Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Indie Rock Opera comes to Calaveras Arts Council Ovations 2014 Performing Arts Series with The Family Crest

New to perform for Calaveras Arts Council’s Ovation series is San Francisco based The Family Crest.  They will perform at Dr. Elliott Smart Performing Arts Center located at Bret Harte High School, 323 Highway 49, in Angels Camp on Sunday, February 9, at 3:00pm.  Adult tickets are $25 and Youth 18 years and younger at $10.00.  Go on-line to www.calaverasarts.org (home page), scroll down to order tickets on line or call 754-1774.

The Family Crest is an American orchestral indie rock band based in San Francisco.  Lots of things are exciting about The Family Crest, but for starters, front- man, Liam McCormick was born and raised in Calaveras County’s community of Paloma and is a graduate of Calaveras High School; others facts are that these six musicians are classically trained, play multiple instruments, sing, write, and are part of a musical genus blending orchestration, jazz, folk, pop, rock, and classical music to create their own independent style.  Kimberly Chun of the San Francisco Chronicle states that "The Family Crest harbors an affection for Burt Bacharach-style swingin' romanticism that is sure to impress lovers of classic pop.


The Family Crest core performers are Liam McCormick on voice, guitar, piano; co-founder, 
John Seeterlin, on bass, guitar, voice, glockenspiel, percussion; George Mousa Samaan on trombone; Laura Bergmann on voice, flute, percussion; Owen Sutter on  violin, bodran, and voice; Charlie Giesige on drums, percussion, voice; Jason Countryman on guitar and voice.

As for the local Liam McCormick and The Family Crest fan club’s point view; many say their success is bound to grow higher and higher.  Fellow Calaveras High classmate Jason Peek says, “We all knew he was a musical genius.  No one could keep up with him.  We were always blown away by his music and lyrics”.  Retired music teacher Neil Hjelmervik says “Liam McCormick was a student at Calaveras high school in music.  As I think back to him I remember that he was cheerful, respectful, teachable, creative, professional, and musically gifted with a twinkle in his eyes and a spark in his music.  It was a real joy to have him in class and in the performances of jazz.”

Come experience the music and brilliances of this talented ensemble and help soft launch their new CD “Beneath the Brine”, produced by Tender Loving Empire Records and scheduled for the hard release on February 25th.  Become a part of their music history and help them launch their CD out of the park.

The next Ovations performance is Saturday, February 22 with internationally acclaimed Mandelring Quartet.  This string quartet is from Germany and has performed at some of the leading music halls in the world.  Tickets are on sale now by going on line to www.calaverasarts.org or by calling (209) 754-1774.

The non-profit Calaveras County Arts Council operates Gallery Calaveras at 22 Main Street in San Andreas.  Hours are Monday - Thursday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Friday and Saturdays,
10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The gallery offers free parking both in front and in back and is handicapped accessible. The current gallery art show and sale is "The Affordable Gifts of Art” which will runs through January 4th, 2014.   Become an Arts Council member and receive a 10% discount on all your gallery purchases.  For more information, call the Calaveras Arts Council at (209) 754-1774 or visit www.calaverasarts.org.