Bountiful/Davis Art Center - Bountiful

August 4, 2011
Manassas, led by Clive Romney - Clive Romney, well-known local musician and songwriter will perform with his band Manassas, playing Civil War-era music. The group will include Clive Romney on banjo, guitar and mandolin, Daron Bradford on fife, flute and clarinet and Kelly Wallis on drums.

Utah Cultural Celebration Center- West Valley City

August 15, 2011
Red Rock Rondo - Red Rock Rondo are an all-star ensemble celebrating the history and contemporary life of the canyon's neighboring communities. This exciting song cycle is performed on a lively assortment of guitars, violins, oboe, English horn, mandolin, banjo, mandocello, harmonica, button accordion, upright bass and vocals.
The musicians are composer Phillip Bimstein, internationally-known recording artist Kate MacLeod, Deseret String Band and Cowboy Poetry Gathering founder Hal Cannon, and Bimstein's fellow blue haiku members Harold Carr, Flavia Cerviño-Wood and Charlotte Bell, who also perform with the Salt Lake Symphony. Their music is a well-crafted synergy of folk and classical traditions.

Kanab Center for Education, Business, and the Arts - Kanab

September 10, 2011
Cold Creek Band - Utah’s premier bluegrass band performs across Utah and the western states. The band is comprised of Bill Sprunger on guitar and lead vocals, Blaine Nelson on banjo, Andrea Ivey Banner on bass and lead vocals, Jake Workman on mandolin and Rob Ricks on fiddle. These talented musicians have been playing together for years and make truly outstanding bluegrass music.

Santa Clara Swiss Days - Santa Clara

September 22, 2011
Midway Bell Ringers - The Swiss Handbell Ringers of Midway comprised of 12 or more bell ringers is directed by Britt Wilde of Midway, Utah. Encouraged by thoughts of Midway residents (a community of many decendants of Swiss pioneers) to have their own bell-ringer group, funds to purchase hand bells were raised by local citizens. When the bell ringers began practicing in 1988, they were comprised of a group of homemakers, office workers and schoolteachers (nearly all grandmothers). Music from their bells that cover a five-octave range was as instant hit. Their performances have received many rave reviews over the years.

Santa Clara Swiss Days - Santa Clara

September 23, 2011
Kerry Christensen - Kerry Christensen is not your typical yodeler.  His concerts and events this year will take him to as many as 23 US states and two or three countries internationally.  Kerry spent two years in the country of Austria right out of high school.  There he became interested in the alpine yodeling art.  Kerry can be strictly alpine, or he can put on his Stetson hat and do an all-cowboy yodeling show.  However, many of Kerry's fans say that their favorite show is when Kerry mixes up the styles.  You will hear cowboy, alpine, cajun, Latin, Jewish, Hawaiian, jazz, classical, and his always popular humorous yodeling renditions

Eccles Community Art Center - Ogden

October 7, 2011
Ibou N’Gom & Deja Mitchell - Dancers and Dundun Drum & Sangban Drum players create awareness of the cultural significance of these rarely seen instruments.  These performers are masters of this art form and will provide an intimate evening of becoming familiar with this art.

Boulder Heritage Foundation - Boulder

October 8, 2011
Craig Childs - Craig Childs is a writer who focuses on natural sciences, archaeology, and remarkable journeys into the wilderness. He has published more than a dozen critically acclaimed books on nature, science, and adventure. He is a commentator for National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, Outside, Orion, and High Country News. His subjects range from pre-Columbian archaeology to US border issues to the last free-flowing rivers of Tibet and Patagonia. He has been called a born storyteller by the New York Sun, and the LA Times says his writing is like pure oxygen, and “stings like a slap in the face.”

Casino Starr Theatre Foundation - Gunnison

November 1, 2011
Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company - Ririe-Woodbury furthers contemporary dance as an accessible and valued art form through performance and dance education. They strive to raise the standards, deepen the understanding and promote personal connections with dance.

Zion Canyon Arts & Humanities Council – Springdale

November 3, 2011
Gabriel Bolkosky with Michelle Cooker - Gabriel Bolkosky, a native of Detroit, Michigan, began his violin studies at age three. As a recitalist, Gabe has appeared across the United States and abroad. He performs a diverse repertoire of classical and contemporary works with different collaborative artists from many genres of music making. Recently he performed in the premiere of Rzewski’s “Natural Things” for Carnegie Hall’s Making Music Series. He has also collaborated with other composers, among them William Bolcom, John Harbison, George Tsontakis, Derek Bermel, and Bernard Rands.

