A.S. Art Foundation to host 'Melodies and Trees' Aug. 11

The A.S. Art Foundation, Anita Shapolsky, director, will present The Sonora Trio in a program entitled "Melodies and Trees," at 4 p.m., on Saturday, Aug. 11, at the A.S. Art Foundation, 20 W. Broadway, Jim Thorpe.

The Sonora Trio includes Judith Sainte Croix, performing on Hopi Native American flute and drum, keyboard and voice; Andrew Bolotowsky, flutes; and Mary Hurlbut, soprano.

In honor of the famous Native American athlete Jim Thorpe of the Sac and Fox Nations, the concert will feature music played on both Native American and classical musical instruments.

The music evokes various aspects of relationships between trees and melodies through American music, including Native American folk songs and contemporary compositions which use ancient, indigenous lyrics of the Americas. The composers Beth Anderson, Daniel Dorff and Sainte Croix are on the bill.

The concert will also feature various kinds of poetry set to music by such poets as Goyyakla of the Chicharia Apache; Si'ahl of the Duwamish Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest; Joyce Kilmer and Beth Anderson.

Opening the concert will be a song from the Rainforest Opera by Sainte Croix. The song "Flower Aria" is about a local shaman defending the 200-foot trees in her tribe's forest lands and features Hurlbut.

Hurlbut who is on the faculty of Manhattan's Greenwich House Music School recently performed in the New York premiere of "The Death of Don Juan" and the "Two Cents Opera," sang in the American Landmark Festival series and was presented by Downtown Music Productions in New York City.

A recent composition by Dorff for flute and narration will be delivered by Bolotowsky. The lyrics of the piece are the famous poem "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer.

Bolotowsky plays flutes and whistles from around the world and has given over 3,000 recitals, many featuring works composed for him.

He will then play a solo piece on the Abenaki Native American flute, this one from the Wabanaki (Eastern) Confederacy which was a coalition of five Algonquian tribes of the eastern seaboard the Abenaki, Penobscot, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, and Mi'kmaq. The piece, "Balsom Pine" was composed by Sainte Croix in Maine's Acadia National Park.

The audience will be invited to participate in two of the pieces "Country Time," a sound-text poem by Anderson and a Native American folk song. The sound-text poem is recited rhythmically to drum beats and demonstrates the idea of poetry as music.

Sainte Croix will perform her solo piece for the Hopi flute called "Vision IV."

Hurlbut and Sainte Croix will also sing duets based on an ancient Mayan creation poem. These lyrical songs set to music mix ancient and futuristic sounds to tell the story of how music came to Earth. This version is adapted for the Sonora Trio from one of Sainte Croix's new family operas "How Music Came to Earth."

The A.S. Art Foundation is located in an historic former church, built in 1849. The concert is funded by the Pennsylvania State Council on the Arts and the Anita Shapolsky Art Foundation.

The concert admission is by donation.

For information, contact the A.S. Art Foundation at (570) 325-5815.