East Coast Mandolin Orchestra Recordings

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Last week 75 mandolinists, guitarists, and other instrumentalist gathered near Philadelphia, PA, to rehearse and present a concert of seasonal music for mandolin and guitar orchestra. Participating musicians included representative from a dozen mandolin orchestras/ensembles and a number of musicians not affiliated with any "home orchestra." The orchestra included both professional musicians and highly skilled amateurs.

The Munier Mandolin Orchestra, based in Philly, hosted the event. Munier conductor (Mark Linkins) and assistant conductors (Joe Kasinskas and Jean Young) arranged all of the music for the event and shared conducting duties.

The group received sheet music last summer. They played together for the first time last Saturday afternoon. They rehearsed again on Sunday morning, and then presented the concert Sunday afternoon for an audience of about 180 people.

Featured soloists included Marilynn Mair (mandolin), Ekaterina Skliar (mandolin and domra), Antonello DiMatteo (clarinet), and John DeCaro (guitar).

Below are some recording from the concert.

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Marilynn Mair and Ekaterina Skliar perform Silent Night (duet arranged for two mandolins)…

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Marilynn Mair and Ekaterina Skliar perform "I Saw Three Ships" (arranged for two mandolins)…

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Vince Guaraldii's Linus and Lucy...

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Winter's Largo, from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Featuring Antonello DiMatteo on clarinet. No plectrum used in the performance. All mandos and dolas used their thumbs to strike the strings.