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Photo by Irene Young
Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas are shown with his fiddle and her cello.

At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12, Alasdair Fraser on fiddle and Natalie Haas on cello will perform in the Coolidge Theatre at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. This is the second concert in the Wellsboro Community Concert Association’s 2021-2022 season.

The musical partnership between Fraser, long regarded as Scotland’s premier fiddle ambassador, and the talented Californian cellist Haas includes dazzling teamwork, driving rhythms, and their shared passion for improvising on the melody and the groove of Scottish tunes. Through their work, they have helped reconstruct and revive the Scottish tradition of playing dance music on violin and cello and returned the cello to its historical role as the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music.

Fraser and Haas have toured internationally for more than twenty years, wowing audiences at festivals and concerts worldwide with their unique sound and releasing six critically acclaimed and award winning albums along the way.

The duo is currently on tour in the United States. On Oct. 30 they will perform in Seattle, Washington, be in Wellsboro on Nov.12, Pittsburgh on Nov.13, Ohio on Nov. 14, Rhode Island on Nov. 19, New Hampshire on Nov. 20, Massachusetts on Nov. 21, and then perform in Spain from Dec. 3-6 and return to the United States on Jan. 27, 2022.

Fraser and Haas held the release concert for their sixth studio album “Syzygy” on Oct. 16 in Nevada. It features 15 brand new tracks.

“Syzygy means the joining of any two entities without losing the individual characteristics of either one,” said Fraser. “The word kept calling to us as a way to describe what we strive for in our fiddle and cello duo of over 20 years,” he said.

“This, our sixth album together, marks a culminating point on our musical journey. The compositions are original, shared equally, and enable us to celebrate our contrasting backgrounds, experiences and world views while engaging in a dance-like celebration of two instruments in deep and playful conversation,” said Fraser.

“This album showcases our continuing compositional direction towards the ultimate combination of minimalism and richness, seeking moments of both sophistication and vigor while relishing the ancient and modern. The tunes are rooted in tradition as always – weddings, newborns, bicycle mishaps, Scottish landscapes, Nordic heroes, Broadway, family, myths, jesters and troubadours,” he said.

There is still time for adults to buy a Wellsboro Community Concert Association 2021-2022 season ticket for $75, which lowers the cost by $50 to attend all five remaining concerts. Or, for those who purchased a season pass for the 2019-2020 season, to pay $53 for a season ticket, which lowers the cost by $72. A season pass admits one adult and accompanying children, 12 and under, to each of the five remaining WCCA concerts. A separate season pass for $25 admits a student, 13 to 18 to the remaining concerts.

Individual tickets for a concert can be purchased in advance for $25 for an adult; $5 for a child, 12 and under and $5 for a student, 13 to 18. To purchase tickets at the door, arrive at the Deane Center at 7:15 p.m. the night of the concert.

To reserve tables or for season or individual tickets, call the Deane Center at (570) 724-6220 or visit www.wellsborocca.org.

Diane Eaton
dianetn@ptd.net
(570) 724-3800