World Music Trio – Free Planet Radio – Takes Center Stage at Tryon Fine Arts Center
Join World Music Super-Group Free Planet Radio in concert at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, on Saturday, May 21 at 8:00pm.
Tickets available online and at the Tryon Fine Arts Center Box Office. Students: $10 / Advance Ticket $18/ Ticket at the Door $20/ VIP tickets $30 – include seating in the first four rows and a complimentary CD.
Purchase Tickets Online
For over a decade, Free Planet Radio has brought its exciting and innovative world-jazz-classical music blend to both concert stages and classrooms. Based in Asheville NC, this musical partnership began as the shared vision of three multi-instrumentalists exploring the infinite and seamless relationships between musical cultures through the universal language of sound. Their performances expertly weave the improvisatory element of jazz, and the subtleties and harmonic vocabulary of Western classical music, with Middle Eastern, Indian and North African melodic and rhythmic structures. Performing mostly original compositions, even while playing extremely complex melodies and time signatures, the trio always maintains a sense of accessibility, spontaneity and easy engagement with the audience.
Free Planet Radio consists of Eliot Wadopian moving effortlessly between rhythm and melody on electric and string basses, River Guerguerian extensive array of percussion instruments gathered from his travels around the globe, and Chris Rosser exploring melody on the 17-stringed Indian dotar, Turkish cumbus oud, guitar, piano and melodica.
Special Features for this event:
- Lichty Guitars: For this concert, Chris will play a very special guitar, handmade by Lichty Guitars in Tryon, NC, who have donated this exquisite instrument for the annual Lichty guitar raffle for LEAF Community Arts. LEAF is a non-profit organization, building community, connecting cultures and enriching lives through the arts – locally and globally – with festivals, community events, and arts education programs. Raffle tickets will be for sale at the Tryon concert. The winner will be announced at the October LEAF Festival.
- Tom Boots: The band will be joined on stage by Tom Boots, a WNC visual artist, who will put brush to canvas as he creates a painting to the music (which will be sold via silent auction with proceeds benefitting local non-profits). Tom originally began to paint while living in the Middle East and now blends techniques learned there with modern and contemporary styles.
- Support for local non-profits: Part of the proceeds from the silent auction of Tom Boots painting will be donated to two Polk County organizations: GRO (growrural.org supporting farmers) and Wind River Cancer Wellness Retreats and Services (windriverservices.org)