JOHNSON CITY – Dr. Joseph Sobol of East Tennessee State University has been invited to be a featured soloist in the world premiere performance of William Jackson's “Dunn Albanach,” a suite for traditional Celtic instruments and orchestra, at the opening concert of the 2002 Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland.
Sobol is an associate professor in the department of curriculum and instruction and coordinator of the Master's Degree Program in Storytelling.
The “Dunn Albanach” suite is a musical portrait of five turning points in Scottish history. The work incorporates a mixture of traditional Celtic and classical styles. Along with Sobol on the Celtic cittern, a British Isles predecessor of the guitar, the concert will feature many of the pre-eminent performers on the Celtic music scene, including composer William Jackson on harp, fiddler Alisdair Fraser, Scottish and Irish bagpipers Ian MacDonald and Jerry O'Sullivan, Scottish vocal trio The MacKenzies, and percussionist Paul Jennings.
Sobol is widely known for his contributions to contemporary storytelling as a performer, writer and teacher. He is also recognized internationally as one of the foremost exponents of the Celtic cittern. His 1999 recording, "Citternalia," has been hailed as a “watershed project” in bringing traditional Celtic dance music to life on fretted instruments.
The Celtic Connections Festival is one of the premiere Celtic music festivals in the world. It brings together performers from all over the Celtic world, including Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Brittany, Galicia, Canada and the United States. The gala opening concert will be held on Jan. 16, 2002, in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, and will also include works by Brian O'Neill and Martin Bennett.