Simple Gifts is three women playing twelve instruments and performing music of many lands. Combining tradition with innovation, Simple Gifts creates some of the finest arrangements in folk music today: swing fiddle creeps into a Romanian dance, spoons show up in an Irish reel, and the concertina ventures far beyond styles considered traditional for that instrument. Based in the hills of central Pennsylvania, these women play an amazing array of instruments. Linda Littleton, Rachel Hall, and Karen Hirshon switch with ease among two fiddles, concertina, mandolin, banjolin, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar, piano, and percussion.
Simple Gifts is a member of the prestigious PennPAT roster, a group of 120 Pennsylvania artists who have been chosen through a competitive, juried process to represent the best of Pennsylvania performing arts. Simple Gifts has further distinguished themselves as the most frequently requested artists on the roster. Non-profit and government organizations in DC, DE, MD, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, or WV may apply for a matching grant from PennPAT when hiring Simple Gifts or other artists on the roster. PennPAT is funded by the Vira I. Heinz Endowment, the William Penn Foundation, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Simple Gifts has performed for many arts centers, festivals, and concert series, including the Smithsonian, Longwood Gardens, National Theatre, Hershey Theatre, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ontario Center for Performing Arts, Eisenhower Hall at West Point, Old Songs Festival, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Consort Society, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Smith Opera House, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Bethlehem Musikfest, and dozens of colleges. In addition to playing concerts, they offer a variety of workshops, ranging from a percussion workshop for all ages where they teach people to play spoons, to a hands-on workshop for amateur musicians, to school assembly programs, to a lecture/discussion with the general public.
For more information, contact Simple Gifts at 814/238-8048 or linda@simplegiftsmusic.com. Their website is http://simplegiftsmusic.com.
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