Garrett Lakes Arts Festival (GLAF) has an exciting season planned for 2018, for both the general public and Garrett County Public School students. Read more about our 2018 season below:
GLAF to Host Spooky Soirée
Garrett Lakes Art Festival will present its fall fundraiser – A Spooky Soirée! This fun filled and exclusive evening will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm on Halloween, October 31, 2018, at the Lake Pointe Inn in McHenry. Participants will enjoy hors d’ouevres and wine provided by Lake Pointe Inn. Entertainment will be stories recounting legends and lore of Garrett County. Costumes are encouraged! Tickets are $40 each or $60 per couple. Space is limited so order your tickets now by visiting the GLAF website at www.artsandentertainment.org or calling the GLAF office at (301)387-3082.
GLAF wishes to give special thanks to the Lake Pointe Inn for hosting and sponsoring this very special event. GLAF is sponsored in part by grant funding provided by the Garrett County Arts Council, Maryland State Arts Council and Mountain Maryland Gateway to the West Heritage Area, as well as by the patrons and donors who support GLAF programming.
GLAF’s mission is to enrich our community with high quality performing arts and arts education. GLAF’s primary purpose is to improve the quality and increase the scope of performing arts for both local residents and visitors to Garrett County in the fields of dance, music, and theater. Our arts education is focused on making available to our elementary through high school students experiences that enhance their appreciation and understanding of the arts. GLAF is a non-profit 501(3)(C) corporation.
Bumper Jacksons to Perform August 12
Bumper Jacksons are hot and sweet, painting America’s story from the streets of New Orleans to Appalachian hollers. Unafraid to scrap together new sounds from forgotten 78’s, the Bumper Jacksons elegantly balance paying homage to the traditions while fashioning their own unique, playful style. The group began as a duo, a city-meets-country experiment between songstress Jess Eliot Myhre and banjo player Chris Ousley. They hopped on bicycles, touring the country, instruments on their backs, seeking to reimagine roots music. In five short years, Bumper Jacksons grew to a brassy seven-piece, with horns and pedal steel. They’ve been honored multiple times as the Mid-Atlantic’s “Artist of the Year” & “Best Traditional Band” at the Washington Area Music Awards. Bursting at the seams with some of the richest threads of old America, Bumper Jacksons bring you into the center of a party where everyone’s invited and the dance floor never sleeps.
For tickets, visit artsandentertainment.org or call the GLAF office at 301-387-3082.
February will start the 2018 performance and educational season with band, chorus, and theater students from both Northern and Southern High Schools traveling to the Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown to see the semi-staged production, in Italian with English subtitles, of Puccini’s Tosca. Last year the students were well-acquainted with the opera Carmen before they arrived at the theater, and interacted with the performers during a post-performance discussion; Tosca promises to be an equally successful experience for students.
April will bring Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble to Garrett College as part of GLAF’s educational outreach to school students, focusing on Irish roots and American branches of music and dance. For the general public, the group will perform in conjunction with local historian Al Feldstein’s presentation on 19th century Irish immigrants who helped construct the C&O Canal and B&O Railroad in Allegany and Garrett Counties.
In May GLAF will feature Ukrainian classical pianist Alina Kiryayeva, who will perform her program “Moving Pictures” for the general public and for public school students at the Garrett College auditorium. This program of masterworks featured in famous movies and cartoons will delight audiences of all ages.
GLAF’s traditional Maryland Symphony Orchestra’s performance will be in June. This year the concert will be Space: the Final Frontier, and will feature selections from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, music from the movies Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Superman, taking us on a journey through the cosmos.
July 5 through 7 will again bring Chautauqua to the Garrett College auditorium. Currently presented by the Maryland Humanities in six venues throughout Maryland, Chautauqua’s first performances were in Garrett County over 20 years ago. To support this year’s “Justice” theme, reenactors will portray Eleanor Roosevelt, Frederick Douglass, and Thurgood Marshall.
Pianist Thomas Pandolfi will return to the Wisp on July 29 to perform music of Burt Bacharach and Barry Manilow. Last year his Rhapsody in Blue concert was nearly sold out; GLAF is pleased to feature him again.
Bumper Jacksons, honored as “Best Folk Band” at the Washington Area Music Awards, will bring their own unique, playful style as they mix their hot and sweet painting of America’s story from the streets of New Orleans to Appalachian hollers. Unafraid to scrap together new sounds from forgotten 78’s, the Bumper Jacksons elegantly balance paying homage to the to the traditions while fashioning their own unique, playful style. Come and join them on August 12th at Wisp Resort.
River City Brass, a GLAF favorite, will be returning to Garrett College on December 15 for their holiday concert. Based in Pittsburgh, this band consists primarily of a wide variety of brass instruments. Their showmanship and renditions of favorite holiday music will be enjoyed by an audience of all ages.
GLAF’s 2018 season promises to be exciting, with some old favorites and some new performances. GLAF is partially funded by grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, Garrett County Arts Council and Mountain Maryland Gateway to the West Heritage Area. More information about GLAF can be found the website www.artsandentertainment.org.