CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The spectrum of music at ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival this fall will range from traditional Mexican guitar to southern rock, and from jazz to classical guitar. And the diversity is not just in the style of music, but the instruments as well. The guitar festival also features banjo, sarod, Hawaiian slack key guitar and pipa, a four-stringed Chinese lute.
The progressive bluegrass band Punch Brothers is among the featured bands for this year’s ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival.
The artists featured at the biennial festival – which began in 2005 and this year will be Sept. 10-12 at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts – include Los Lobos. The Grammy Award-winning band returns with its blend of rock, Tex-Mex, folk and blues. The band played at ELLNORA (then known as the Wall to Wall Guitar Festival) in 2007.
Other musicians include Rodrigo y Gabriela, a Mexican acoustic guitar duo playing a mix of rock and Latin music; Punch Brothers, a five-man band that includes University of Illinois School of Music alumnus Noam Pikelny; father-and-son jazz guitarists Bucky and John Pizzarelli; and the Drive-By Truckers, playing Southern rock out of Athens, Georgia.
This year’s artist-in-residence is classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, a three-time Grammy Award winner. Isbin founded the Juilliard School’s guitar department and is head of the guitar department at the Aspen Music Festival. Isbin will give the keynote address at 3 p.m. Sept. 11. Isbin and guitarist Colin Davin will perform together on Sept. 12. A one-hour documentary on the artist, titled “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour,” will be shown at the Art Theater in downtown Champaign on Sept. 9.
While 11 of the performances at the festival require tickets, at least that many will be free. Among those playing free shows are jazz-rock guitarist John Scofield, who has played and recorded with Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Pat Metheny, Jack DeJohnette, Phil Lesh, Herbie Hancock, Government Mule, Mavis Staples and Joe Henderson. Scofield will close the festival with Jon Cleary.
Other performers playing free concerts include Valerie June, a singer-songwriter performing roots/country/bluegrass music, who will play with acoustic fingerstyle guitarist Andy McKee; Los Lobos member David Hidalgo with guitarist and composer Marc Ribot; singer-songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield; and Earth, based in Olympia, Washington.
ELLNORA’s opening night will feature Luther Dickinson – the festival’s artist-in-residence in 2011 – playing Southern blues with his brother, Cody, in the North Mississippi Allstars. For the $5 opening night ticket price, audiences will also hear sets from AJ Ghent Band playing sacred steel blues; Terakaft, a desert blues band from Mali; the John Jorgenson Quintet playing gypsy jazz; and Australian blues-rock guitarist Mia Dyson.
ELLNORA – named for Ellnora Krannert, a founder of Krannert Center for the Performing Arts – features a number of prominent women artists. The “first lady of banjo” Abigail Washburn will perform with her husband, Béla Fleck. Other female artists include bluegrass singer and Grammy nominee Rhonda Vincent; Hawaiian hula dancer and chanter Moanalani Beamer, who will play with slack key guitarists Keola Beamer and Jeff Peterson; and pipa player Min Xiao-Fen.
For a completely different type of show, ELLNORA offers Squonk’s Pneumatica, an outdoor event of music and air, featuring a 40-foot-tall inflatable statue with a wind turbine head and accordion lungs breathing steam. The all-ages performance will take place twice on both Sept. 11 and 12. Dan Zanes and Friends will also provide family-friendly entertainment in a Sept. 12 show celebrating the music of Lead Belly.
All the performances take place at one of the seven spaces at Krannert Center – three formal theaters, including the Foellinger Great Hall; two lobby stages; the outdoor amphitheater; and the Sonic Garden tented area on the southeast terrace.
The Studio Theatre will become the festival store, with merchandise, displays of unusual guitars and opportunities to meet the artists.
Festival passes and tickets go on sale Aug. 15. The festival passed include access to 10 ticketed events (excluding Dan Zanes and Friends on Sept. 12). They cost $330 for the general public, $285 for senior citizens, $140 for students and $95 for U. of I. students and youth. Single event prices vary.
For the complete schedule and more detailed information, go to http://www.ellnoraguitarfestival.com/.
