Around town: Pan Harmonia celebrates 25 years

For its 25th season, Asheville-based chamber music company Pan Harmonia is playing the hits.

“It’s worth a retrospective look back at a body of work that’s pretty substantial,” co-founder Kate Steinbeck says of the company’s history. “Some of the repertoires we’re repeating, and I have some colleagues coming back — people who have left Asheville.”

The group’s silver anniversary season kicks off Friday, Sept. 27, 7 p.m., at Black Mountain Presbyterian Church, and Sunday, Sept. 29, 3 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church of Asheville. The program, titled “Dances in Nature,” features Steinbeck on flute and Jessica Schaeffer on harp. The selections spotlight work by Leonard Bernstein, Alan Hovhaness and Carl Nielsen, plus compositions inspired by ocean creatures, waltzes, boleros and salsa.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Pan Harmonia stopped selling tickets and shifted to donation-based performances. According to Steinbeck, the change has enhanced the company’s goal to connect with as many people across the community as possible — which includes bringing its chamber music to prisons and homeless shelters through the company’s Shining Light Project.

Steinbeck sees Pan Harmonia as an alternative to the bulk of local music options, which she describes as “a party thing,” with alcohol and audience members talking. At her group’s performances, she says people “deliberately come into a space and listen,” and in turn experience the vibe of music on a cellular level. She’s also intentional in labeling the programs “acoustic music” instead of “classical,” because the latter can sound limiting to some people. 

“Chamber music is broader than a lot of people think,” she says. “A jazz trio is chamber music. A Celtic group is chamber music. Sometimes people get hung up a little bit on the wording of stuff like this, but it’s actually something they know.”

Reflecting on the past quarter century, Steinbeck credits co-founder Liz Austin with helping get Pan Harmonia off the ground in 2000, back when it was called Keowee Chamber Music. And she says it probably wouldn’t have endured without support from the N.C. Arts Council.

Looking forward, Steinbeck says the newly hired Schaeffer’s work as program coordinator sets the company up nicely for the future, as it looks to engage with the next generation of acoustic musicians.

Black Mountain Presbyterian Church is at 117 Montreat Road, Black Mountain. First Presbyterian Church of Asheville is at 40 Church St. To learn more, visit avl.mx/e5b.

WTF Festival rocks Salvage Station

The Women to the Front (WTF) music festival will return to Salvage Station on Sunday, Sept. 29, 12:30 p.m.-midnight, with a lineup of over 50 local female artists. The event will also include a range of vendors featuring women-owned businesses, women-owned food trucks and nonprofits that support women.

Festival co-founder Melissa McKinney curated the lineup, which spotlights such performers as Queen Bee and the Honey Lovers, Ménage, the Hope Griffin Trio, Ovadya, the Maggie Valley Band and Kathryn O’Shea. The WTF Funk Project, composed of a rotating cast of women, will headline this year’s event with Whitney Mongé, Emily Musolino, Rebekah Todd, Rachel Waterhouse, McKinney, Polly Panic and more.

“It was so difficult to curate this lineup,” McKinney says. “We have so many talented women in our area, and I wish we had the space to include them all. It would take at least a week, which is why we formed WTF Week, which will take place in March 2025 during Women’s History Month. [But] my criteria was to pretty much gather a bunch of badass women and put them all on one stage on the same day.”

She also sought to showcase a diverse soundscape with lots of different instrumentation, resulting in a collection of funk, pop, rock, blues, jazz, neo-soul, punk and country music artists.

“Lots of people are surprised when I tell them it is all women in the bands — like women can just sing or something,” McKinney says. “That’s just one of the many stereotypes we are working towards changing. I also wanted to showcase women who are working full time in the music industry.”

The co-founder hopes that WTF will put some new artists on attendees’ radar and that all involved will leave Salvage Station “with a renewed sense of wonder at the incredible amount of talent and heart coming from the musicians in this area who are women.”

“And I hope that local venue owners will continue — or start — to prioritize having women on their lineups regularly,” she says.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the show and $15 for students.

Salvage Station is at 468 Riverside Drive. To learn more, visit avl.mx/e5e.

Welcome back, Goombay!

