“Culture of Agriculture” Concert with Graminy
Mills Hall UW-Madison Campus, 445 N. Park St.
$10 ($8 student) at the door
Event poster (PDF)
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems is co-sponsoring a concert celebrating the culture of agriculture.
The concert will feature the Madison class-grass quintet Graminy. Class-grass is a musical style that blends bluegrass and classical traditions. At the concert, Graminy will debut a new piece entitled Germinations: A Bluegrass Symphony in D.
“We think of the piece as cultivation, but in a cultural sense, encouraging the creative potential of people, land and farming,” says UW-Madison professor Michael Bell, Director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and a member of the quintet.
The band will premiere Germinations in two performances, one on campus in Madison, the other in Sauk County.
— On October 13th, 3:30–5 p.m. at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Lime Ridge (near Reedsburg). Tickets are $8 ($5 for students) at the door.
— On October 20th at 8 p.m., in Mills Hall on the UW-Madison campus. Tickets are $10 ($8 for students) at the door.
The concert is part of the D-Composition Project of the Wormfarm Institute, a Wisconsin rural and environmental arts organization, and is also a part of Wormfarm’s annual Fermentation Fest.
“The goal of the D-Composition Project is to convene a musical conversation about culture and its environments, social and biophysical, especially with regard to food and agriculture,” Bell says. “Graminy’s new piece will serve as the starter culture of this conversation. Other composers will listen to Germinations and write new D-compositions in response, to be performed at next year’s Fermentation Fest.”
In addition to Bell, who plays the mandolin, Graminy performers include Shauncey Ali (fiddle, viola), Chris Powers (guitar), Chris Wagoner (fiddle) and Mary Gaines (cello).
The event is co-sponsored by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, Wisconsin Farmers’ Union, and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
More information is available at www.cias.wisc.edu/events/graminy/