OWN AMasterpiece

The Fine Art

“Starving Artist Sale” in Downtown Waukesha.

June 16-17 and June 23-24 (Friday and Saturday, 10am-4pm) hundreds of original paintings on sale by local artists.

Condella’s fellow musician collaborators are primarily guitarists as well, though one fellow performer, Don Gibson, additionally plays several Native American flutes and the dulcimer. In the weeks and months to ahead, Condella and Gibson will perform at: SIP MKE in Mequon, Thursday, June 22, from 7-9 p.m.; Art of Joy in Cedarburg, Saturday, July 8, from 4-6:15 p.m.; and in fall, at Sahale Ale Works in Grafton, Saturday, November 25, from 5-8 p.m.

In Condella’s words, “I mostly play wellknown tunes, but on rare occasion, I will perform an original song I have written…” He favors a “wide range of music,” but particularly enjoys the work of “singer-songwriters” such as John Prine; Bob Dylan; James Taylor; Joan Baez; Chris Stapleton; Lucinda Williams; P!nk; and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. “Songwriting is such an art, and those who do it well have a great gift they are sharing,” Condella explained. As for his own musical interpretations, he said, “I enjoy taking a popular song and adapting it to guitar and harmonica in order to make it sound a bit different, yet recognizable.”

When performing a tune, Condella said he “always [tries] to put [himself] in the mind of the songwriter. What were they feeling and experiencing when they wrote the song? What might it mean for them, and what does it mean to me?”

Music performance has created numerous positive community connections for Condella. Playing music for elderly populations is a particular favorite for Condella. He stated, “I have had family members in senior living residences and saw the power of music. As we grow older, music plays an important part of remembering our lives. We connect songs to certain stages of our [lives].” For this reason, and because he “wanted to spread that joy,” he chose to reach out to a variety of senior living residences through phone calls and emails. Condella has performed at Milwaukee Catholic Home on the East Side of Milwaukee; Newcastle Place in Mequon; Wright House (now StoryPoint) in Mequon; Hamilton House in Cedarburg; and Elizabeth Residence in Bayside.

He relishes audience involvement, and described his passion in this way: “I do enjoy playing for an audience, especially if they can sing along to familiar tunes we all know. That’s the fun part, getting the audience involved. That’s one of the things I love about performing at senior living residences. Music is universal and everybody holds a favorite tune in their memory. To see people’s faces light up when they hear a familiar song is priceless.”

For Condella, the role of music teachers