| We are delighted to welcome 'Off The Cuff' with Jon Berger to play for our Ball on 1st May. | |||
OFF THE CUFF
Janet Parish-Whittacker
David Collins Featuring: Jon Berger on Violin
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| Guest Musician JON BERGER | |||
For San Diego’s May Faire Ball, Off the Cuff is joined by Jon Berger, playing violin, viola, and mandolin. Jon has played for English country,
Morris, and contra dances for over 30 years. He is a regular at Bay Area dances and dance camps, both on his own and with the bands
Midnight Smorgasbord (English) and Flashpoint (contra). Jon also plays Celtic music throughout the North
Bay area with the band Greenhouse, and is a former member of the Celtic rock band Tempest. He lives in Sebastopol,
California with his wife Kalia Kliban, a noted English country dance caller.
| OFF THE CUFF |
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| STEVE MARANTO Steve's first truly inspiring teacher was Dr. Gail Delente, a graduate of the Paris Conservatory and the Ecole Normale de Musique in France, and he pursued studies in music at the University of Houston in the 70s. After a long hiatus Steve returned to the piano, and in 1995, with the encouragement of John Erbaugh, a long time friend and benefactor of ECD on the west coast, he fell in love with ECD, appreciating the wonderful combination of its component parts: social, kinesthetic and musical. After a number of years of dancing ECD Steve began playing for dances in 2002 and in 2007 joined forces with David Collins on the violin and Janet Parish-Whitaker on flute to form the band Off the Cuff. |
JANET PARISH-WHITTAKER Janet spent her childhood in North Carolina and Singapore, and started playing recorder at age six. By the time she was ten she had moved on to flute lessons and that became her main instrument. Janet continued her music studies at university and has two degrees, the first a B.M. from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and after moving to San Diego she earned her M.A. from UCSD. In 1997 one of Janet's compositions was played at the International Computer Music Conference, and she has been part of several music ensembles including The Goliards, Jubilatores, Columbine and La Jolla Symphony. Janet currently teaches flute in the San Diego area. |
DAVID COLLINS David grew up in Long Beach where he began classical training on the fiddle at age 9. He first got interested in folk styles when attending UCSD where the (then) fledgling San Diego contra dance community was just getting started. Old time fiddle led to his participation, after graduation, in several local blue grass bands in the 70's and 80's. Several years ago, he met Steve Maranto at a friend's birthday party and through Steve learned about American contra dance music's antecedent, English Country Dance music. ECD music gave David an opportunity to enjoy a genre that features classical and folk elements and, like bluegrass, encourages improvisation during performance. | |
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