Our Mission: “Cascadia Music creates connection in a divided world by sharing the joys of music”
“Without music, life would be a mistake.” —Friedrich Nietzsche
PLEASE JOIN US FOR CASCADIA’S NEXT EVENT!
DUENDE LIBRE QUINTET: COMMUNITY MUSIC WORKSHOP AND CONCERT
WHEN: 2.28.26
WHERE: Methow Valley Community Center Gym
Latin Rhythms Workshop @ 1PM (open to all ages and abilities)
Concert Performance @ 7 PM
Admission is by suggested donation, more if you can, less if you can’t. Cascadia Music events are “by the people and for the people”. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
$20 ADULTS, $10 YOUTH (5-18), CHILDREN UNDER 5 FREE
Advance tickets available HERE: https://cascadiamusic.networkforgood.com/events/95991-duende-libre-returns-to-the-methow-valley
Cascadia Music is thrilled to present Earshot Jazz Festival’s #1 Acoustic Jazz Ensemble of the Year (2025) DUENDE LIBRE (pronounced Dwenday – Leebray)! Duende Libre means “free spirit”, and the band creates a euphoric new jazz that honors its historical roots, while pushing the boundaries of genre to invoke a powerful sonic freedom. Through the alchemy of each player’s influences, they create a “strikingly authentic blend” of jazz virtuosity with roots in rhythms from Cuba, Brazil and West Africa. In their recordings (but even better, in their live performance), you will encounter sizzling rhythms and grooving basslines, experimental meters and irresistible melodic hooks, all aglow with the technical virtuosity earned by decades of devotion to their craft.
Pianist Alex Chadsey, percussionist Jeff Busch and bassist Farko Dosumov, form the core trio in Duende Libre, and their last concert in the Methow in 2019, was a huge hit in the community. For the February 28th concert and workshop, the trio will be joined by award-winning chanteuse Chava Mirel (who, alongside Chadsey, joined Clinton Fearon’s band in 2013) and inimitable tenor Frank Anderson. Formed by deep connections to Jewish and West African styles, the singers’ ebullient and masterful vocal techniques enrich Duende Libre’s live performance with even greater vibrancy. “To see the band live is to get a sense of the deep respect they have for each other, and the joy they take in connecting with each other and the audience,” one critic wrote for Earshot. “The good vibes are for real, and they inoculate[…] against the travails of creating art in a high-tech world.”
With musical stewardship resulting from decades of dedicated apprenticeship with master musicians from around the world, DUENDE LIBRE’s empathic on-stage chemistry, formed through years of performing, touring, and recording together, sets the band apart along with their eclectic sonic palette.
Duende Libre’s second album, Drift, received an Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for “2018 Northwest Recording of the Year.” Along with appearances in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska, the band has performed at the “Art of Jazz” Series at Seattle Art Museum, KEXP’s Seattle Latin, Brazilian & Caribbean Fest, and a regional appearance as direct support for Stranger Genius Award-winners Industrial Revelation.
The group’s 2020 album, The Dance She Spoke, earned Duende a second Earshot award and features original interpretations of traditional music from Mali and The Republic of Guinea in West Africa. The album features vocalists Anderson and Mirel along with special guests: Senegalese percussionist Thione Diop on djembe and tama, and electric guitarist Jabrille “Jimmy James” Williams. PopMatters wrote, “The members of Duende Libre take great care in crediting and emulating the international array of traditions that come together in The Dance She Spoke, a laudable aspect of the album that goes a long way in making globally-inspired jazz with dimension.” The Seattle Times also named the release as one Seattle’s Best Albums of 2020.
The band effectively—and uniquely—calls attention to the space between contemporary jazz traditions and broader musical influences from around the globe. Informed by a cumulative century of devoted study, they answer to this with emphatic (and euphoric) sonic interpretations that effectively enrich the collective language of jazz itself.