Eastern Arts International Dance Theatre – Salt Lake City

November 3, 2011
Anwar Yusuf Turani - Anwar Yusuf was born in Artush Eastern Turkistan near the Afghan border. He and his parents were in a Red Chinese prison camp because they were from the Turkic Uighur minority population of western China and were not fervent supporters of Mao. He finally escaped from Red China and eventually immigrated to America. He studied international law at San Francisco State University and then later at Indiana State University. During this time he also toured with a Turkish dance group and on his own playing his native Uighur instruments and singing folk songs of his homeland. His music has been highly regarded at all his concerts and his artistry as one of America’s only Uighur folk and classical musicians is eagerly sought after.

Friends of Moab Folk Festival – Moab

November 5, 2011
Ferron - Ferron comes from a rich musical heritage. She began writing songs when she was just 10 years old. She bought a guitar with money she earned cutting grass and did her first show for a Womens' press in Vancouver...a benefit concert. She took a couple of LP's - Ferron, and Ferron Backed - to Michigan Womens' Festival in 1977, and started shipping LP's out of her basement to the United States. With Gayle Scott, an American filmmaker living in Canada, she brought out Testimony (1980), Shadows On a Dime (1984), and Phantom Center (1990). Not a Still Life (1992), Resting with the Question (1992) and Driver (1994) were all brought out on her American Label Cherryl Wood Station. Later came Inside Out and then a 30-year retrospective called Impressionistic Ferron (2000), followed by Turning Into Beautiful (2005).

Friends of Moab Folk Festival – Moab

November 6, 2011
Cheryl Wheeler - You may not be familiar with Cheryl, but you have probably heard her music. She is very respected as a songwriter by her peers, which can be seen by how many of them record her songs. Chery's songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus, Melanie, Bette Midler, Maura O'Connell, Sylvia, Kathy Mattea, and Holly Near. If they think she is great, then you owe it to yourself to learn more if you aren't familiar with her.

Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah – Salt Lake City

November 8, 2011
Complexions Contemporary Ballet - It is artistic directors Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson’s lifelong appreciation for the artistic & aesthetic appeal of the multicultural that forms the cornerstone of Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s singular approach to reinventing dance. Founded in 1994, Complexions’ groundbreaking mix of methods, styles, cultures has created an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement over the past decade-and-a-half. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole.

Kanab Center for Education, Business, and the Arts - Kanab

November 15, 2011
The Paradigm Trio - The Paradigm Trio consists of 3 group members- Joel Rosenberg on the viola, Jed Moss on the piano, and Kelly Parkinson on the violin. All of the artists specialize in playing chamber music and have appeared extensively throughout the country. 

Blue Mountain Entertainment – Monticello

November 28, 2011
The Lowe Family - The Lowe Family has been entertaining hundreds of thousands around the world for over 25 years. Most recently, the Lowe Family appeared with the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra on their national TV and radio broadcast. They also have been featured as special guests during the Olympics and on China's New Year's Celebration televised internationally. As seen on ABC, CBS, PBS, Time-Warner, and other stations worldwide, the Lowe Family has distinguished themselves as consumate performers across the globe.

Park City Performing Arts Foundation – Park City

December 3, 2011
John Amos in Haleys Comet - John Amos is an American actor and former football player.  His television work includes roles in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Good Times, the miniseries Roots, and a recurring role in The West Wing. He has also appeared on Broadway and in numerous motion pictures in a career that spans four decades. He has received nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and NAACP Image Award.

Zion Canyon Arts & Humanities Council – Springdale

December 9, 2011
The Rick Arroyo Latin Jazz Quintet - Born in the Bronx, New York, Rick Began playing piano at the age of 9, drums at age 11, congas and vibraphone at the age of 14. He started playing professionally at the age of 15. He has played at The Blue Note, The House Of Blues, The Rio, The MGM Grand, Bellagio’s, Caesars Palace, The Stardust, New York, N.Y. ( in the George Hamilton Cigar Lounge). He has opened for Tito Puente, Willie Chirino, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Jesus Alemany, Cubanismo, David Benoit, Richard Elliott, Michael McDonald, Donna Summers, The Beach Boys, Sammy Hagar and many others. Rick was the Musical Director for the Tom Dane Show.

