Savory Sounds
(11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. on the following Thursdays, rain or shine:)
June 14 Chanceux Saxophone Quartet
June 21 Steve Meisner
June 28 UW-W Jazz Camp Ensemble
July 12 Rose Among Thorns
July 19 Brass Knuckles
The Whitewater Arts Alliance (WAA) will present the annual Savory Sounds Summer Concert series again this summer at the Birge Fountain in front of the Cultural Arts Center, 402 W. Main St. The WAA is grateful to our partners-Fairhaven Senior Services, First Citizens State Bank, Fort Community Credit Union, Olm and Associates, and PremierBank--for helping to make these events possible.
June 14 Chanceux Saxophone Quartet
The Chanceux Saxophone Quartet was founded in 2016 at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. They serve as a premiere, in demand student performance ensemble for the university, having performed as a part of the UW-Whitewater saxophone studio recitals, their own recital, and recently performed the concerto "Capriccio" by Warren
Barker with the University Community Band. They frequently perform for UW-Whitewater Music Department events such as audition days, open houses, and tours.
Soprano Saxophone: Cameron Vinson
Alto Saxophone: Taylor Boegel
Baritone Saxophone: Artrell LeFlore
Tenor Saxophone: Samuel Matucheski
* Austin Kappel will be subbing in for Sam on Tenor Saxophone at the performance on June 14th.
June 21 Steve Meisner
Steve Meisner is a multi-talented musician, entertainer, composer & arranger. He began playing the accordion at the age of 5 and has been earning a living in the music business since the age of 16. Steve's family has a rich musical heritage and he is a second-generation full time working musician. His father, the late
Verne Meisner, had a successful music career for over 57 years. Steve’s brand of music is extremely versatile and appealing to a wide audience. He has made a name for himself by taking the music he grew up with from his father and adding his own imagination and feeling. He has brought his brand of traditional American polka into the 21st century with a fresh spark & swing while retaining the roots of this music.
In Steve's 40 year musical career he has performed with the nation's top accordionists, polka icons & musicians including Myron Floren, Frank Yankovic, Joey Miskulin, & Verne Meisner. He has amassed 22 LP/CD credits, 6 Single, and 7 Video releases with full production credits. He has performed nationally coast to coast and internationally averaging as many as 250 performances annually including performances at the Lawrence Welk Theater in Branson MO, Stardust-Monte Carlo-Hacienda-Orleans & Plaza Casino's in Las Vegas. He has performed at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC. He and the Meisner brand of music has filtered into television broadcasts and motion pictures including TNN's Crook & Chase Show and the ABC Network 4th of July broadcast of "In Search of America, a 4th of July Celebration" hosted by the late Peter Jennings and folklorist Nick Spitzer. He and his music are featured a full-length motion picture "Chump Change" released internationally by Miramax and he has been heard and seen on the film festival circuit in a short film called "The Pick Up Polka". He has an original composition in the independent full-length feature "Red Betsy". Writer/director/actor Steve Burrows from Hollywood CA call's Steve "the Mozart of Polka".
Steve has received numerous awards and nominations including "Musician and Band of the Year", "Favorite Polka Artist", "Lifetime Achievement award" by the Maryland Accordion Club, he resides as the 29th inductee to the Ironworld Polka Hall of Fame, and in 2005 an "Honor Roll" induction to the Wisconsin Polka Hall of Fame, he is the first of his generation to reside alongside his father as a "Lifetime Achiever" in the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame in 2012. He, and his father's, original compositions are included on many best-selling polka recordings, Grammy nominated recordings, and can be found in the archives of the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Institute, and Wisconsin state libraries in both textbook and music categories. His recordings are used in preschool and kindergarten classes to teach the young and enjoyed by many generations bringing back memories of care free days.
June 28 Jazz Camp
The UW-Whitewater Jazz Camp Combos are groups formed as part of the summer jazz camp held every year. These talented students come from the Midwest for a week-long jazz intensive camp. The UW-Whitewater Jazz Camp is highly respected throughout the Midwest with top nationally known jazz faculty that join with the staff to form an Adult Jazz Ensemble, specifically to complement the student summer jazz camp.
July 12 Rose Among Thorns
Called A Rose Among Thorns, this quartet of local musicians offers pleasing melodies, tight musicianship, and stirring renditions of songs from folk, pop, blues, country, and Celtic traditions. The foursome includes Jeff Mason on acoustic guitar, bass, and vocals; Perry Baird on vocals and acoustic guitar; Tom Cook on bass, mandolin, banjo, and a host of other
stringed instruments; and Angela Martin Licari on violin and vocals. Fort Atknson natives Jeff and Perry played as solo acts and as a duo in the mid-1980s, renewing their musical partnership about five years ago. Tom, retired band teacher at Fort High School, came on board in 2015, and a violin was added in 2016, with Angela capably taking over that duty last year. All are familiar to local audiences as members of other musical ensembles, some of which include Jeff with the Merry Horde, Expanded Waist Band, and Blue Stew; Perry with The Buzzards; Tom with Madison Brass and Guitarcheology; and Angela with Madpolecats. The Rose Among Thorns collaboration gives each a chance to contribute favorite—often eclectic—songs for interpretation by the group. Songs featuring moving stories and themes, energetic instrumentals, soothing vocals, and singable choruses are all part of typical Rose Among Thorns musical sets.
July 19 Brass Knuckles
Brass Knuckles Brass Quintet with Percussion is comprised of professional musicians who are also educators and have taught in public schools, universities, and colleges, as well as teaching in a private lesson studio. The musicians' variety in performance background venues lends to a wide variety of styles in their
repertoire. Their experiences include other brass ensembles, concert bands, touring bands, jazz ensembles, drum and bugle corps, percussion ensembles, and orchestras. All have been on numerous recordings with a variety of ensembles, and will be recording their first Knuckles CD in 2019. They currently are available for concerts, weddings, wedding receptions, parties, memorials, special events, school events, and anything else you can imagine and Savory Sounds is excited to have them perform on the series.