Waynesburg University’s Music Program will host the musical duo, Simple Gifts, for a special performance Friday, Oct. 26, at 7:30 p.m. The concert is part of the Music Program’s Performing Art Series and will be held in the Goodwin Performing Arts Center.
Simple Gifts is comprised of Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon. Between the two of them, they perform on ten different instruments, including fiddle, mandolin, banjo, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar and percussion instruments.
According to their website, “this award-winning duo plays everything from lively Irish jigs and down-home American reels to hard-driving Klezmer freilachs and haunting Gypsy melodies spicing the mix with the distinctive rhythms of Balkan dance music, the lush sounds of Scandinavian twin fiddling, and original compositions written in a traditional style.”
Littleton and Hirshon combine tradition with innovation in their own arrangements of folk music, some of which include infusing swing into a Romanian dance, utilizing spoons in an Irish reel and combining a Turkish drum and Indian shruti box into a traditional West Virginia tune.
Simple Gifts is based in central Pennsylvania.
Founded in 1849 by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Waynesburg University is located on a traditional campus in the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania, with three additional sites located in the Pittsburgh region. The University is one of only 22 Bonner Scholar schools in the country, offering local, regional and international opportunities to touch the lives of others through service.
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Ashley Wise, Director of University Relations
724-852-7675 or awise@waynesburg.edu
Ticket Information
Tickets cost $15 for adults and $5 for children. Admission for Waynesburg University students, faculty and staff is free.
