From staff reports
Brasstown – On Sunday, the Brasstown Concert Association will present musician/ singer/songwriter Elise Witt with the band Mezzanine (Mick Kinney and Don Erdman).
An Atlanta resident since 1977, Witt was born in Switzerland and raised in North Carolina. Legend has it she sang before she talked. She speaks five languages and sings in a dozen more.
Her concerts of Global, Local and Homemade Songs and Impromptu Glorious Chorus workshops have taken her across the U.S. and around the world, creating and connecting singing communities. Says The Raleigh Times, “Her performance is like a suitcase, plastered with stickers from around the world.”
Witt sang for 20 years with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus and the Robert Shaw Singers, studied with masters of improvisation and African vocal experts, before going on herself to become a master of teaching and composing. She reintroduces people to their innate ability to sing, using music as a language to celebrate cultural diversity, while appreciating our connections as one human family.
Currently, Witt serves as Artist-in-Residence at the Global Village Project, a school for teenage refugee girls from Afghanistan, Burma, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia and Central African Republic, using singing to teach English, write songs and empower young women to reach their full potential.
Appearing with Witt will be Mick Kinney, a multi-instrumentalist whose compositions reveal his love of Gershwin and Cole Porter, Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, the Carter Family, Louisiana Creole , Ragtime and swing. When Kinney’s wry humor and exquisite piano pair with Witt’s versatile voice and world music repertoire, an unlikely but perfect musical event is created.
Joining Witt and Kinney is saxophonist Don Erdman, founder of Hotlanta Jazz, which has toured the U.S. and beyond, from Spain to Singapore, Finland to Saudi Arabia.
Elise Witt and Mezzanine will perform at 2:30 p.m. in the Keith House, on the campus of the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown. No reservations; seating is by general admission. Tickets (adults $18, students $10) may be purchased at the door. For information, call 828-389-4210 or email brasstownconcertnews@gmail.com.