News & Events

Jonathan Scales Kicks Off UNC Asheville Cultural Events Season with Free Café-Style Show

September 1, 2011

With a bang of the steel pans, the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra will kick off the 2011-2012 season of UNC Asheville’s Cultural Events and Distinguished Speaker Series. This high-energy performance will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, in the Highsmith University Union Grotto. The concert is free and open to the public, but there is limited café-style seating, so early arrival is suggested.

Steel pans, also called steel drums, are tuned instruments made from oil drums, but Scales pushes the traditional Trinidadian instrument into new musical territory, drawing on influences as diverse as bluesman Muddy Waters and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin. Joining Scales in the Asheville-based Fourchestra are guitarist Duane Simpson, bassist Cody Wright and drummer Phill Bronson.

Other events in the 2011-12 UNC Asheville Cultural Events and Distinguished Speaker Series include:

• October 25:        Pandit Soumitra Lahiri, classic Indian sitar
• November 15:   Frank Warren, creator of the PostSecret community mail art project, where hundreds of anonymous postcards now arrive daily, containing private thoughts and confessions of the senders
• January 17:        damali ayo, activist and artist, presenting “Are You Ready to Fix Racism? (or are you still pretending it doesn’t exist?),” part of UNC Asheville’s observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week
• February 15:       PROJECT Trio, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based trio of flute, cello and bass, blending rock, classical, jazz and other genres
• March 31:           Grammy winner Mavis Staples of The Staple Singers, one of the most distinctive voices in gospel, soul, and R&B
• June 14:              Pan Harmonia, led by Asheville flutist Kate Steinbeck, presenting an eclectic program of joy-filled chamber music

For more information, visit cesap.unca.edu or call 828/251-6674.