Join National Hammered Dulcimer Champion and virtuoso Joshua Messick for a fresh and exciting Christmas Concert.
Messick’s Christmas Concert promises to bring joy, wonderment, passion and the spirit of Christmas to audiences through traditional Christmas songs including Silent Night, Carol of the Bells, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Patapan, O Holy Night, The Wexford Carol, and many more that embrace the spirit of the Holiday season.
Messick is well established as a composer and arranger and has an impeccable ability to pull both the gentle beauty and powerful ethereal tones out of the hammered dulcimer. He will demonstrate his progressive techniques and innovative stylings through out the evening and will be joined on stage by percussionist and multi-instrumentalist James Kylen, and other special guests.
More About Joshua Messick
At nine, when he got a hold of a pair of dulcimer hammers and coaxed sound from the strings for the first time, a music teacher asked how long he had been taking lessons. “I haven’t,” he said, still going at it. It’s as if Messick came into this world equipped with a preexisting relationship with the hammered dulcimer.
Messick began arranging music at ten and composing in high school. By the time he was eighteen, he became the 2003 National Hammered Dulcimer Champion. Messick is first and foremost a composer, crafting original compositions drawing from Celtic, Classical, and World styles. For those who love more traditional music, he breathes new life into Folk, Hymns, Classical, and traditional favorites. “I’ve put my entire life into this music,” he tells an interviewer, and it is readily apparent. Few musicians can span the breadth of styles he easily plays.
Enjoy his music on iTunes or CDs, or catch him playing live and you will feel the soulful presence that stirs in his music. You will be transported to a peaceful, nourishing place.
Messick further elaborates his soul by stating, “how music relates to people is something that fascinates me. Music is the sound of the human spirit and for me is prayer without words. There has been a process for me to understand the place music has in my life and why I play it. I used to play only for the purpose of becoming good. Now, I seek to play honestly from the heart, learn as much as I can, and enjoy music.”
For more details, visit joshuamessick.com
If You Go: Hammered Dulcimer Christmas Concert at the White Horse Black Mountain on Friday and Saturday, November 27 & 28, 2015 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 advance/$20 at the door and are available online. Advance purchase recommended. Tickets are available at www.whitehorseblackmountain.com
