World Premiere of Red Rock Rondo’s A Secret Gift @ Utah Cultural Celebration Center (WVC: Aug 15)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 18, 2011
Contact: Phillip Bimstein, phillip@bimstein.com, 801.519.2583

World Premiere of Red Rock Rondo’s A Secret Gift
West Valley City, Utah – A once secret gift becomes a best-selling book and now a celebration in sparkling song;
a singular act of generosity 78 years ago becomes an ongoing reminder of the importance of giving today.
WorldStage! Concerts proudly presents Red Rock Rondo performing the world premiere of their song cycle,
Secret Gift, August 15, 8pm, at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, 1355 West 3100 South, in West Valley
City. Admission is free.

Red Rock Rondo is an Emmy Award-winning ensemble consisting of six of Utah’s best-known musicians (see
bios below): Phillip Bimstein, Kate MacLeod, Hal Cannon, Charlotte Bell, Flavia Cerviño-Wood and Harold Carr,
performing on piano, guitars, violins, oboe, English horn, concertina, harmonica, bass and vocals. Their music is
a well-crafted synergy of popular, folk, jazz and classical, woven into a truly original New Americana style.
The book on which Red Rock Rondo’s new songs are based, A Secret Gift (by former Washington Post and
Time magazine journalist Ted Gup), is an inspiring account of America at its worst—and Americans at their best.
It is woven from the stories of Depression-era families who were helped by gifts from the author's secretive
grandfather, an immigrant businessman whose act of generosity was a secret even to his family until his
grandson discovered a cache of letters in a trunk, putting him on a journey to reconnect with those families—and
tell their stories in his book. The book was released in late 2010 and became a national bestseller, winning
reviews and feature stories in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Reader’s Digest, NPR and CBS Sunday
Morning (where Red Rock Rondo also performed).

Immediately upon reading Ted Gup's 2008 Op-Ed in The New York Times, “Hard Times, A Helping Hand,”
composer Phillip Bimstein was inspired to write a song cycle based on the heart-rending letters in the book. For
example, “Dear Sir” is based on the letter from Helen Palm, a 14-year-old girl who lacked clothing and food in
1933 at the height (depth, really) of the Great Depression, and hoped to receive some funds for her family to
have a Christmas dinner. “Work Sleep Love” is based on the letter from Edith Saunders, who was desperate but
also—like many women of that time—strong and resourceful. “Christmas in Canton” tells the moving story of how
the cash gifts were given anonymously to a wide range of people in great need.
Phillip Bimstein's music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Spoleto
and Aspen Music Festivals, London’s Royal Opera House—and his new wave band's videos appeared regularly
on MTV in the 1980s. Red Rock Rondo’s Zion Canyon Song Cycle was #10 on the national Folk DJ charts with
the #7 song, was deemed the “best local album on the year” by the Salt Lake Tribune’s David Burger and won 2
regional Emmy Awards including “Best Musical Composition.”

More information:
http://www.asecretgiftbook.com
http://myspace.com/redrockrondo
http://www.redrockrondo.com/

For more information about this concert or other events at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center, please call 801-
965-5100 or visit culturalcelebration.org.

MEMBERS OF RED ROCK RONDO

Phillip Bimstein piano, guitar, vocals, composer
Described by Outside magazine as “America's only all-natural politician-composer,” Phillip Bimstein's works have
been performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Abravanel Hall, Aspen Music Festival,
London’s Royal Opera House and on NPR and MTV. Bimstein’s Garland Hirschi's Cows CD garnered rave
reviews internationally in such publications as Stereo Review, Wired, Fanfare, and Stereophile. In 2007 The
New York Times reviewed “the irresistible charm of Mr. Bimstein's music” and “his uncanny knack for finding the
music of everyday life.” Bimstein received the Utah Humanities Council's 2009 Delmont R. Oswald Fellowship to
research and speak about the relationships between music and dialogue, and he teaches a course on this
topic,”Composing a Community,” at the University of Utah's Honors College. In 2010 Bimstein’s Zion Canyon
Song Cycle received an Emmy Award for Best Musical Composition. He is also a member of the chamber folk
ensemble, blue haiku.

Kate MacLeod violin, guitar, vocals
Kate MacLeod travels the United States and Europe performing her original songs. Extremely versatile on the
violin, she plays traditional fiddle styles from North America and the British Isles. She has numerous recordings
of original material published by Folk Era Records and Waterbug Records. Kate MacLeod's songs have been
featured on syndicated radio shows, including a "A Prairie Home Companion," and have been recorded and
performed by musicians across the country. Her brand new Waterbug Records CD, “Blooming,” produced by
Tim O'Brien and featuring Kate's songs performed by her and Nashville's finest musicians, is moving up the
Americana Music Association's radio airplay charts.

Hal Cannon slide guitar, mandolin, mandocello, banjo, harmonica, button accordion, jaw harp, vocals
Hal Cannon is the Founding Director of the Western Folklife Center and its famous child, the Cowboy Poetry
Gathering in Elko, Nevada. A member of the Deseret String Band for thirty years, he remains an active
musician, writing songs and playing traditional stringed instruments. He has published a dozen books and
recordings on the folk arts of the West, and has produced with Taki Telonidis two Emmy Award winning
documentaries (including one for the production of Red Rock Rondo’s Zion Canyon Song Cycle) as well as
regular features for National Public Radio. Hal Cannon has received three Wrangler Awards from the Cowboy
Hall of Fame, the 1998 Will Rogers Lifetime Achievement Award, the American Folklore Society’s Botkin Award,
and the Governor’s Award in both the Arts and the Humanities.

Charlotte Bell oboe, English horn
Charlotte Bell is a member of blue haiku, the Salt Lake Symphony and Scherzando Winds. She also performs in
the Paradigm Concert Series and with other local ensembles and musicians such as Kate MacLeod and Anke
Summerhill. She is the author of a book on yoga philosophy titled Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life, published by
Rodmell Press, who will next year also publish her second book, Yoga for Meditation.

Flavia Cervino-Wood violin
A native of Chile, Flavia Cervino-Wood studied at the Conservatory of Music in Santiago. She has been a
member of the Brockport Symphony in New York, Milton Nascimento and Grupo Agua in Brazil, and the Sol y
Luna Band in San Francisco. She has performed with Cecil Taylor and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company
and is a current member of blue haiku and the Salt Lake Symphony.

Harold Carr upright bass, spoken word
Harold Carr has performed and recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Crystal Gayle, Lightnin' Hopkins, John McCuen,
Steve Lacy, Catie Curtis and Matt Flinner. Harold has been a musician/poet-in-residence at the Banff Centre for
the Arts in Canada, guest soloist at the Frutillar Music Festival in Chile, composer/soloist with the Guangdong
Modern Dance Company in Guang Zhou, China, invited poet for the Utah State Governor and commissioned
composer/performer at New Music America. He has been a member of a number of popular Utah-based bands
such as The Cowdaddies, The Jarman/Kingston Quartet, Amnesia and Wood. He is currently a member of blue
haiku.
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Michael Christensen, Folklorist/Cultural Specialist
West Valley City | Utah Cultural Celebration Center
1355 West 3100 South
West Valley City, Utah 84119
(801) 965-5108
michael.christensen@wvc-ut.gov
www.culturalcelebration.org