in New York City. She has a degree in History from Yale University and an MFA in Choreography from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance.

Please enter the building at 500 East Jackson Street, behind the Cintas truck billboard. Light refreshments will be served.

Bold and Broke, on display at The Gearbox: Muncie Space in Motion, hosted by The Gearbox: Muncie Radicle Traces, paintings by Kaylee Dalton on display at Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co. Mask Making Workshop at the DOMA, on display at Muncie Makes Lab Social and Environmental Justice Artwork, on display at Muncie Makes Lab

The Gearbox: Muncie
500 E Jackson
Bold and Broke

In its second year of pop up shows, DYNAMO will be hosting its seventh show: Bold and Broke in the GearBox: Muncie, the former Cintas building, on First Thursday, March 3, 5-9 PM. More than 20 artists, largely comprised of current and former Ball State students, will be displaying their work. Types of medium represented will be drawing, painting, ceramics, glass, metals, photography, video, and multimedia installation.

DYNAMO is an art collective dedicated to creating traveling pop up art shows based in Muncie, Indiana. The artwork is from a mixture of student and local artists with a variety of media and subject, and a strong interest in learning how to exhibit work professionally. The goal of this group is to promote diversity of art throughout our community, and to familiarize students with the exhibition process.

All those who are interested in joining future DYNAMO endeavors, please contact either Katie Norman or Sarah LaBarge at dynamoshows@gmail.com and like our Facebook page, Dynamo Art Exhibitions for news about future shows. For additional information about this exhibit, please contact curator Heather Jordan at hnjordan@bsu.edu.

Space in Motion
Twelve dancers, twelve unique environments. Space in Motion brings together the talents of Ball State University’s architecture and dance students for a one-time performance in downtown Muncie as part of First Thursday Arts Walk on March 3. From 6:00-7:00pm, twelve Ball State dance students will perform, each occupying a unique environment created by one of twelve Ball State architecture students. The performance will take place at GearBox:Muncie, the former Cintas building located at the intersection of Jackson and Madison streets. Admission is free and music will be provided by Department of Theater and Dance musician, Adam Crawley.

The project was organized by Ball State Architecture Professor George Elvin with Dance Professor Susan Koper and IDIA Lab Director John Fillwalk. “Space in Motion promises to be a very unique experience,” Elvin said. "The students are merging design, dance and music in one of Muncie’s most interesting new art spaces. I think anyone with an interest in any of those things will be glad they came.”

The Muncie Arts and Culture Council is thrilled to have been given an early opportunity to help activate the GearBox space while simultaneously facilitating First Thursday events for artists and groups who might otherwise find it difficult to participate in this Downtown Muncie tradition.

Grace Episcopal Church
300 S Madison

At 7:30pm, David Blakely, violin and Rebecca Burkart, harpsichord will perform Sonata No. 6 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach at Grace Episcopal Church in Muncie.

Rebecca is a local performer on harpsichord with a degree in Harpsichord Performance from Ball State University and a Ph.D. in Historical Musicology from Florida State University. She was a Finalist in the International Music Prize for Excellence in Performance in 2011.

She taught at North Florida Community College for seven years and now teaches music history and harpsichord lessons and directs the Collegium Musicum at Ball State University.

Gordy Fine Art & Framing Co.
224 E Main
Radicle Traces

Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company will celebrate First Thursday, March 3, 5-8 pm with an opening reception for Radicle Traces, paintings by Kaylee Dalton. The exhibit will feature several new paintings by the artist who will be on hand to engage with viewers and answer questions. Light refreshments will be served and the public is invited to attend.

Appropriate for March, Dalton’s work is a whimsical interpretation of the garden landscape with a focus on “the ever longed for spring season and its perpetual fascination of new growth.” Bulbs, seeds, and blooms, both above and beneath the soil, have all found a home in her most recent work. Exploiting the rare combination of encaustic wax and water media, Dalton clearly embraces strong textural differences, reflective of the various surfaces often found in nature

Dalton received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Ball State University in 2008. She was the 2006 recipient of the Watercolor Society of Indiana scholarship. While attending Ball State University, she received five painting awards, including three purchase awards. Dalton studied at the University of Miami, Florida for a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting. She has shown in over 25 group exhibits including Art Basel Miami. She is a member of the Northern Indiana Artists and recently received the Carolyn Jagodits Memorial Award at their latest exhibition. Locally, Dalton was awarded third place at the Minnetrista Open Space: Art About the Land juried show in 2015.

At 6:15, the artist will speak briefly about her work. Guests are encouraged to ask questions and learn more about the artist as well as her unique pairing of artistic media.

Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company promotes talented artists from East Central Indiana and offers expert design and craftsmanship for framing and displaying treasured family possessions and works of art. “Radicle Traces” may also be viewed during regular business hours: Monday through Friday, 9 am – 5:30 pm, Saturday, 9 am – 3 pm.  Gordy Fine Art and Framing Company is located at 224 East Main Street, next door to Muncie Civic Theatre.  For more information, visit www.gordyframing.com or call 765-284-8422.

Muncie Makes Lab
628 S Walnut
First Floor: Mask Making Workshop at the DOMA

Taking place over the course of two weekends, individuals will look at masks in the collection with artist-teacher Aaron Nicholson and create their own works of art for display on March 3 at the downtown gallery of the BSU College of Architecture and Planning called Muncie Makes Lab. Students will learn how to make a sculpture using an armature, paper-mâché, and found objects.

