Long Point String Band will be in concert on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center presents the multi-award winning Long Point String Band in concert on Friday at 7:30 p.m., as part of the Folk in Fredonia Gilman Family Music Series. Opening for the band will be members of the Fredonia Old-Time Music Ensemble, a group of 12 student musicians enrolled in Dr. Emily Schaad’s Old-Time Music class at SUNY Fredonia.

The Long Point String Band is an award-winning Old-Time Acoustic “Neo-Traditional” band from southern WV that blends the authenticity of Old-Time Mountain Music, with the flare of bluegrass, all of which will be featured in their Folk in Fredonia Music Series concert here at the Opera House.

In addition, the band also will present a free community workshop in Mason Hall Room 1080 on the State University of New York at Fredonia campus on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

The band consists of Hunter Walker, Brian C. Bell, Lewis Prichard and Lars Swanson. Walker is a multi-instrumentalist, champion mountain dulcimer & clawhammer banjo player. A native Appalachian who became enamored with old-time music at an early age, his love and perseverance of the music has garnered him several prestigious awards: four-time WV state mountain dulcimer champion, three-time Galax Old-Fiddlers Convention mountain dulcimer champion, Mid-Eastern regional mountain dulcimer champion, and numerous others. He also is a decorated clawhammer banjo player having won numerous awards including taking the 1st place blue ribbon in the old-time banjo category at the Tazewell Old-Time and Bluegrass Fiddlers’ Convention.

Bell, also a native Appalachian, has cut his teeth on the bluegrass circuits over the past several years. He performed as a cornerstone member of prominent regional bluegrass bands for more than 10 years, and has played more than a thousand shows and produced and played on numerous recordings. Bell is a first-call veteran guitar player whose rhythmic capabilities are sought after by respected figures in the Bluegrass, and now, Old-Time music genres.

Prichard started playing guitar at age 8, and mandolin at 15. He grew up in a musical family, and is originally from Charleston, WV. He played in Old-Time and Bluegrass bands while in college, and later played in the Virginia bands Mando Mafia and Wildgrass. Pritchard learned to play the fiddle when he was in his twenties, a time when he also traveled extensively in Colorado and Norway playing acoustic music. Today he lives in Beckley, WV, and offers his virtuosity on fiddle and mandolin in the bands Planetary Boardwalk, Greenhouse, and the Long Point String Band.

An upright bassist also from Beckley, WV, Swanson is a favored session and performing musician in various bands in southern WV and the tri-state area. He studies Jazz Double Bass at Marshall University and has played recitals with many prestigious Jazz pedagogues, the Marshall University Jazz faculty group, and the Huntington Symphony.

The free community workshop on Thursday will consist of a short performance and discussion of traditional Appalachian string instruments and techniques, including mountain dulcimer, banjo and fiddle. Participants are encouraged to bring their own instruments if they play one; and the group will all learn a tune together.

Tickets to the show are $22 (Adults), $20 (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, 12-4:30 p.m. They can be purchased online anytime at www.fredopera.org. The show is part of the Folk in Fredonia Gilman Family Music Series, which for more than three decades has been sponsored by The Gilman Family.

In addition, this engagement of Long Point String Band 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.