Uptown Mandolin Quartet

Lawrence Arts Center

From the Lawrence Arts Center: 

If you love the music of Lawrence Arts Center Kansas Nutcracker and Snow Queen productions, you're sure to enjoy this concert!

Uptown Mandolin Quartet grew out of the Lawrence Mandolin & Guitar Ensemble, a group founded over 35 years ago by Jeff Dearinger. Dearinger has arranged and conducted the music for all of the Arts Center productions of The Kansas Nutcracker and The Snow Queen. Other members include Beth Dearinger, Charles Higginson and Mike Stewart, all of whom have participated in Arts Center holiday productions as orchestra members.

Uptown Mandolin Quartet is a unique group of Kansas musicians. The instrumentation – two mandolins, mandola and mandocello - provides the same notation as a traditional string quartet, but since the instruments are plucked instead of bowed and much tremolo is used, the resulting sound becomes quite different. The group plays with an emotional quality that is sometimes percussive and other times ethereal and haunting.

Most pieces are arranged or written specifically for the group, and over the years, their repertoire has grown to include music from many time periods and countries. This performance will showcase a large range of styles, including music from the Baroque, Impressionist and Contemporary periods, and will include Hispanic and Irish tunes as well as two original compositions. Many of the pieces are from the three CDs the quartet has recorded.