Manitou Music Festival presents Flamenco guitarist Ronald Radford
From staff reports
The setting overlooking Lake Michigan at The Homestead’s Bay Mountain is spectacular and the chair lift ride up is invigorating, but the star of the show is Ronald Radford, American master of the Flamenco guitar who will perform on Thursday, July 24 at 7 p.m.
Radford will present a varied and entertaining program of haunting Gypsy melodies and dazzling Flamenco techniques. He verbally paints a picture for his audience of the Flamenco art form, native to southern Spain, by lacing his program with warm and spontaneous commentary. This performance will appeal to all ages and a broad range of musical tastes from those who like the creativity of jazz and the fun of Bluegrass to those who love the classics.
A Fulbright Scholar and protégé of the legendary Carlos Montoya, Radford is widely acclaimed as one of the foremost Flamenco guitarists touring today. His concerts have taken him to universities and concert halls in 15 countries and have included such notable places as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington’s Kennedy Center, UCLA’s Royce Hall and the University of the Americas in Mexico.
The Glen Arbor Art Association also arranged to have Mr. Radford give a performance for students at the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District’s summer school for migrant children in Suttons Bay. During his school program he will describe some of the techniques of playing Flamenco music, talk about the times he went to Spain to learn about Flamenco music from the people who originated it, and will tell how his interest in music progressed from strumming tunes on a ukulele, to playing classical piano and cello, to experimenting with all sorts of guitar-based music from country to jazz to blues to rock while demonstrating every phase with an appropriate riff or tune. But Radford’s purpose is more than entertainment. His stories and his answers to the students’ questions, all are designed to make a point—that each person is in charge of his or her destiny. “What’s important,” Radford tells the students, “is not what you say NO to, it’s what you say YES to that counts. Say yes to your talents, to your abilities, to the things you love.”
The concert at The Homestead is part of the Manitou Music Festival summer concert series. It is hosted by The Homestead Resort and presented by the Glen Arbor Art Association. Tickets for this concert are $20 (GAAA members $18). Starting at 6 p.m., audience members will be given chairlift or golf cart rides to the venue at the top of the hill and the concert begins at 7.
The Homestead cannot allow concert guests to carry in food, drinks, chairs, bags or backpacks. Snacks, soft drinks, wine, and beer will be available for purchase at the concert. Sunglasses, visors or caps are highly recommended. In the event of rain, the concert will be indoors at the Homestead’s Mountain Flower Meeting Center.
Ronald Radford’s Homestead and school performances are supported by the Arts Midwest Touring Fund, a program of Arts Midwest that is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional contributions from MCACA and General Mills Foundation. In addition other Manitou Music Festival sponsors are The Homestead, Art’s Tavern, Cherry Republic, Glen Lake Chamber of Commerce, On the Narrows Marina, McCahill’s Crossing and the Leelanau School.
Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear one of the world’s most exciting and beautiful styles of music performed by one of the best guitarists in the country.
