Jay Ungar & Molly Mason Family Band

JAY UNGAR & MOLLY MASON FAMILY BAND WEDNESDay, APRIl 13 – 7:30 p.m.

This event is sponsored, in part, by the Lied Performance Fund. audio description services and recorded program notes are provided through a partnership between the Lied Center and audio-Reader Network.

Please turn off or silence cellular phones and other electronic devices during performances. Food and drink are not allowed inside the hall. Cameras and lied.ku.edu Performing Arts recording devices are strictly prohibited in the auditorium.

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason Family Band Jay Ungar Molly Mason Ruth Ungar Merenda Michael Merenda Tonight’s program will be announced from the stage.

This 2-hour concert will include one 20-minute intermission.

He was a Bronx kid. She grew up in Washington state. He was raised on pop music of the 1940s and 50s. She had a fondness for traditional fiddle music and 1930s and 1940s popular tunes. He hung out in Greenwich Village coffeehouses and roamed North Carolina and Tennessee in search of traditional players.

She played clubs and colleges on the west coast and took a liking to the jazzy sound of the swing era. Since joining forces, both artistically and romantically (the two married in 1991), Jay Ungar and Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene.

It started with a chance meeting in the late 1970s. Ungar and Mason were each performing at the Towne Crier, a rural New York club. They hit it off musically and played together from time to time until Mason headed off to Minnesota to work in the house band of a new radio show, Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. Meanwhile, back in New York, Ungar put together a band with fellow fiddlers Evan Stover and Matt Glaser, and guitarist Russ Barenberg. When Fiddle Fever, as the collaboration was called, needed a bassist, Mason signed on. The group recorded two

jay ungar & Molly Mason family band

classic albums, now available on CD as The Best of Fiddle Fever (Flying Fish Records).

The early 1980s also saw the beginning of Ungar’s Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp, a world-renowned destination for enthusiasts of American music and dance traditions. Several years later, Mason became a full partner in designing and running these programs, which are still going strong.

In 1984, Fiddle Fever band members Glaser and Barenberg worked with a young filmmaker on a documentary called The Brooklyn Bridge. They gave Ken Burns a copy of Fiddle Fever’s second album, Waltz of the Wind, which included Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell. Burns was so taken with the evocative and haunting melody, he used it in his next film, Huey, about Louisiana Governor Huey Long, and he wound up inviting Ungar and Mason to provide music for many of his projects. The high point to date of this long relationship was the selection of Ashokan Farewell as the main theme of Burns’ landmark PBS documentary The Civil War. The result: an Emmy Award nomination for Ungar and a Grammy Award for the soundtrack album. And the tune seems to have taken on a life of its own. Now considered

an American “folk” classic, it is played by fiddlers and classical musicians worldwide. In the British Isles, a recording of Ashokan Farewell

by Her Majesty’s Royal Marines remained high on the classical charts for several years. It has been performed by major orchestras, and has been recorded by artists from Mark O’Connor to Pinchas Zuckerman, James Galway to Charlie Byrd, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and The Osborne Brothers to Polka King Jimmy Sturr.

After signing with Angel Records in 1991, Ungar and Mason—in collaboration with baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist David Alpher—released American Dreamer, a collection of the songs of Stephen Foster.

They followed with Waltzing with You, an elaboration on their score for the film Brother’s Keeper, a Sundance Film Festival prize-winner.

Perhaps the duo’s best-known composition is the title track of The Lovers’ Waltz, an album of romantic fiddle music from Appalachian, Scandinavian, Celtic, Klezmer and Swing traditions.

The album also features a medley of melodies written by composer James Horner—ones that Ungar had previously performed with the London Symphony in Horner’s score for the Sony

Tristar film Legends of the Fall. Harvest Home, Ungar and Mason’s 1999 release on Angel Records, culminates in their 20-minute orchestral work, The Harvest Home Suite, in which they are joined by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. In 2002, Ungar and Mason produced, arranged and performed on A Song of Home, a collaborative recording for RCA, with flutist Sir James Galway, mandolinist Peter Ostroushko and bassist Steve Rust. Now, with Relax Your Mind (Angel Records), Ungar and Mason, with their band Swingology, take a slightly different direction: American dance music with a focus on country blues and swing. Included are more of the beautiful waltzes that have become their signature pieces.

On radio and television, Ungar and Mason have appeared on CBS Good Morning, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, All Things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion and the BBC’s Transatlantic Sessions. They continue to broadcast their own live-performance radio show, Dancing on the Air, and they have no shortage of future projects.

Quite the odyssey for the west coast girl and the kid from the Bronx.

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Performing Arts

Friends of the Lied play a vital role in the cultural life of our community Your generous donation will: Sustain the Lied Center’s quality programming

Provide opportunities for students of all ages to interact with visiting artists

Increase the number of arts-related events for young people

Develop audiences of the future jay ungar & Molly Mason family band

Join or renew for the 2011-12 season

by April 29, 2011 and you will: • Be invited to the 2011–12 Season Announcement Party, April 30 • Save up to 20% on Lied Center tickets • Receive priority seating for Lied Center performances • Purchase 2011-12 Lied Center tickets beginning May 2, two weeks before the general public on May 16

See what Friends of the Lied benefits can do for you!

Contact Director of Development Megan Poindexter at 785-864-2788 or meganp@ku.edu

785-864-2787 lied.ku.edu lied.ku.edu

Performing Arts

Building opportunities at the Lied Center

This is an exciting time at the Lied Center.

With the newly expanded lobby space and a nearly-completed 2,400 square foot pavilion addition, the possibilities for community engagement, education and contextual activities related to the performing arts have just soared.