Cedar City Music Arts – Cedar City

January 11, 2012
The American Piano Quartet - One of the most popular and most requested ensembles to play Utah concert halls, the American Piano Quartet, coaxes amazing music out of two grand pianos. The quartet began in 1984 when Paul Pollei received a piece of music from a student's grandmother designed for four pianists. The Quartet performed the piece and were so well received that they decided to continue as a group. The group of four pianists is dedicated to performing and recording works composed and arranged specifically for two pianos/eight hands. The quartet is composed of four nationally and internationally known musicians who focus their careers in all areas of performance, teaching, composing, arranging, and conducting.

Utah Lyric Opera – Springville

January 30, 2012
Isaac Hurtado - “Money-notes that are worth every penny,” “wonderful acting,” “movie star good looks,” “polished and elegant” are just a few of the phrases used by critics to describe lyric tenor Isaac Hurtado. Critically acclaimed for successes as Edgardo in Lucia di Lamermoor, Werther in Werther, the Duke in Rigoletto, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Alfredo in La Traviata, and Roméo in Roméo et Juliette, Mr. Hurtado is “the complete package.”

Intermountain Acoustic Music Association – Salt Lake City

February 3, 2012
Randall Williams - Randall Williams is a musician, author, world traveler, and a fireball business ninja. In 2002, he graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Mons, Belgium with a degree in classical vocal performance – at the head of his class. His newest musical adventure is a song cycle based on “Einstein’s Dreams,” after the national bestseller by the same name. MIT physicist and poet Alan Lightman penned thirty sketches of what Einstein might have dreamed in the months leading up to his discovery of the theory of relativity. The result is more about our common humanity than a physics exercise: in one world, the river of time has eddies and back currents where people are sometimes caught.

Public Art & Cultural Development Board – South Jordan

February 9, 2012
Repertory Dance Theatre and Oquirrh Mountain Symphony - Utah's Repertory Dance Theater is recognized locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally as one of America's premier modern dance repertory dance companies. Oquirrh Mountain Symphony is a multi-city Utah symphony that brings live music to local communities to awaken, experience, connect and enrich the lives of residents in these cities.

Oquirrh Mountain Symphony – Riverton

February 11, 2012
Mike Strickland Trio - Pianist/composer Mike Strickland is one of the Northwest's most popular performers and concert artists. As a solo performer, or with his Duo, Trio, or quartet, Mike presents a hybrid of jazz, popular, and original music. His sparkling arrangements, and exciting piano style make for a very fun and memorable event. His music along with his genuine warmth and appeal, connect with audiences of all ages.

Orem Public Library – Orem

March 1, 2012
Antonio Sacre - Antonio Sacre is an internationally touring storyteller, writer, and solo performance artist based in Los Angeles. He has been a featured storyteller at the Kennedy Center, the National Storytelling Festival, the National Book Festival at the Library of Congress, and museums, schools, libraries, and festivals worldwide.

Chamber Music Society of Logan - Logan

March 29, 2012
Carducci String Quartet - Already recognized as one of Europe’s top young quartets, the Carducci String Quartet’s North American career is off to an auspicious start after winning the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Hailed by The Times (London) as “stunning…clearly musicians of high intelligence,” the Quartet also captured First Prize at Finland’s Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition and major awards at the chamber music competitions in Bordeaux, London and Osaka.

Washington County Library – St George

April 13, 2012
Tom Chapin and Band - Adult albums and kids’ albums, contemporary folk and pop, Tom Chapin’s music spans styles and generations. For more than thirty years and through twenty compact discs, Chapin has entertained, amused and enlightened
audiences of all ages with life-affirming original songs told in a sophisticated array of musical styles. Tom’s remarkable musicianship, great songwriting and personal warmth shine through whether he’s performing in a concert hall, an outdoor festival, a school, in front of a symphony orchestra or in an intimate coffeehouse.

Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music – Ogden

June 1, 2012
The Carolina Chocolate Drops - The Carolina Chocolate Drops is an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina, United States. Its 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in FRoots magazine's top 10 albums of 2010. Formed in November 2005 following the members' attendance at the Black Banjo Gathering in Boone, North Carolina, the group grew out of the success of Sankofa Strings, an ensemble that featured Flemons, Giddens and percussionist/banjoist Sule Greg Wilson, with Robinson as an occasional guest artist. The Drops are one of the two known full-time African American string bands.