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July 12 Release (LONG_July_12_Release.pdf) 248K

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation to Present a Celtic Blockbuster July 12, 2009.

LANCASTER, PA -- The Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation will present a Celtic blockbuster on July 12, 2009, when it hosts Fraser & Haas with Bruce Molsky as part of its 47th annual Long’s Park Summer Music Series. The Long’s Park amphitheater will come alive at 7:30 pm with the supercharged sounds of phenomenal duo Fraser & Haas — Scotland’s premier fiddle ambassador Alasdair Fraser and California cello prodigy Natalie Haas — and Grammy-nominated Appalachian fiddler Bruce Molsky.

Saluted as “the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling” by the San Francisco Examiner, Alasdair Fraser has a concert and recording history that spans 30 years and boasts a long list of awards, accolades and television and movie soundtrack performances. The Clackmannan, Scotland native represented Scotland’s music internationally on behalf of the British Council and received the Scottish Heritage Center Service Award for his outstanding contributions to Scottish culture and tradition. Fraser is known for his ambitious musical explorations, which put him on a journey to find a cellist who could help him return the cello to its roots as the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music.

He found that cellist when prodigy Natalie Haas attended Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School in California and responded to his challenge to release the cello from what Fraser termed “its orchestral shackles.” Now a Juilliard School of Music graduate, and Berklee College of Music professor, Haas is hailed as “the percussive power to Fraser’s fiddle fireworks, providing syncopated, bowed underpinnings to his melodies and solos” (Harrisburg Patriot News).

The pair regularly tour together throughout Europe and the US and have two recordings to their credit. Wrote The Boston Globe of Fraser & Haas, “Their sound is as urbane as a Manhattan midnight and as wild as a Clackmannan winter.” Sue Wilson of Hi-Arts Journal praised the duo for their “near-telepathic interplay,” “technical prowess” and “boundless dynamism.” When not dazzling audiences, Fraser and Haas teach fiddle courses in the US, Scotland and Spain.

A performance by Fraser & Haas would thrill any audience, but their appearance at Long’s Park is something extraordinary. Joining them on stage will be Grammy-nominated fiddler Bruce Molsky. Dubbed “the Rembrandt of Appalachian fiddling,” this six-time Grammy nominee is the fourth fiddler in Fiddlers 4 and a member of Andy Irvine’s acclaimed Mozaik. His career boasts six solo recordings and multiple tours throughout Europe and the U.S. Australian Radio National applauded his “phenomenal fingerpicking,” and added, “As a singer, too, he just ‘has it’ - an uncanny, seemingly low-key, warm, unassuming knack for expressing a song's essence.”

Hilton Garden Inn-Lancaster is helping underwrite the appearance of Fraser & Haas with Bruce Molsky at Long’s Park.

The Long’s Park Summer Music Series is produced and underwritten by the Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation. Thanks to generous sponsors, private donors and proceeds of the Labor Day weekend Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival, admission and parking are free. Sponsors of the 2009 season are Lancaster General Health and Susquehanna Bank. Season media sponsors are WARM 103 and 96.1 WSOX. WGAL- TV is season weather sponsor.

Stevens & Lee, PC is sponsoring the 2009 Long’s Park Art & Craft Festival.

Long’s Park concertgoers are invited to bring picnics, blankets and lawn chairs to the park. A selection of food purveyors will also be in the park, offering a complete meal’s worth of family foods and desserts. Long’s Park is an alcohol-free park.

Long’s Park is conveniently located at 1441 Harrisburg Pike in Lancaster, just off Route 30 across from Park City Center. All performances are held rain or shine, except in the case of dangerously inclement weather.

Additional information and links to musical previews of Long’s Park’s performers can be found at www.longspark.org or on Facebook. For details on corporate sponsorships of the Long’s Park Summer Music Series or to learn how to make individual and corporate contributions, contact the Long’s Park Amphitheater Foundation at info@longspark.org.