Dick Hensold - Solo Show EPK
Dick's solo concerts are an entertaining cornucopia of songs, tunes and stories, and a multitude of fascinating instruments!
Program: This solo concert features Northumbrian smallpipes (a quiet bagpipe from Northeast England), reel pipes (an indoor version of the Scottish Highland pipes, intended for Scottish dance music), seljefløyte (Norwegian willow-flute), säckpipa (Swedish bagpipes), pibgorn (Welsh hornpipe), and several other instruments. Please note that NONE of these instruments are very loud.
Dick plays music in several traditional and historical styles, with particular emphasis on Cape Breton, early Scottish, and Northumbrian, but also including Scandinavian, medieval, and original music. The program also includes a couple of songs, neither of them in English, and a limited amount of dancing while seated.
Various Length Bios:
30 words:
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States.
55 words:
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. He also plays Swedish bagpipes, Scottish reel pipes, Highland pipes, recorder, seljefløyte, and low whistle, and is an active composer, studio musician and theater musician.
90 words:
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 20 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. Based in St Paul, MN, he is a full-time musician, passionately presenting the traditional music of Scotland, Cape Breton Island, and Northumberland, as well as Nordic folk music, early music, and new music. He is also an active composer, studio musician and theater musician, and his solo Northumbrian smallpipes CD, Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007.
146 words:
Dick Hensold (Oberlin Conservatory) is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. He performs on the Northumbrian smallpipes (a quiet bagpipe from Northeast England), Swedish bagpipes (säckpipa), Scottish Highland and reel pipes, Medieval greatpipes, recorder, seljefløyte (Norwegian willow flute), and low whistle. He has played the Edinburgh Folk Festival, and the Lowland and Border Piper's Society Collogue (Peebles, Scotland). He has released numerous CDs, and his solo CD Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007. His artistic diversity tends to show up in unusual programming. He is composer-in-residence at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, providing music for a Celtic contemplative service, and is a 2006 Bush Artist Fellow.
“Dick Hensold is a master piper with an exquisite touch.” –City Pages, Minneapolis, MN
“North America’s foremost smallpiper” –fRoots
“The piping is fluent and assured… his technique is impressive and the music is delightfully interpreted” –FolkWorld CD Reviews
Full Program Description
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught that instrument in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. Based in St Paul, MN, he is a full-time musician, passionately presenting the traditional music of Scotland, Cape Breton Island, and Northumberland, as well as Nordic folk music, early music, and new music. He is also an active composer, and theater musician, and his solo Northumbrian smallpipes CD Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007. He also plays a number of other traditional and early instruments.
Program: This solo concert features Northumbrian smallpipes (a quiet bagpipe from Northeast England), reel pipes (an indoor version of the Scottish Highland pipes, intended for Scottish dance music), seljefløyte (Norwegian willow-flute), säckpipa (Swedish bagpipes), pibgorn (Welsh hornpipe), and several other instruments. Please note that NONE of these instruments are very loud.
Dick plays music in several traditional and historical styles, with particular emphasis on Cape Breton, early Scottish, and Northumbrian, but also including Scandinavian, medieval, and original music. The program also includes a couple of songs, neither of them in English, and a limited amount of dancing while seated.
Typical Audience, Promo Strategy, Suggested Venues, Tech Requirements: Audiences for this solo show tend to come from 3 groups: general Celtic music audiences; folk instrumental musicians (who are often interested in unusual instruments); and bagpipers (both highland and other types). Generally, choosing the right concert series or collaboration is usually the best way to cover the general Celtic market, but the best way to reach Celtic music audiences varies considerably from area to area, and I am open to suggestions. Contacts with music stores and other places that have an active traditional music teaching program are often the best way to cover the "folk musician" segment, and contacts with pipe bands or other local bagpipe groups can get the word out to pipers. (I usually take care of the bagpipe connections.)
I seek ways of reaching all the groups above, such as websites, email lists, announcements at meetings and pipe band rehearsals, and a small number a posters at key locations, such as music shops. I am interested in doing any possible radio appearances, and typically do a lot of promo support for my shows. I have a pdf (form file) poster available.
This program works best in intimate venues, seating 150 or less. Common venues include house concerts, small listening rooms, churches, town halls, and colleges. This allows for a completely acoustic performance, requiring no sound system, even though none of my instruments are particularly loud. For performances in rooms at the larger end of this range, a single mic for talking and singing is sufficient. (this section is unchanged)
