Red Rock Rondo
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| Ghosts in Grafton, stolen quilts in Rockville, and moonlight sonatas in Springdale, Zion Canyon Song Cycle celebrates the history and contemporary life of Zion National Park and its neighboring communities. All-star ensemble Red Rock Rondo performs on a lively assortment of guitars, violins, oboe, English horn, mandolin, banjo, mandocello, harmonica, button accordion, jaw harp, upright bass, and vocals.
Composer and former Springdale, Utah mayor Phillip Bimstein based Zion Canyon Song Cycle on oral histories gathered from local residents. "I had always wanted to write a cycle of songs about one place, one people," says Bimstein. "My heart was especially drawn to write this work about Zion Canyon, a powerful landscape that drew me all the way from Chicago to set down new roots. The songs express both the geology and the culture that sharply defines my home - many-layered, abutting the old and the new, crosscutting between the stories of a diverse people, embracing fault lines and natural bridges alike." Immediately after release, the CD shot to number ten on the Folk DJ chart, with "When President Harding Came to Zion" the number seven song. KUED recently produced and aired a Red Rock Rondo television special in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Zion National Park. Bimstein wrote Zion Canyon Song Cycle on a grant from the nationwide Continental Harmony commissioning program of the American Composers Forum. His alternative classical works have been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Abravanel Hall, London's Royal Opera House, and his new wave band's videos appeared on MTV in the 1980s. He also performs with the chamber folk ensemble, blue haiku. Red Rock Rondo, a six-member ensemble, includes the internationally-known recording artist Kate MacLeod, Deseret String Band and Cowboy Poetry Gathering founder Hal Cannon, Phillip Bimstein, and fellow blue haiku members Harold Carr, Flavia Cervino-Wood, and Charlotte Bell, who also perform with the Salt Lake Symphony. Their music is a well-crafted synergy of folk and classical styles. | |
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