“The performances are just one part of what we do at the Lied Center,” said Executive Director Tim Van Leer. “Education and community involvement are also essential to the Lied Center, and essential to the performing arts.”

Not only has the lobby—now named the Kemper Foyer—expanded to double its former size, the new pavilion is well on its way to be ready for the 2011-12 season.

“The Kemper Foyer is such a peoplefriendly space now with so much potential. The additional area has already helped with growing the performing arts experience; we’ve held pre- and post-performance discussions and look forward to all the possibilities of the new pavilion,” Van Leer said.

The new pavilion will bring unrivaled arts opportunities and experiences to Lawrence.

A multipurpose space, the pavilion will become a destination for visiting and local artists to engage with the community in Lied

jay ungar & Molly Mason family band

Center forté education and engagement programs including intimate concerts, lectures, discussions, workshops, master classes, seminars, exhibitions and a lot more.

“The new pavilion will be a great resource for forté education programs,” said Director of Education Anthea Scouffas. “With the planned technological capabilities of the space, the Lied Center would be able to reach classrooms throughout the state of Kansas with master classes, lecture/demonstrations and even some performances.”

The pavilion will also increase the possibilities for Friends of the Lied to enjoy the performing arts, interact with performing artists and with each other.

“There’s never been a better time to be, or become a Friend of the Lied,” said Director of Development Megan Poindexter. “The new pavilion will create opportunities for special events—exclusively for Friends of the Lied—to learn more about Lied Center performing artists and gain a deeper experience of what the arts have to offer.”

These exciting changes at the Lied Center are made possible by generous gifts from the Lied Foundation Trust, Christina Hixson, trustee and the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, trustee.

2010-11

Friends of the Lied Update This list includes individuals and businesses that have initiated or renewed their Friends of the Lied membership since the original list was published.

BUSINESS FRIENDS Benefactor ($1,000+) Bigg’s Barbecue Patron ($500+) Capital City Bank Commerce Bank The Chiropractic Experience Sponsor ($250+) Orchards Drug Dr. Jim & Vickie Otten Piersol Foundation, Inc. Friend ($100+) 715 Restaurant First State Bank and Trust Hamm, Inc. Laser Logic, Inc. Maceli’s Mariscos Petefish, Immel, Heeb and Hird, LLP

INDIVIDUAL FRIENDS Benefactor ($1,000+) Ken & Katie Armitage Keith & Karen Ely Becky & Harry Gibson Jeannot & Todd Seymour Patron ($500+) Nancy & Ray Allen Karen & Dennis Christilles

Chris & Kaye Drahozal Francois Henriquez & Laura Stephenson Charlotte A. Mueller Sponsor ($250+) Steve & Bobbie Gish Larry & Susan Krische Margaret Mahoney Lucy Price G.E. & Ruth Rutledge Margery Smith Judy & Jack Wright Robert & Barbara Wunsch Contributor ($100+) Jan-Eric & Cara Anderson Lynn M. Bretz John H. Bushman Alice Clayton & Bob Honea Carladyne Knox Conyers Doug & Becky Eason Sharon Graham & Anthea Scouffas Cap & Kitty Gray Ted & Nancy Haggart Kent & Brenda Hatesohl Kristin & Blake Hedges Russ & Jackie Hilton C. Shaffia Laue Fernando Merino & Caroline Chaboo Jerry & SanDee Nossaman Alejandro & Claudia Padilla Chris & Amy Phalen Mary Miller Ross

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Mary Ann & Norman Saul Joe & Nita Scales Barbara & Richard Schowen Gary Schwartzkopf Fred & Lilian Six Steve & Jung Spooner Steve & Pat Sublett Frances Van Blaricum Arnold Weiss Sandra & Allen Wiechert Friends ($50+) Frank & Betty Baron Elaine & Virgil Brady Rex Buchanan Susan Bullock Jerry & Kathy Clausing Willis Charles & Mary Cornwell Dr. Mark & Gretchen Edwards Cheri Esmond Diane Frankenfield Sheri & Alex Hamilton Alan & Lareeda Hickey Christine Kenney Ellen Loomith Charles & Laurie McLane-Higginson Terry & Mary Beth Miller Edward K. Morris Susan F. Morris Dr. Mill & Polly Spencer Carol Thompson Sara Trautman-Yenenoglu Lorie Vanchena Alice M. Weis

Performing Arts

A salute to our VIP Sponsors

We proudly recognize our very important partners. Not only do our VIP Sponsors offer essential financial contributions, they also provide valuable and enthusiastic promotion of Lied Center performances to their customers, employees and the community. Their commitment to the performing arts allows us to provide education activities, free school performances and high-quality events each year. We honor our VIP Sponsors throughout the season on our electronic sign and with onstage recognition at their selected performances. We hope you will also thank them when you visit their businesses. For more information regarding our sponsorship program, contact the Lied Center Director of Development, Megan Poindexter, at 785-864-2788.

Alpin Hong

Legally Blonde The Musical

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Carnival of the Animals & Peter and the Wolf

THE ELDRIDGE & THE OREAD American Legacies: The Del McCoury Band & The Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Black Violin

Fiddler on the Roof

Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company

An Evening with Garrison Keillor

Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys

Jim Brickman 15th-Anniversary Holiday Concert

A salute to our Media Sponsors Media sponsors provide important underwriting for Lied Center performances.

Their contributions give invaluable support for advertising, promotions and marketing.

For information on becoming a media sponsor, please call 785-864-2794.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

sponsors

An Evening with Garrison Keillor

William Inge’s Bus Stop