Dream Spirit Baroque Band plays at ArtBar on Sept. 25

Staff Reports

The Dream Spirit Baroque Band plays 7-9 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Purple Cow ArtBar in the Copeland Cultural Arts Center, 1572 Highway 395, Minden. Tickets are $10 and are available at the arts center, at cvartscouncil.com or (775) 781-0150.

Dream Spirit Baroque Band performs classical, baroque, Celtic, Renaissance, pop songs, ethnic and folk chamber music. The Lake Tahoe musicians are Jack Shipley on hammer dulcimer and recorder, Jon Smart on guitar, Suzanne Stone on cello and Diana Woodbury on violin.

Shipley taught Celtic music at Lake Tahoe Community College, arranges traditional American, Celtic and baroque music, and performs with several ensembles. He creates many of the musical arrangements played by Dream Spirit Baroque Band.

"My long-term dream is to make arrangements of music from my favorite parts of the world, and Dream Spirit Baroque Band has enabled me to do that," he said.

Smart plays classical to folk styles and creates the guitar arrangements for the band. He has a Master of Arts degree in music from the Conservatory of Music in Indiana and teaches guitar at Lake Tahoe Community College and the Tahoe Conservatory of Music.

Stone's musical career began with piano at age four. She is a founding member of Sierra Strings of Tahoe, performing at Tahoe for 20 years. She was a nominee for an Eddie Award given by the El Dorado County Arts Council, recognizing her musical contributions to the community.

"The cello has a wonderful range, from a romantic tenor singing-voice quality to rhythm and bass possibilities," Stone said. "It has been my dream to play with a group such as Dream Spirit which is open to exploration of the full range of cello voices."

Woodbury started playing violin at age eight. She studied with Zaven Melikian, concert master of the San Francisco Symphony, and was concert mistress of the Mills College Chamber Orchestra. She put the violin aside for many years while she danced professionally all over the world. Influenced by Suzanne Stone, she picked up the violin again to play with Sierra Strings of Tahoe.

"I have always dreamed of having a group of my own to play world music," she said. "Dream Spirit Baroque Band is my dream come true."

Dream Spirit Baroque Band has performed together for 10 years at community events, coffeehouses, art show openings, public concerts and private celebrations, and recently at Valhalla Grand Hall at Lake Tahoe.

Dream Spirit's latest CD, "Swallowtail Butterfly: Folk Chamber Music," recorded and produced by John Shipley of Carson City, is available at www.cdbaby.com