One of Asheville’s signature events, the Goombay Festival, will return to downtown Friday through Sunday, Sept. 27-29. Established in 1982 to celebrate the diversity and richness of the African diaspora and the city’s African American community, the annual party embraces the theme “Back to Our Roots” for its 2024 edition.

This free, family-friendly event will showcase Black culture, art, food and entertainment at Pack Square Park. Goombay’s host, the YMI Cultural Center, will also celebrate its grand reopening before the festivities on Thursday, Sept. 26.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/aar.

Lake Monster Parade returns for fourth year

The Lake Monster Parade invites families to gather at Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2 p.m., in their favorite aquatic-themed costumes.

Founded by Jeannie Regan in 2021 as a means of providing inexpensive, socially distanced fun for area children and their families, the free event has steadily grown each year. Brass Your Heart marching band will lead the parade, Street Creature Puppet Collective will bring some of its imaginative creations, and the namesake floating monster is promised to be bigger and better than ever.

“This year’s monster will have three heads,” Regan says. “Last year’s monster capsized into the lake, but we think we have figured out the design flaws.”

Lake Tomahawk is at 401 Laurel Circle Drive, Black Mountain. To learn more, visit avl.mx/a0a.

Local mentalist at Story Parlor

On Friday, Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m., Jonathan Pritchard and his Asheville Mind Reading Show will return to the intimate West Asheville venue Story Parlor.

The Asheville-based mentalist’s 15-year career has taken him from Las Vegas to performing overseas for U.S. troops. This local show combines mind-reading demonstrations with comedy and a positive message.

“The Asheville Mind Reading Show is more than just entertainment,” says Pritchard in a press release. “It’s an interactive experience that leaves audiences feeling uplifted and inspired. I’m thrilled to share this performance with my community.”

General admission tickets are $40. VIP tickets are $50 and include premium seating and a copy of Pritchard’s book, Think Like A Mind Reader.

Story Parlor is at 227 Haywood Road. To learn more, visit avl.mx/e57.

Campbell Folk School’s fall festival is back

The John C. Campbell Folk School’s 48th annual fall festival returns to Brasstown, Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 5-6, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The yearly celebration of Appalachian culture and heritage features all-day demonstrations of fiber arts, woodworking, blacksmithing and other crafts. There will also be traditional roots music and dance performances throughout the weekend.

Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for ages 12-17, $10 for seniors and veterans, and free for children 12 and younger. Single-day and flex passes are available.

The John C. Campbell Folk School is at 1 Folk School Road, Brasstown. To learn more, visit avl.mx/e58.

New exhibit at Black Mountain College Museum

Much has been written about Black Mountain College since it officially closed in 1957. But until now, the campus’s farm has only received minimal attention.

That all changes with The Farm at Black Mountain College exhibition, which opens Friday, Sept. 27, at the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in downtown Asheville and runs through Saturday, Jan. 11. Curated by David Silver and Bruce Johansen, the historical exhibition primarily spotlights students, women and farmers, and explores the importance of collaboration and what happens when the bonds of communal living unravel.

Augmenting this research is an accompanying book by Silver and an opening reception and keynote lecture by the author on Friday, Oct. 25, in conjunction with BMCM+AC’s annual ReVIEWING BMC conference. The thematic focus of this year’s ReVIEWING BMC is “Living with the Land.”

The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center is at 120 College St. To learn more, visit avl.mx/e59.

Virtual concert series returns

Since June 2020, Asheville-based radio broadcaster Bruce Swan has been co-producing the virtual concert series Music My Mother Would Not Like. The concerts were intended to help performing musicians find work during the COVID-19 pandemic while venues were shuttered, as well as to connect fans with their favorite artists and provide both sides with new opportunities.

“There are lots of music lovers in Asheville that are unable or unwilling to drive at night or … work on weekends and cannot get out to shows,” Swan says. “The series is the perfect combination of lots of important things.”

Four years and 173 concerts later, Music My Mother Would Not Like returns on Tuesday, Oct. 8, and has shows booked into spring 2025. Tickets range from $10-$65, and the performances feature artists from around the world. Links to shows are provided with ticket purchase.

To learn more, visit avl.mx/e5a.