| home |
| bio |
| calendarrecordingsmusic booksperformance |
| private instruction and workshops |
| reviews and interviewsphotoscontact |
Neal Hellman and Verlene Schermer Duo |
||
Neal Hellman, mountain dulcimer, vocals Verlene Schermer, harp, nyckelharpa, vocals Neal Hellman, nationally acclaimed performer and teacher of the mountain dulcimer, has been active in performing, writing, teaching, and recording acoustic music for the past 25 years throughout the United States, Europe and New Zealand. Neal’s latest recording, Emma’s Waltz, is a colorful dance through traditional and contemporary acoustic music styles. It features seventeen different musicians playing compositions from Ireland, Scotland, Finland, America and France. Neal's other recordings include: Autumn In the Valley, Dream of the Manatee (with Joe Weed) and Oktober County , all on the Gourd Music label. Dirty Linen wrote of Oktober County “the material is first-rate and the musicianship is flawless;” and the Santa Cruz Sentinel said Dream of the Manatee is “just plain beautiful music. The San Jose Mercury wrote “Autumn In the Valley is well-played and impeccably engineered." Verlene met Neal at a harp conference in Bloomington, Indiana, in 2003. They found they knew several other musicians in common and were practically neighbors! They began playing together in 2004, for Stanford Hospital's Bing Concert Series and other events around the Santa Cruz and San Francisco Bay Area. They play a variety of music ranging from Medieval and Renaissance to Celtic, American, and Scandinavian folk to pop tunes of the 60's. They started with dulcimer and harp, with vocals, but when Verlene was asked to play Swedish nyckelharpa in Neal's ensemble for his Emma's Waltz CD release concert at Kuumbwa in Santa Cruz, the nyckelharpa became an integral part of the duo's sound. For booking info contact Verlene.
|
||
|