“Globally inspired jazz with dimension… Each member’s experiences are vital as they filter West African traditional rhythms through their own hands, voices, minds, bodies, each song as much choreography as a composition…Hopeful in sound as well as in ideological foundation, full of heart and historical multitudes.” – PopMatters
“Powerfully alluring” – Wisconsin Public Radio
https://www.earshot.org/2020-06-duende-libre-spread-joy-inspire-movement
Information about the workshop: 1 PM, 2/28/26
“Pa Gozar! Intro to Clave & Afro-Latin Rhythm”
Explore the rich and diverse rhythmic legacy of Brazil and the Caribbean through hands-on participation, call & response, and collective jamming. We focus on clave (meaning “key” in Spanish) and how it informs the interlocking parts which give this music its powerful groove. All ages, and abilities are welcome!
Cascadia Music’s 2025 Holiday Concert is a Wrap!
Thank you to the musicians, singers, directors, volunteers and to our business and individual sponsors who supported Cascadia’s annual Holiday Concert! The event was a HUGE SUCCESS!
THANK YOU TO OUR GENEROUS BUSINESS sponsors:
Methow Porch Real Estate
Methow Reservations
Ulrich’s Pharmacy
Rosauers Market
Valley Do-It Hardware
Prentiss-Balance-Wickline Architects
Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival
Aspen Grove, Sawtooth Dental Care and Twisp Feed!
We hosted over 400 people each night, and the audiences were treated to familiar classics and challenging uplifting pieces led by Dana Stromberger (Cascadia Chorale), Terry Hunt (Pipestone Orchestra), and Pam Hunt (Pipestone Youth Orchestra). If you missed the concert, Wednesday’s show is now posted on our YouTube page, and you can watch and listen to it at your leisure anytime you want to at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as28oGbKHW4
Wonderful photos taken on Tuesday the 9th, taken and provided generously by Mark Ryan are also available to view and download here:
https://mryanboise.smugmug.com/Christmas-Concert-12925 , use the password marksphotos to access them. THANKS MARK!!!
Click here to see Cascadia’s December Email Newsletter:
November Newsletter:
October News: https://cascadiamusic.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/casey-neill-concert-and-songwriting-workshop
Thank you so much to our valley community (and beyond!) who supported Cascadia through the Give Methow campaign!! We are SO GRATEFUL for your donations and kindness!
Cascadia Music’s 2025 Holiday Concert is coming up 12/9 and 12/10!
We are excited to announce : Cascadia Music’s Annual Holiday Concert, our largest and most anticipated event of the year, is coming up at 7 PM on Tuesday Dec 9th and Wednesday Dec 10th 2025 in the newly refurbished gym in the Methow Valley Community Center!
Doors open at 6:30. Beer, wine, cider, Blue Star coffee, tea and snacks/cookies will be available.
The concert program ranges from classics such as Angels We Have Heard on High (a traditional French Carol), to Handel’s Massiah / Hallelujah Chorus, an ambitious and exciting piece.
Led by Terry Hunt (Pipestone Orchestra), Dana Stromberger (Cascadia Chorale) and Pamela Hunt (Pipestone Youth Orchestra) the concert is a culmination of months of rehearsals and preparation, bringing together over 60 singers (our largest chorale group to date) and approximately 45 musicians between the youth and adult orchestras. The players are your friends and neighbors, ranging in age from 12 to 83 from all walks of our valley community. This annual concert highlights and exemplifies our mission to build community through sharing the joy of music. The three groups look forward to sharing their efforts with the community as they perform separately and together throughout the show.
Admission is free to the public, though donations to Cascadia’s programs are gratefully accepted. Non-perishable food donations for The Cove Food Bank will also be collected at the event.
