Beethoven and Banjos Music Festival presents “Holy Manna”

CRYSTAL FALLS - The 2023 Beethoven and Banjos festival brings together Evan Premo (baroque double bass), Adam Jacob Simon (voice/organ/mandolin), Paul Holmes Morton (banjo/baroque guitar), Clay Zeller-Townson (baroque bassoon), John Taylor Ward (voice), Mary Bonhag (voice), Bridge Hill Kennedy (voice), Emi Fergusson (baroque flutes) and Laurel Premo (fiddle and banjo) to create and present a program called Holy Manna. 
This program invites the audience into the practice of Sacred Harp (“shape note”) singing through listening and participation in this music’s tradition of communal singing and through reflections on its history and resonance in the contemporary world.  The Sacred Harp is a collection of hundreds of years of American hymnody (the tradition of hymn composition and performance).  Its songs include some the oldest American compositions dating from the mid-1700s up to the 1980s. 
The Holy Manna program will present reflections on the different threads of music history that come together in The Sacred Harp. The 2023 Beethoven and Banjos roster of musicians and singers will deliver moving renditions of Sacred Harp and early music. In traditional sacred harp practice, there are no instruments. However, in the 18th century, it would be common for instruments to be used in the gallery of churches to supplement the sound of the choir while singing this repertoire.  In this program the musicians will use 18th-century instruments such as the early violin, reeds, bass and other instruments to amplify the resonances that this repertoire holds. 
Beethoven and Banjos music festival is in its ninth year of bringing together folk and classical music and musicians from around the country and world. Artists gather for an intensive week-long experience of preparation, writing, rehearsing and performances. The freshness and intensity experienced during the residency is reflected in the performances and interactions with the audience.
Beethoven and Banjos is sponsored by Northwoods Music Collaborative with generous donations from Michigan Arts and Culture Council and National Endowment for the Arts, as well as many individuals and businesses. Because of this, the events are offered to our communities as “come as you are, pay what you can”. 
For more information about this program and the musicians involved visit www.beethovenandbanjos.org
Concert and Workshop will be held at the following location: Fortune Lake Lutheran Camp Chapel, 138 Fortune Lake Camp Rd., Aug. 27, at 2 p.m.