Grammy Award-winning musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, along with Chinese musician Chao Tian will perform Sunday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in a special concert called From China to Appalachia.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center presents Grammy Award-winning musicians Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, along with Chinese musician Chao Tian, on Sunday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in a special concert called From China to Appalachia.

The concert program combines music from China to Appalachia and beyond and features a variety of eclectic instruments including the yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer), gourd banjo, five-string banjo, ukulele, guitars, dumbek, cello-banjo and mandolin. The trio’s repertoire includes traditional Chinese and Appalachian music as well as contemporary and traditional music from around the world. Unusual instrument combinations also explore new arrangements to old music.

From China to Appalachia was borne of a friendship and mutual love of musical exploration experienced in jam sessions that inspired a show speaking to the power of music to connect cultures. On their own, these awesome artists have performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, on PBS and National Public Radio.

Classically trained since the age of 5, Chao spent years working as an instructor and the director of the Arts Education Center at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). A founding member of BLCU Arts College’s music department, she was appointed an officer of the International Culture Exchange Program in 2019.

She has performed in more than 30 different countries and regions across the globe and collaborated with numerous talented musicians in many unprecedented projects. In 2015, she was accepted into the prestigious Artist in Residence program at the Music Center at Strathmore, where she met Fink. Fink has served as a mentor-in-residence in that program for 15 years.

Two-time Grammy Award-winners, Fink & Marxer are master musicians with a career spanning 40 years. Their superb harmonies are backed by instrumental virtuosity on the guitar, five-string banjo, ukulele, mandolin, cello-banjo, and more. Their repertoire ranges from classic country to western swing, gypsy jazz to bluegrass, and old-time string band to contemporary folk (including some original gems).

The duo has performed at hundreds of bluegrass and folk festivals and taught at close to 100 music camps worldwide. Happily known as “social music conductors” ready to start a jam session, a community sing, or create a music camp helping others learn to play and sing, the duo’s past students include Kaki King and Rhiannon Giddens.

Prior to the concert, Fink, Marxer and Chao will present a free community workshop in Mason Hall Room 1080 at 2 p.m. on the State University of New York at Fredonia campus. The workshop/demonstration gives a detailed view of the ensemble’s instrumentation and process for fusing eclectic musical instruments and ideas. The musicians will teach a Chinese tune that easily adapts to American old-time instruments to all those in attendance, with a Q&A to follow. It is open to both participants and observers. Participants are welcomed to bring any instrument.

This events are part of the Folk in Fredonia Gilman Family Music Series at the Opera House, generously sponsored for nearly 30 years by The Gilman Family. Concert tickets are $20 (Adults), $18 (Opera House Members) and $10 (Students) and can be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 716-679-1891, Tuesday-Friday, noon to 4:30 p.m., or online anytime at www.fredopera.org.

The workshop is free, but registration is required. A link for registration can be found on the Opera House web site at https://fredopera.org/product/from-china-to-appalachia/ .

Opera House programming is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and in part by the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County. This engagement is made possible in part through the Mid Atlantic Tours program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to “present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region … providing access to artistic diversity … and high quality programming at an affordable price.” It is located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.