Temperatures will continue to fall over the next few days

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above.

Renee Vaughan, who plays the Swedish folk instrument the nyckelharpa, recommends a concert on Friday that will bring a mix of musical holiday folk traditions.

 will perform along with Minneapolis and Duluth-based folk band 

 Red Thread is fronted by one of my absolute favorite singers, Sarah Larsson, with her lush, warm voice, coupled with these incredible harmonies, and it's mixed with a deep love of cultural lineage. 

Their music spans from Yiddish and klezmer and Slavic, Scandinavian, Irish, English and American winter traditions, and they'll be sharing the stage with Ponyfolk. They're able to have this folk sound that creatively blends folk and rock and jazz and Nordic influences. 

I'm sure there'll be opportunities to get up and move, but you can also sing, and it'll be like this lovely musical quilt covering the audience.

While you’re looking at the Cedar website, musician Leslie Vincent recommends you check out a performance there on Sunday at 2 p.m. by Ben Cook-Feltz, with Ann Reed and Zippy Laske.

 He's an INCREDIBLE singer and performer. His “Holiday Shindig” is coming up on December 14 and features lots of my other favorite performers in town, including Zippy Laske, who I'm obsessed with.

Voiceover actor Rebecca Brokaw-Sands is excited to see Rochester Repertory Theatre’s production of 

Based on the classic story by Louisa May Alcott, the musical follows the four March sisters from childhood to adulthood. The remaining performances are tonight through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

 “Little Women” itself is a fantastic, heartwarming story that focuses on family and dreams and hope and following your own path, even when it's not the one that others would have chosen for you or the one that seems traditionally laid out by society.

The music is fantastic and supported very well by the voices in this cast. Amber Feind as Jo knocks it out of the park.

Stacy Bach is a band director at East Grand Forks High School, and she suggests coming back to her school’s auditorium this Sunday at 2:30 p.m. for the 

Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra’s Yuletide Concert.

Expect holiday favorites, including Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” plus classic carols that invite the audience to sing along. The winner of the Young Artist Concerto Competition will also be featured.

Arts and Culture

NewsPartners

Homepage

Art Hounds®

Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund

Author

Art Hounds recommend Red Thread and others at the Cedar, “Little Women: The Musical” and the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra’s Yuletide Concert.

Art Hounds: Holiday folk concerts, a beloved musical and symphonic cheer

Evan Clark file

Two women in period dresses on a stage sitting on a picnic blanket.

Art Hounds: Holiday folk concerts, a beloved musical and symphonic cheer

Go Deeper.

Like this?