FreshGrass Commissions
FreshGrass is dedicated to providing roots music artists with opportunities to create new work and to take artistic risks outside the pressures of the commercial music space. We do this through several FreshGrass commissioning programs: the Composition Commission, FreshScores, Concertos, Residencies, and others! Check out our portfolio of past commissions on our FreshGrass Institute site!
Below, we’re pleased to present the following commissions at the 2025 FreshGrass | North Adams at MASS MoCA!
Allison de Groot with Nic Gareiss (Friday Sept-19, 6pm, Hunter Center)
When Allison de Groot (banjo) and Nic Gareiss (percussive dance) met at a traditional music and dance festival in Reedy Creek, Manitoba, it marked the beginning of a decade of musical collaboration. “I love playing with Nic”, says de Groot. “The deep listening, the textures we create, the rhythmic connection. Nic brings sounds out of my playing I didn’t even know were in there.” Allison and Nic continue their work together with a FreshGrass Commission, creating a new piece from a shared experience of traditional forms and sound, improvisations and layering of repetitive phrases. Drawing inspiration from the work of composer and electronic music forerunner Laurie Spiegel, who has written music for banjo herself, Allison and Nic have created a piece that departs from their previous work. In this new commission, the pair utilize repetitive melodic fragments that are suggested, internalized, and reiterated back and forth between musician and dancer in real time. Shaped by their deep love for Appalachian and Irish instrumental tunes and the thrill of spontaneous rhythmic exchange, the commission meshes their respective practices, ultimately highlighting their rapport.
Mike Block Trio (Friday Sept-19, 6pm, Hunter Center)
Mike Block Trio, featuring Joe K. Walsh (mandolin/vocals) and Zachariah Hickman (bass/vocals), is led by cello player, singer, and composer, Mike Block, who has been hailed as “one of the bravest, most intriguing musicians on the American fusion scene” by Gramophone Magazine. The trio fertilizes American roots music with contemporary and international influences, bringing an exciting and personal perspective to the acoustic music scene.
Valerie June (Friday Sept-19, 6pm, Hunter Center)
Valerie June Hockett is a Grammy-nominated artist from Tennessee. She’s been hailed by the New York Times as one of America’s “most intriguing, fully formed new talents.” A musician, poet, certified yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor, and author, she honorably served as a Turnaround artist working with students for the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities and continues serving through The Kennedy Center. She has recorded three critically acclaimed, best-selling solo albums and has also written songs for legendary artists such as Mavis Staples and The Blind Boys of Alabama. Her albums have been praised by numerous publications such as Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, NPR Music, Mojo, Uncut and many others. She’s been featured on The Tonight Show, CBS, PBS, Austin City Limits, BBC, and many more. When she’s not touring, she splits her time between Tennessee and New York.
We’re thrilled to commission Valerie June to produce new work for this year’s FreshGrass!
“Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ with… Banjos” presented by Bill Evans, Cassidy Beentjes, BB Bowness, Max Allard, and Matt Flinner (Saturday Sept-20, 4pm, Hunter Center)
Composer Terry Riley is best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition and his piece “In C” from 1964 is one of his best-known works. It has influenced several generations of music creators who work in all kinds of musical genres, including computer music, jazz, and rock – and now, for the first time ever, five- string banjo! The form of “In C” is itself an innovation: The piece consists of 53 separate modules of roughly one measure each, played by each musician at their own pace. The result is a different creation with each performance and performances of the piece can vary in length. Cassidy Beentjes, who has worked with Bela Fleck, will lead the ensemble, which consists of Steve Martin Banjo prize recipients Bill Evans & BB Bowness, 2019 FreshGrass Banjo Award recipient Max Allard and New England mandolin and banjo virtuoso Matt Flinner. In addition to a performance of “In C,” the ensemble will also be featured in solo performances. And, because they’re using banjos, they’re changing the key for the first-ever performance “In G!”
Darol Anger’s Diary Of A Fiddler 2 Featuring Duets with Tatiana Hargreaves (Saturday Sept-20, 5pm, Hunter Center)
A new album by fiddling legend Darol Anger. An overview not only of his career as a performing and recording artist but also a capstone to his enormously influential career as an educator, DOAFiddler2 appears as the acoustic world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the hugely influential 1st David Grisman Quintet recording featuring Anger along with the great Tony Rice. For this recording he has called upon over 30 of his former mentees – three generations of fiddlers – who, taken together, make up a veritable who’s who of the violin-playing world. In this unique and exclusive Freshgrass performance, Darol plays duets with a brilliant former mentee, the acclaimed fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves.
