The program opens with two selections – Peace Calls and Tuvan Ride – from The River, the quintet’s celebrated 2016 album, which inspired a touring program that has played across the nation. 

Shield Dance is a brand new piece; it played for the first time on October 9, 2024 at the Institute for American Indian Art in Santa Fe, was heard the following day in Santa Fe at the Lensic -- our Fort Collins audience may consider this performance as a sort of premiere.  An ancient Pueblo song about protecting one’s community serves as an anchor in time, so that the quintet may feature their violinist Corin Lee in a virtuosic role.

Rio Grande Suite, featuring two pieces by ETHEL founder and violist Ralph Farris, and one by multi-instrumentalist Kip Jones, was recently filmed live at the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Pueblo, just outside Taos, New Mexico.  The group feels that the music reflects different aspects of the landscape, and invites you to search for “Rio Grande Suite” on YouTube.

We close the first half of the concert with TSOMA, an uplifting, humorous party song during which audience participation is warmly encouraged.

Likewise the audience is welcome to join in our singing An Kha Na, a song by Robert Mirabal, centers us around a love for our mothers, and our Mother, by singing “My mother, my mother, who hides the sacred flowers from Blue Lake, it’s you I love, it’s you I cherish.”

We continue with Chant, by ETHEL and Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Jeff Peterson, a piece that Robert and ETHEL have been performing since their first meeting; yet, it’s different every time.

Red Willow Suite, the centerpiece of our program, was commissioned in 2023 by the Taos Chamber Music Group, and premiered last summer at the Harwood museum in Taos, New Mexico.  Rings, by Ralph Farris, sets Taos Pueblo flute melodies, transcribed 109 years ago by Thurlow Lieurance, within the context of the group’s long collaboration.  Mystic (Sakura), by Corin Lee, pulls the audience into a trance to receive an old Japanese song in a fresh context.  The Ghost Serpent, by Kip Jones, remembers the ancient P’o Keuth’La, extinct water serpents which troubled the ancient ones long ago.

We close with a raucous blues called Jay-Red, in the hopes we might send our dear audience out dancing into the night.