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Happy New Year from all of us at Arcomusical!
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Arcomusical (from L to R):
Raychel Taylor, Matt Schneider, Noel Streacker, Elena Ross, Ethan Martin, and Gregory Beyer
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Hello Arcomusical family and friends!
Here we are at the end of 2021, with so much for which to be grateful. Most importantly, we are thankful to you for your ongoing support of our mission to bring beauty into the world through the musical voice of the African and Afro-Brazilian musical bow.
Here, in photos, is a heartwarming summary of just some of the most beautiful things that Arcomusical experienced in the final months of 2021! Enjoy!
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Leading up to December 11th, we ran successful fundraising campaign to support our Afro-Brazilian brothers and sisters in need in conjunction with our friend, Mestre Valmir dos Santos Damasceno and FICA-Bahia. Their project, Solidarity December, worked through the spirit of ubuntu to gather community support to feed the hungry. With your help, we were able to send $200 directly to Brazil to help support the purchase, organization, and distribution of more than 100 food baskets to the needy in the greater Salvador region of Bahia. We plan to support this annually and hope that each year we will be able to send a little more love!
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Our friends at FICA-Bahia, Mestre Valmir Damasceno dos Santos (center) with his two sons, Aloan (left) and Ajayê (right).
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On December 9th, Arcomusical member Noel Streacker and his wife Rachel welcomed their first child into the world! Arlo Jane Streacker is an absolutely gorgeous baby girl and everyone in Arcomusical is just gushing with joy and wonder. Congratulations Noel, Rachel! Welcome little Arlo!
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On December 4th, after a two-year hiatus, Arcomusical was finally able to return to the wonderful DeKalb Public Library to present our annual holiday program. In this age of pandemic, we were delighted to have an audience of about 40 people and we played our hearts out. Among other fun and playful arrangements, we have a delightful and upbeat new arrangement of "Hannukah Oh Hannukah" by new Arcomusical member, Matt Schneider!
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On November 20th as part of the Michigan Sacred Music Festival, Arcomusical premiered "Plexus," a wonderful and kaleidoscopically colorful new work by our friend Louis Raymond-Kolker inspired by the series of installation exhibits by visual artist Gabriel Dawe.
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On November 12, our brothers and sisters of Arcomusical Brasil released their first album, Semente, on the fantastic new Brazilian acoustic music record label, Grão Discos, and distributed internationally by the all important Brazilian label dedicated to adventurous improvisatory music, Trattore. Click the album cover to listen!
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In October we had two performances, both with our wonderful friend, bassist and composer Matt Ulery. On October 11th, Arcomusical performed at the gorgeous Stoughton Opera House. Here we are with Music Appreciation Series Director, John Beutel!
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On September 21-22 we held a wonderful Chamber Music America sponsored educational residency at DePauw University. There, we premiered another wonderful new work, Singularity, by our friend Jeremy Muller.
Photo: Arcomusical with bassist and composer Matt Ulery at DePauw University's Communiversity Space in downtown Greencastle, Indiana.
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2022 Arcomusical Highlights!
In addition to an exciting second half of our performance season, Arcomusical is delighted to announce that on March 25th, 2022, we will be releasing our third album, Emigre and Exile, on New Focus Recordings Panoramic insert sub-label! More news on that as it materializes! We'll be releasing audio and video to support the record for the rest of the season. Stay tuned for details and more wonderful music!
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Spring 2022 Performance Dates
February 8-9 - Residency at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY
April 3 - Emigre and Exile Album Release Party - Frequency Series - Constellation, Chicago, IL
April 8 - Ripon College, Ripon, WI
April 9 - University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
April 24 - Joliet Junior College
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HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We hope to see you soon!
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