East Central Regional Library presents Strings Across the Ocean, featuring Minnesota-based musician Ross Sutter and Sweden’s most prominent folk musicians, Anders and Maria Larsson, at shows coming up this month. In their performance, the trio tells the story of a couple immigrating from Sweden to America. The show features musical instruments including the string bass, accordion, limberjack, guitar, drum set, fiddle, nyckelharpa, recorder and lots of singing. Here is the schedule:
Monday, Sept. 17
10:30 a.m.—Mora Public Library
2 p.m.—Mille Lacs Lake Community Library/Isle
Tuesday, Sept. 18
10:30 a.m. — Hinckley Public Library
2 p.m. — McGregor Public Library
Wednesday, Sept. 19
2 p.m. — North Branch Area Library
Thursday, Oct. 4
10:30 a.m. — Milaca Community Library
2 p.m. — Wyoming Area Library
Anders and Maria Larsson ran their own record label and culture house in Malung, Sweden, where Anders was a vocal coach at the renowned folk music education course Malungs Folkhögskola. They now live in Malmo in the south of Sweden and work as freelance musicians and teachers. Using an array of traditional instruments, the duo creates a sound that is both modern and traditional at the same time.
Sutter is well known as a singer of Scandinavian, Scottish and Irish songs and for his wide repertoire of American traditional and popular songs. With a degree in music education, Sutter has years of experience working with children and has developed many popular and time-tested school residence and workshop programs on a variety of engaging themes.
Sutter and the Larssons met at a music festival in the United States, where they discovered a musical kinship that they have enjoyed exploring on two Swedish tours and one American tour. Strings Across the Ocean is an entertaining musical and cultural experience for all ages and audiences.
This project was funded with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.