Portland Ovations Presents Swedish Folk Group Vasen 2/16

Portland Ovations brings the Swedish folk group Väsen along with special guests Darol Anger and friends to Hannaford Hall at USM Portland for a concert Thursday, February 16th at 7:30pm.

About the band: "Three of Sweden's musicians make up the folk group Väsen, Olov Johansson, Mikael Marin and Roger Tallroth. Johansson became the first nyckelharpa world champion in 1990, Marin plays the Viola with influences that oscillate between Schöenberg and the Beatles, and Tallroth plays a specially tuned 12 string guitar as well as the Swedish bouzoki and octave mandolin. Between them they have been featured with dozens of international groups including the Kronos Quartet. Creating a unique balance of the traditional sounds of the viola and nyckelharpa (a keyed fiddle unique to Sweden) and the more modern sounds of Tallroth's alternatively tuned (A-D-A-D-A-D) 12-string guitar."

Ovations Offstage offers a pre-performance lecture, "New Perspectives on New-Folk Music" at 6:30pm at Hannaford Hall with June Vail, Emerita professor of dance at Bowdoin College, who will present an illustrated lecture that looks at changing forms in folk dance and music in Sweden. In conjunction, Väsen will perform a mini-concert at Bull Moose on Middle Street, downtown Portland at 12:30pm on February 16th and the Maine Historical Society will be showing the documentary film, "Old Maine's Swedish Farms" approximately every 30 minutes from 1pm to 5pm on Saturday February 11th.

Tickets for Väsen are $31 for Ovations' Members, $34 for the general public and a limited amount of $10 student tickets are also available. Support for Väsen generously provided by the Barbo Osher Pro Suecia Foundation. To purchase tickets, contact PortTix at 207-842-0800 or visit the box office window at Merrill Auditorium. Tickets are also available online at www.portlandovations.org.

About Portland Ovations
Each year since 1931, Portland Ovations brings a dynamic season of exceptional performing artists from around the world to Maine including classical music, jazz, opera, dance, theater, and Broadway national tours. In addition to live performances, Ovations brings the exhilaration of the performing arts out into our community with season-long educational and outreach activities known as Ovations Offstage. A Maine-based non-profit, Portland Ovations contributes to the cultural, social and economic well-being of our community by presenting an array of high quality performing artists from around the world and creating diverse educational experiences that bring the enjoyment, energy and enrichment of the arts to all.