Ostroushko performance will benefit local music program

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Concert will provide scholarship money Peter Ostroushko, one of the finest mandolin and fiddle players in acoustic music today, is returning to the Sheldon Theatre at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 to perform a benefit concert for the Red Wing orchestra music program.

Appearing with him will be guitarist Dirk Freymuth, who performs many different types of music. He will be playing acoustic guitar during this concert, but also performs on the lute, banjo, viola da gamba, electric guitar and other stringed instruments.

They are helping to raise money for SoundStrings, a Red Wing organization that is working to provide orchestral music instruction for preschool students through adults in the area. Kale Olson-Reed, a graduate of Red Wing High School and St. Olaf College, is currently teaching SoundString lessons. Ostroushko has appeared on the stages of clubs, performing arts centers, music festivals and theaters across North America and Europe, earning an international reputation as a versatile and dazzling master of instrumentation and composition.

Ostroushko has played with Jethro Burns, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins and Johnny Gimble, but his hometown Minneapolis music scene has provided a variety of musical styles in which Ostroushko remains in demand.

His first recording session was an unaccredited mandolin set on Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," and his work is featured on Robin Holcomb's 1992 release "Rockabye" (Elektra).

Ostroushko is at his most passionate when he performs the rich ethnic mix which grows out of his Ukrainian heritage. His term for this gumbo of musical styles is "slüz düz," a phrase borrowed from his mother meaning, roughly, "over the edge" or "off his rocker."

His resume is broad, from playing lead ukulele with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Neville Mariner to barking like a dog on television's David Letterman Show and appearing on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

Ostroushko has composed and performed scores for a number of theatrical productions including The Children's Theater in Minneapolis, with whom he traveled to Edinburgh's famed Fringe Festival; the ACT Theatre; and the 1993 public television special "The Dakota Conflict." He's appeared on many radio and TV music shows from "A Prairie Home Companion," and "Nashville Network" to "Austin City Limits."

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students.

It is SoundStrings' goal to make lessons available to any interested individual, said John Reed, SoundStrings board member. "The Ostroushko-Freymuth concert will hopefully provide scholarship money for students who may otherwise be unable to afford the fee for the fall and spring semesters." Donations also can be made through the Web site www.soundstrings.org or by writing Box 232, Red Wing MN 55066.

For tickets, call (651) 388-8700 or (800) 899-5759 or go online to www.sheldontheatre.org.

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