Published: April 12, 2007 09:18 pm         

Dulcimer concert set for April 28 in Rugby

The Nashville Dulcimer Quartet is coming to the Rebecca Johnson Theatre at Historic Rugby on Saturday, April 28. They are bringing four different dulcimers, four unique musical personalities, and a wealth of haunting folk music and classical pieces. The concert begins at 7:45 p.m. EDT.

The late David Schnaufer, a world-class mountain dulcimist, brought together four of his top Blair School of Music students in 1998 — Lee Rowe, Sanda Conatser, Natasha Deane, and Linda Sack — to form the ensemble and explore the dulcimer's unlimited musical potential. The quartet plays bass, baritone, traditional Appalachian, and Tennessee box dulcimers, creating innovative arrangements.

Dulcimers were born in Appalachia in the 1700s, crafted by pioneer Americans, and commonly thought to have derived from a zither-like European instrument. Its name is a combination of Latin and Greek words, meaning "sweet sound."

The Nashville Dulcimer Quartet has performed at Nashville's Country Music Hall of Fame, Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music, Nashville's Shakespeare In the Park Festival, Scarritt-Bennett Center's Celebration of Cultures, Grand Old Dulcimer Day, and for private weddings and parties. Their first CD, Four Part Inventions, will be available at the concert.

Adult concert tickets are $8; students $5. The concert is suitable for children five and above. Call toll free 1-888-214-3400 to purchase tickets, which will be available until sold out. The Harrow Road Café a block from the Visitor Centre Theatre will start serving dinner at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

The concert is made possible, in part, by the Tennessee General Assembly through Tennessee Arts Commission Rural Arts Project Support.

Historic Rugby will offer a beginners level "Learn to Play the Mountain Dulcimer" class the following Saturday, May 5, from 10 to 4 p.m. EDT, taught by June Goforth. The fee is $30. A limited number of practice cardboard dulcimers are available for students who do not own one. Call the above numbers to register for this class.