Second Floor: Social and Environmental Justice Artwork
For an assignment in an architecture class at Ball State University, students explored the role of social and environmental justice art in generating awareness, empathy, and change. Students researched topics that they were passionate about and visually communicated what they want the public to know about these injustices through art making.

Many things set the Music for All Summer Symposium apart and one of those is the nightly concert series. Each evening features artists and groups presenting a variety of musical performance genres. 

Black Violin is the blend of classical, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and bluegrass music. Live, they are accompanied by their incredible band, featuring ace turntable whiz DJ SPS and a drummer. Named one of the hottest bands at SXSW in 2013, Black Violin was invited to perform at Bonnaroo and returned to SXSW this year to SRO crowds.

“Black Violin works hard, but makes it all look like play… Sometimes they play with the intense seriousness of orchestral soloists; at others they fiddle as if at a hoedown; at still others they strum the violin and viola like guitars.” New York Times

Since starting Black Violin a decade ago Wil Baptiste and Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester have performed an average of 200 shows a year in 49 states and 36 countries as far away as Dubai, Prague and South Africa, while appearing at official NFL celebrations for three Super Bowls and last year’s U.S. Open in Forest Hills with Jordin Sparks. Their groundbreaking collaboration has seen them play their music for everybody from the troops in Iraq to both the official President’s Inaugural Ball and the Kids Inaugural in Washington, DC, where Barack Obama himself gave each a hearty hand-shake. Individually and together, Black Violin has collaborated with the likes of P. Diddy, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Tom Petty, Aerosmith, Aretha Franklin and The Eagles.

TICKETS: $25, order online at camp.musicforall.org/concerts

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper LIVE at the 2023 Muncie Three Trails Music Series!

Please join us on Friday, August 25th at 7:00pm, at Canan Commons in Downtown Muncie, Indiana for our Summer of FREE CONCERTS with Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and special guest opener The Punkin Holler Boys!

"My desire to present the amazing artistry of Michael Cleveland to residents of Muncie and East Central Indiana was one of my main motivations in starting the Muncie Three Trails Music Series."

- Rick Zeigler, Founder, Muncie Three Trails Music Series

The tension between tradition and innovation is at the core of bluegrass music, and the fiddle playing of Michael Cleveland exemplifies this musical tug of war. As a boy, Cleveland heard a local fiddler play “Orange Blossom Special,” which sparked a lifelong obsession with the tune that mimics the sound of a train. Cleveland’s improvisational versions push the piece’s descriptive tones and percussive bowing to a new level. With an encyclopedic memory for melodies, and an uncanny intuition for improvisation, Cleveland’s music is both rooted in tradition and fueled by his melodic imagination.

From an early age, Cleveland heard old-time and bluegrass music at local jams and festivals near his hometown of Henryville, Indiana. His grandparents hosted regular bluegrass gatherings at the American Legion, and at age four, he began playing the fiddle. He attended the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, where he learned the Suzuki method of violin. While he practiced the violin at school, he played fiddle at home. Traveling with his grandparents to area bluegrass festivals, he heard many legendary players perform at Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana. At the age of nine, Cleveland got to play with Monroe—a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship in the inaugural class of 1982—at the festival. When Cleveland was 12, he met music historian Dave Samuelson, who recognized the young musician’s interest and talent. Samuelson curated several Braille-labeled tapes for the young musician, which served as Cleveland’s essential listening guide to bluegrass music. Cleveland’s repertoire and musicianship grew, and in 1993 he played the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards show with the Bluegrass Youth All-Stars.

Cleveland began playing professionally after he graduated from high school, first with Jeff White and later with Dale Ann Bradley and Rhonda Vincent. Since he was young, however, Cleveland had dreamed of leading his own band. In 2006, he formed Flamekeeper, now seven-time recipients of the IBMA’s “Instrumental Group of the Year” award. Flamekeeper includes Josh Richards, Nathan Livers, Jasiah Shrode, and Chris Douglas. In addition to touring with his band, Cleveland has performed with a legendary list of bluegrass greats. Nevertheless, he remains rooted in his local Southern Indiana community, where he continues to play with friends when he is not on tour.

Widely considered the best bluegrass fiddler of his generation, Cleveland has been recognized 12 times as the IBMA’s “Fiddler of the Year,” and in 2018 he was inducted into the National Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. His recording Fiddler’s Dream was nominated in 2018 for a Grammy for “Best Bluegrass Album,” and in 2019, his album Tall Fiddler won that award. In 2019, Cleveland’s amazing life of adversity and achievement was featured in the documentary film Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. And in 2022, he, like his idol Bill Monroe, was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship.

Visit Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper here:

www.michaelclevelandfiddle.com

Presented by Ball State University, THANK YOU to our Sponsors!

The primary mission of the Muncie Three Trails Music Series is to bring critically acclaimed, national recording artists to perform at Canan Commons, Muncie’s newest outdoor performance venue, located in the heart of Downtown. All concerts are free to the public. Our second mission is to promote the many recreational, artistic, and cultural attractions located along, or in close proximity to, Canan Commons and Muncie’s popular “Three Trails” -- The White River Greenway, The Cardinal Greenway, and The Muncie Arts and Culture Trail. We hope that the combination of outstanding concerts and Muncie’s attractions will provide both local citizens and visitors from throughout the region and state with a full day of fun and music.

Explore The Trails, Enjoy The Music!

Please visit our website to learn much more about our 2023 Muncie Three Trails Music Series:

https://www.munciethreetrails.com