Palenke Arts proudly presents a Fire & Grace in concert as part of our 2020-21 Virtual Concert Series. Baroque and folk music from around the world set to the gorgeous natural beauty of Big Sur.
Fire & Grace is an eclectic collaboration between guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga. This unique duo explores the connective musical elements of classical, folk, and contemporary traditions from around the world. Fire & Grace’s repertoire is vast, ranging from Bach to Vivaldi, tango to Celtic tunes, traditional Bulgarian to American fiddle tunes and waltzes, all played with a sense of discovery and commitment to the elements of passion and virtuosity — fire and grace — found in these diverse traditions. Recent and upcoming performances have included engagements at the Carmel Bach Festival, the Mozaic Festival, the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, the Electric Earth Concerts, the Monterey Museum of Art, and with Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas.
“A Journey with Fire & Grace”
Baroque and folk music from around the world set to the gorgeous natural beauty of Big Sur
Program
An original arrangement of Summer from the Four Seasons by Vivaldi, a new epic blending of Bach and Spanish music called Suite Español - Bach In Spain. This thirty minute suite is an original arrangement of the Cello Suite #1 by Bach blended with folk music from Spain. In addition, they will perform Unless, a new folk inspired Americana composition by the group Hawktail, as well as Four Tunes From Riverdance composed by Bill Whelan, and a guitar solo composed by William Coulter called An Daingean, inspired by the natural beauty of Ireland.
Recent and upcoming performances include engagements at the Carmel Bach Festival (CA), St. Bonaventure University’s Quick Center for the Arts (NY), Music in the Somerset Hills (NJ), Five Boroughs Music Festival (NY), Mozaic Festival (CA), University of British Columbia (BC), Riverside Fine Arts (NJ), Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Caledon Chamber Concerts (ON), Electric Earth Concerts (NH), Monterey Museum of Art, and touring with Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas. Fire & Grace has also been featured on CBC Radio, performing a nationally broadcast concert of folk and baroque. In Spring 2017, Fire & Grace toured to New Zealand with appearances at the UPSURGE Festival, the Festival of Colour, and the New Zealand School of Music; their success led to a second tour of New Zealand, as well as appearances in Australia, in August 2019. Fire & Grace has also toured Ireland alongside County Kerry singer Éilis Kennedy, appearing at the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre and a variety of pubs and traditional settings. Fire & Grace’s self-titled debut album combines melodies from Argentina, Bulgaria, and Western Europe with dance elements from baroque and folk musical traditions, and in May 2019 the duo teamed up with longtime collaborator Ashley Broder (mandolin) to release Fire & Grace & Ash’s debut album, Partita Americana, whose title track features J.S. Bach’s Partita No. 3 transcribed for the trio and interspersed with traditional American folk music.
Performing both baroque and modern repertoire, Canadian violinist Edwin Huizinga has appeared alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Mike Marshall, and Stevie Wonder, and has been featured as a soloist with the San Bernardino Symphony, Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival, and the Banff Summer Arts Festival, and has performed as conductor and soloist with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra. Edwin is a founding member of the baroque ensemble ACRONYM which has released ten full-length albums of previously unknown and unrecorded baroque music. Edwin also performs worldwide with his folk and baroque duo Fire & Grace, and tours extensively with Tafelmusik. Edwin is part of the artistic leadership of Carmel Bach Festival, and serves as the Artistic Director for Sweetwater Music Festival and Big Sur Music Camp. An avid composer, Edwin was commissioned to write a piece for Canada's 150th anniversary. Edwin is a member of the Juno-nominated indie rock band The Wooden Sky, and is a founding member of the Classical Revolution—an organization dedicated to shaping the future of concerts and jam sessions in alternative locations around the world.
William Coulter is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy award-winning master of the steel-string guitar. Coulter has been Music Director for Tomaseen Foley’s A Celtic Christmas since 1998, and has performed with the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, Apollo’s Fire and many other ensembles. In March 2016 he debuted Celtic Journey, a full length pops concert with the Omaha Symphony featuring Irish singers, dancers, musicians and storyteller. Collaborations have been a mainstay of his career, including tours and recordings with Gourd Music artists Neal Hellman and Barry and Shelley Phillips; classical guitar virtuoso Benjamin Verdery, and Irish flute wizard Brian Finnegan. Tours have taken him around the states and to Ireland, Europe, Taiwan, New Zealand, and most recently to Chile. Coulter teaches classical guitar at UC Santa Cruz and at many summer camps and festivals. Coulter earned degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UC Santa Cruz.