Find advance tickets here (no purchase required, but donations can be made here as well):
TUESDAY: https://cascadiamusic.networkforgood.com/events/94048-cascadia-music-2025-holiday-concert-day-1-tuesday
WEDNESDAY:
https://cascadiamusic.networkforgood.com/events/94050-cascadia-music-holiday-concert-day-2-weds
If you would like to volunteer to help with the event – please reach out to Cascadia’s Executive Director, Katya Chorover at cascadiamv@gmail.com. THANKS!
| Join us for Cascadia’s first concert of the 2025-26 season! Portland based Singer/Songwriter and 2025 Oregon Music Hall of Fame Inductee Casey Neill Concert and songwriting workshop 10/18 and 10/19!  Portland-based singer-songwriter and Oregon Music Hall of Fame class of 2025 inductee Casey Neill, known for his eclectic blend of folk, punk, Celtic and Americana stylings, will present a concert of original material to inspire, engage and gather folks together at the Twisp Valley Grange Hall at 7 PM on Saturday, October 18th. The following day, October 19th, Neill will offer a songwriting workshop for the community on Sunday at 1PM in Room #3 of the Methow Valley Community Center. A prolific songwriter and road warrior since the late 1990s, Neill tours throughout the USA, Japan, and Europe performing at venues such as Town Hall in New York, Bumbershoot in Seattle, and the famed Newport Folk Festival. Neill found his creative home in the Pacific Northwest after moving to Olympia, Washington in 1989 to attend The Evergreen State College, and he has been a keystone of the Portland music scene, fronting his band The Norway Rats since the early aughts. While studying ethnomusicology at Evergreen, Neill immersed himself in grassroots activism and protest culture – themes that would become central to his songwriting. His early releases contained folk-anthems of 1990s environmental movements. Appleseed Recordings, a label out of Pennsylvania, put Casey on a Pete Seeger tribute album (along with artists Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco and others) and the label released his self-titled 1998 debut. During the ensuing years, Neill collaborated with legendary Scottish fiddler Johnny Cunningham, who produced his next two records, Skree (1999) and Portland West (2001), highlighting his Celtic influences. Neill’s 10th and latest recording, Sending Up Flares, offers a lifeline to a world in need of balance, infused with stories about resolve, resilience, wonder, and positive human interaction. Those themes come together in the album’s title track, where Neill sings about a stranded motorist whose car breaks down in the middle of the night, seemingly far away from civilization. “The flares are shot off in hopes someone will come to help, but upon climbing a hill to get some perspective, the lights of a massive metropolis unfold with countless flares being launched by other people who also need relief. It’s the same realization of the castaway in ‘Message in a Bottle’ — I’m not alone in being alone. It can work as a metaphor for mental health, addiction, alienation, or simply trying to be seen.” Neill’s work, true to the time-honored tradition of the troubadour, offers both a reflection of the times we live in, and respite from them. For his first concert in the Methow Valley in over a decade, Cascadia looks forward to hosting the community for a night of thought-provoking, high quality music, followed by an opportunity for local musicians to learn, and be inspired to write their own songs, during his workshop the following day. Cascadia’s Executive Director, Katya Chorover notes that “It is our honor and mission to create spaces for artists like Neill, whose music reflects the challenges of our current time while also bringing people together to see our common shared values and humanity.”Questions? Contact Katya Chorover, Cascadia’s Executive Director, at cascadiamv@gmail.com About the Songwriting workshop: From classic Tin Pan Alley to narrative ballads to pop hooks, Western song forms vary widely. These can each provide helpful parameters and yet there are no rules. For this workshop Neill will discuss his approach to writing both lyrically and musically. Dreams and poetic imagery are part of a songwriters toolbox as are earthbound character sketches and specific details of place. With some background on his career and process, Casey will explore the architecture of song using specific examples from his own catalog and others. We will go over how to find your own voice, ways to find inspiration, and how to expand your melodic range. Visit www.caseyneill.com for links to videos, reviews, and to listen to tracks from Neill’s recordings and more. Saturday 10/18 @ 7 PM at the Methow Valley Grange Hall Songwriting workshop Sunday, 10/19, @ 1 PM, Room 3 in the MVCC Each event is $20 suggested donation – no one will be turned away for lack of funds! |
Click below to learn more about Cascadia Music’s Programs:
Community Music Making, Performances and Education
Pipestone Youth and Adult Orchestras
Jams and Hootenannies
Cascadia Music Teacher Referral Service
Cherrington Memorial Scholarships for college bound music students
Cascadia Musical Instrument Library & Loan Program