ELISABETH VON TRAPP,
GRANDDAUGHTER OF MARIA AND BARON VON TRAPP TO BE GUEST ARTIST FOR THE FLAGPOLE RADIO CAFE.
Newtown, CT - the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission is pleased to announce that Elisabeth von Trapp, the granddaughter of the legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp will be the guest artist for the May 19th presentation of The Flagpole Radio Café. Tickets are now on sale at www.flagpoleproductions.org . The show begins at 7pm at the Edmond Town Hall in Newtown, CT. Ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 for students and senior citizens. If further information is needed, please contact us at info@flagpoleproductions.org .
Elisabeth von Trapp is the granddaughter of the legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp whose story inspired the beloved play and film The Sound of Music. Elisabeth has been singing professionally since childhood and has enthralled audiences from European cathedrals to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center. Producer Barbara Gaines remarked, “In Elisabeth von Trapp we have an artist who is a living member of an extraordinary family. Like so many of you, I grew up with The Sound of Music and was touched by her family’s compelling story. Elisabeth continues the musical traditions begun by her iconic grandparents and I am thrilled to have her perform in the show.”
Inspired by her father Werner von Trapp’s guitar playing and singing, Elisabeth has carried on the legacy of the internationally renowned Trapp Family Singers. She began taking piano lessons when she was eight and by the age of sixteen she was playing guitar and traveling the back roads of New England performing with her siblings at weddings, gospel meetings and town halls. Building on her famed family’s passion for music, Elisabeth has created her own artistic style, at once ethereal and earthy, delicate and powerful. Listeners have likened her to Judy Collins and Loreena McKennitt. Critics have called her voice “hauntingly clear,” “joyfully expressive” and “simply beautiful.”
Elisabeth’s concert repertoire is as diverse as it is comprehensive. With equal ease and eloquence she sings timeless wonders like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Favorite Things and Edelweiss, Puccini's O Mio Babbino Caro, soaring gospel tunes, pop classics such as A Whiter Shade of Pale and her own stunning compositions. In the spring of 2001 Elisabeth was granted permission from Robert Frost’s publisher, Henry Holt & Co., to sing parts of the poet’s oeuvre. Poetic License, released in June 2004, features the musical settings of poems by Frost and Shakespeare, a Japanese haiku and interpretations of Over The Rainbow / What A Wonderful World, Sting’s Fragile and Schubert’s An Die Musik.
On her summer 2005 release, Love Never Ends / Sacred Sounds, Elisabeth has collected, arranged and recorded some of her favorite hymns, psalms and chants with influences from jazz and gospel, contemporary and classical musical styles.
Elisabeth has released five self produced albums, and has performed across the United States, Austria and Russia. Her music has been featured on National Public Radio, BBC-Radio, Japanese National Radio and CNN Spanish Radio. She has appeared on CBS’s Eye on People, ABC’s Good Morning America and BBC-TV.
No one leaves an Elisabeth von Trapp performance unchanged. Audiences of all ages are drawn by the promise of her famous name. Awed by the beauty of her voice and musical arrangements, their hearts are touched forever by the astonishing sound of her unique new music.
Now completing its fourth season, The Flagpole Radio Café, is an engaging show created by Jim Allyn, Martin Blanco and Barbara Gaines in conjunction with the Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. It features music by Jim Allyn and The Flagpole Radio Café Orchestra, a dynamic ensemble created for the show, and radio style comedy sketches by the Flagpole Shakespeare Repertory Theatre. Each show features a musical guest artist such as Livingston Taylor, Jonathan Edwards, Tom Chapin, Peter Yarrow, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Christine Lavin, Roger Ball of The Average White Band, Deborah Henson-Conant and Yale’s internationally acclaimed male choir The Whiffenpoofs.
