Summertime Means Concerts at the Arboretum!

I grew up just a couple hours from Flagstaff, and all of my life, I've endured those brutal Northern Arizona winters by counting down the days until summer. This terrible tease of warmth we've been getting has me wearing flipflops in the snow and shorts in 50 degree weather, traveling to *gasp* Phoenix to catch a DBacks game and sip iced drinks in the heat, spending all my free time in the icy water at Oak Creek. I'm a summer girl through and through.

Summer in the mountains means puppies and rainbows and art and music and family and friends and flowers  and all the happy things I love about my life. And now, it means concerts at the Arboretum. 
We've just announced the lineup for the Summer Concert Series at the Arboretum at Flagstaff. The series features four concerts during the summer season under the shade of the cool pines in the beautiful natural setting of The Arboretum at Flagstaff.

I've been lucky enough to be a part of the Arboretum's summer concerts for two years now, so I've come to expect a certain level of sunny gold from the events. In fact, the very first event I worked as a staff member at Flagstaff Cultural Partners was the Honey Dewdrops concert at the Arboretum in 2011. This year, the series opens with the incredible folk duo Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer in concert on June 1, my Birthday! I'm already getting my boyfriend and close friends to buy tickets so we can celebrate my very special day (I really should explain that I'm as much a Birthday girl as I am a summer girl) in the best possible way.

We have a fabulous slate of concerts on tap for Summer 2013. The series kicks off on Saturday, June 1, with the dynamic, world-traveling folk duo, Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer. We feature the fusion of cello and guitar with Montana Skies on July 6. Coming back to Flagstaff for their second concert, folk duo The Honey Dewdrops sing beautiful harmonies on August 3. And finally, Julia Chacón Inspiratión Flamenca will perform songs and dances on September 7.

2013 Summer Concert Series

June 1 - Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer
Dave McGraw and Mandy Fer are natural explorers. McGraw spent a decade as a wildlife biologist, working everywhere from Mexico to the Grand Canyon. Fer logged some time in Spain, where she studied music and local culture. Together, the two songwriters have built a music career on those travels, funneling everything - the characters they met, the things they saw, the sounds they heard, the stories they learned - into a mix of rich, detailed folk music and rootsy Americana.

July 6 - Montana Skies
Their name, Montana Skies, is a metaphor for musical freedom, and they continue to follow their creative instincts far beyond traditional boundaries. In concert, these award winning musicians delve into music from Pink Floyd and Rush to Vivaldi, and House of the Rising Sun, as well as their own originals that have been featured everywhere from NPR to the Travel Channel. Combining elements of classical technique, jazz improv and the power and energy of rock n' roll; Jonathan's guitar wizardry and Jenn's blazing electric cello combine to create a sound that is truly remarkable. While the music defies simple categorization, it is a fusion in the truest sense of the word. It's been called everything from chamber rock to psychedelic strings. Whatever you want to call it, rest assured, this ain't your grannies chamber music.

August 3 - The Honey Dewdrops
The Honey Dewdrop, Virginia-based roots duet of Laura Wortman and Kagey Parrish, return to the Arboretum at Flagstaff. With a blend of new Americana and traditional folk music, they create inspired songs that are rooted in the experience and lives of people. Their sound is transcendent; they write all their own songs and yet no one could ever peg them as just another singer-songwriter couple, not when they’ve embedded a sparse Appalachian clarity on every track that is accessible to listeners everywhere. The songs they write shine with energy and emotion through intimate performances with a handful of acoustic instruments and tightly layered harmonies.

September 7 - Julia Chacón Inspiratión Flamenca
Within the ancient art form known as flamenco, many who love it best believe, lies the heartbeat of the entire world. Julia Chacón mysteriously sensed that inexorable truth early on, as a teenaged ballet student. Extensively trained at the Phoenix School of Ballet, she was also exposed to other forms of dance expression there, including Spanish dance, and took to it immediately. By the age of 16, she was professionally performing with the Artes Bellas company in Phoenix—and she’s never looked back.



Tickets for all shows are $16/general public, and $13/members of The Arboretum or Flagstaff Cultural Partners. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here, by calling (928) 779-2300, at the Coconino Center for the Arts, or at the door.

Concert-goers may bring food and non-alcoholic beverages for a picnic setting. Picnic blankets or concert chairs are encouraged. Beer and wine will be available for purchase at the venue. The concert series is perfect for those beautiful Flagstaff summer evenings!