[Previous entry: "New Gordy Column: Require Then Refuse! "] [Next entry: "Flood Gate For Port Stanley Lagoon"]

07/07/2006: "Grammy Winners Tingstad & Rumbel Return"

San Juan Community Theatre welcomes Grammy Winners Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel to the stage for a concert Saturday, July 8 at 8:00 p.m. Tingstad and Rumbel are the number one guitar-woodwind duo in the country, having made 17 collaborative recordings and performed more than 1,000 times in places as diverse as Carnegie Hall, the Seed Saver's Barn in Iowa, the National Parks and more intimate venues like the Whittier Theatre stage.

This concert will delight and refresh the audience with elegant acoustic music that is drawn from a host of influences. Tingstad's guitar work can be pure American back road finger picking, or Gypsy campfire or as Irish as a mist rising off a lonely moor. Rumbel's ocarina is as sharp and clean as an Andean Mountain spire. You follow her English horn instinctively through medieval landscapes, Middle Eastern bazaars, a Scottish countryside or out on the green waters of Puget Sound.


Classical fans call the duo's music "intimate and grand, expertly crafted." Brides and grooms find it "romantic" and happily exchange vows to it. Massage therapists consider it as "healing." Their 1985 debut recording, "The Gift," was an instant holiday classic, and they have twice been honored with national awards. In 1998, their "American Acoustic" double album was named Best Instrumental Album of the Year by NAV, and their 2002 disc, "Acoustic Garden" won the New Age category Grammy Award.

While that kind of appreciation of music can be had from listening to a recording, one of the things that make this duo special is their obvious chemistry as performers – their endearing sense of humor and the rapport they have built on 20 years of making music together. It is an engaging experience that cannot be packaged in a studio session.

This performance is sponsored by Wildwood Manor B&B. Tickets are $15 for Adults and $8 for Student Reserved, with $5 Student RUSH is available on remaining seats one hour before the performance. A private donor has made provision for free tickets to anyone needing financial assistance to attend a Theatre event. The SJCT Box Office is open Tuesday-Friday, 11-4, Saturdays 11-2, and one hour before any performance. Call 360-378-3210, or go to www.SanJuanCommunityTheatre.org.