From the Corpus Christi Caller Times
(Published: January 17, 2003)
Regier combines influences in folk music with
traditional composers to create
an energetic delivery
Not all classically trained musicians bunker down in austere concert halls. Some stake out dusty street corners. Others busk in drafty subway stations. Violinist Michi Regier does Renaissance fairs. She has performed at her share of highbrow establishments. But she learned to love folk music at the type of places where turkey legs are dietary staples and vendors keep swords strapped to their sides while selling incense.
"The people you find at those shows are not the same people you find at orchestras," she said. Regier started playing Renaissance festivals at the age of 10. There, the Arizona native, who has been living in Corpus Christi the past six months, was introduced to the simple structures and energetic delivery of folk music. If you go:
Who: Michi Regier
Where: Harbor Playhouse Studio Theatre
When: 8 p.m., Thursday
Cost: $10 general; $5 students
Info: 882-5500
"It depends on audience participation," she said. "I've tried to bring that element into classical music and bring more energy to people." Regier toured with a Celtic band, the Bringers, and has studied American, Irish, Swedish and Ukrainian folk traditions. She referred back to classical composers and in her own songs blended together these influences. "Most people think, 'a violin, what a pretty sound,'" she said. "But I want them to hear that it's angry or passionate or silly - a lot of different things."
Regier has a show scheduled Thursday at Harbor Playhouse, in which she will perform solo in the first half and bring out guests in the second half. "I'd rather get everybody at the Lotus Cup cheering than play for an entirely quiet concert hall," she said.
Staff writer, Jeremy Brown
Corpus Christi Caller Times |
