Cottonwood AZ (October 5, 2021) – Old Town Center for the Arts presents a multi-media event featuring the Electric Harp Guitar Group with special guest aerialist Taylor Marie on Saturday, October 16th at 7:00 PM. The Electric Harp Guitar Group (Ehgg) is visionary guitarists William Eaton, Anthony Mazzella, and Fitzhugh Jenkins who will perform on their unique hand-crafted electric harp guitars, 6 string guitars and double neck harp synthesizer guitar.
The evening will begin with a special artist reception for Sedona Artist Nancy Ruby who is presenting a collection of her landscape paintings exhibited on the theater walls at Old Town Center for the Arts. The artist reception will begin at 6:00 pm. Wine, beer and concessions will be available for the reception and concert.
A local phenomenon with international experience ‘Ehgg’ combines individual virtuosity with ensemble sensibility to create instrumental compositions, drawn from transcendental world, jazz, rock and new age genres. For this concert the trio will explore new boundaries, including vocals and driving rhythmic textures, to bring out new lyric expressions and new sonic qualities from their long scale solid body electric instruments.
“We haven’t played a concert together for over a year and a half,” William Eaton commented. And we’re interested in expressing some of the emotions we experienced during the pandemic, that we feel will resonate with our listeners, as we all went through this together. For this concert we’re pleased to have aerialist Taylor Marie join us. Attendees don’t often get to witness the wonderful visuals and ‘movement art’ performed on silks, trapeze and lyra (hoop), especially in our area. We’re looking forward to an evening of diverse musical styles and ‘elevated’ movement art.” Taylor has performed in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and California, and has also taught workshops in aerial dance.
The Ehgg trio initially formed when musician-luthier William Eaton designed his proto-type 18 string electric harp guitar. A long-time fan of Anthony Mazzella and Fitzhugh Jenkins, Eaton invited them to try out the new instrument and join together to create the Electric Harp Guitar Group. After several months of rehearsal the trio spent time at Wisdom Tree Studios in Sedona to record their self-titled “Electric Harp Guitar Group” which was honored as one of the ‘Top 25 ‘Essential CD’s by Echoes’ – an internationally syndicated radio program.
“Ehgg is finding its collective voice, and getting to a new level of musicianship,” Fitzhugh Jenkins remarked. Anthony Mazzella added; “the improvised nature of our approach allows us the freedom to explore new ideas. Both rehearsal and concert is an experience of finding the spark and magic of what is being created in the moment.”
Each musician brings diverse talent and creative technique to the ensemble. Anthony Mazzella is recognized as one of the most innovative and technically proficient guitar players in the world, and was voted as “one of the top ten guitarists in the U.S.” by Guitar One magazine.
Fitzhugh Jenkins has travelled the world seeking the always illusive muse. He grew up playing professionally in Honolulu, has studied music in Cuba, at Berklee College of Music and in Paris. He has taken in the Tango rhythms in Buenos Aires and has performed in Mumbai and Delhi. His original music has been used on the Discovery Channel, the Oprah Network and the Green Channel. Fitzhugh has performed musical healing on elephants in Thailand.
William Eaton is acknowledged as one of the world’s great designers and builders of unique guitars and stringed instruments. He is a four-time GRAMMY nominee, NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) winner, and long time recording artist for Canyon Records. Eaton is also the current director of the longest running guitar making school in North America, Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, a school he co-founded in 1975.
The Electric Harp Guitar Group has sold out their past five shows at OTCA, so grab your tickets early and come enjoy a special evening of electric harp guitar music on Saturday, October 16th, 7:00 pm at Old Town Center for the Arts. The pre-show artist reception for Nancy Ruby in the OTCA theater begins at 6:00 pm.
Old Town Center for the Arts Is located at 5th Street & Main in Old Town Cottonwood. Tickets for Electric Harp Guitar Group are $20 in advance, $22 at the door, and $25 for priority seating in the first three rows. Tickets are available online at showtix4u.com. Tickets are also available in Cottonwood at: Desert Dancer, and Mount Hope Foods and in Sedona at The Literate Lizard Bookstore. For upcoming events, visit www.oldtowncenter.org. For further information, contact Elena Bullard at 928-634-0940.
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