Eugene Friesen – Cello in the Meetinghouse

Grammy Award Winning Cellist Performing at Local Historic Sites

The Harmony Museum is bringing Grammy Award winning cellist Eugene Friesen back to Harmony for two historic concerts, October 14 and 15. The Saturday, October 14 concert begins at 8 p.m. at Grace Church in Harmony, across the street from the Harmony Museum, and will showcase music from Friesen’s compact disc “In Harmony”, which was recorded in the Harmony Museum wine cellar. Joining Friesen on stage will be local musicians and singers. Tickets for the Saturday concert are $20 for Harmony Museum members, $25 for non-members, and $10 for students, available at HarmonyMusuem.org. Included with the concert ticket is a wine and cheese reception at the Museum’s Stewart Hall, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

“We are excited to have Friesen back in western Pennsylvania, performing some of the music created long ago by Harmony Society members,” says Harmony Museum board member Andrew Orient. “The concert will be a mix of old and new music, with some amazing local voices and musicians added into the mix.”

The Sunday, October 15 concert, titled Cello in the Meetinghouse, will begin at 11 a.m. at the Harmony Museum’s Mennonite Meetinghouse, 114 Wise Road. This contemplative concert is to honor and comfort those whose lives have been touched and challenged by cancer. It is free to the public. Prior to the Harmony concerts, Friesen will perform at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 13 in Feast Hall at the Old Economy Historic Site in Ambridge. Tickets for the Friday show can be purchased through the Friends of Old Economy at OldEconomyVillage.org.

The Harmony Society became one of 19th century America’s most successful communal groups in various businesses, especially in production of woolens and linens. They founded the borough of Harmony in Butler County in 1804, and after ten years of progress, they relocated to Indiana Territory to found the town of New Harmony. The Harmony Society returned to Pa. in 1824 to establish their final home, Economy, (now Ambridge, Pa.) along the Ohio River. The society started practicing celibacy while in Harmony, and as members aged and died, the Society was dissolved in 1905.

Four-time Grammy Award-winner Eugene Friesen is active internationally as a cellist, composer, conductor, and teacher. His unique original repertoire and improvisational style has been featured in concerts internationally with the Paul Winter Consort, and with​Trio Globo (Howard Levy, Glen Velez and Friesen). Eugene has been featured on
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” has recorded with artists as diverse as Dream Theater, Will Ackerman, and Dar Williams, and is a pioneer in the teaching of improvisation to classically-trained musicians. He is an artist-in-residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, and Professor of Music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. More information on Eugene can be found online at:

EugeneFriesenMusic.com

Harmony is at I-79 exits 87-88, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. The Harmony Museum, 218 Mercer Street, sponsors many events and exhibits, and presents the community’s extraordinary history with guided Museum tours at 1 and 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

Contact:
Rodney Gasch, Historic Harmony, 724-290-2129
e-mail: HistoricHarmonyPresident@gmail.com.