Friday, January 26, through Sunday, January 28
Muscatine IA
A weekend celebration of glorious birds and piano expertise, the 24th Annual Eagles & Ivories Ragtime Festival, taking place January 26 through 28, will find numerous Muscatine locales flooded with music, along with movies, meals, and aerial views of majestic eagles.
The festival starts at 9:30 a.m. on January 26 with a free-kick off concert at Sunnybrook of Muscatine (35615 Diane Queen Drive) featuring music by Ivory & Gold, the team of pianist Jeff Barnhart and flutist Anne Barnhart praised by LA Jazz Scene as musicians who can “draw out the beauty in rich melodies and play the music with taste, sensitivity, and a real affection for the idiom.” A 5 p.m. Soup Supper at Wesley Unted Methodist Church (400 Iowa Avenue) follows with music by the Mad Creek Mudcats, a Muscatine-based group famed for its performances of ragtime, traditional jazz, and novelty tunes. At 7 p.m., the church hosts a concert with Ivory & Gold plus three additional talents: jazz pianist Stephanie Trick; her husband Paolo Alderighi, a fellow pianist hailing from Milan, Italy; and Hampton, Illinois' 16-year-old piano wunderkind Daniel Souvigny, a three-time Junior Champion at the World Championship Old-Time Piano-Playing Contest. And Friday's Eagles & Ivories festivities end with a 10 p.m. after-hours event at Wine Nutz (208 West Second Street), just as they do on January 27.
Saturday also brings with it the official Eagle Watch at Pearl City Station (200 West Riverfront), led by Corp of Engineers Park Ranger and Naturalist Dave Bakke, and offering views of gorgeous birds in close proximity. At noon, silent movies with accompaniment by Jeff Barnhart will be screened at the Muscatine Art Center (1314 Mulberry Avenue), with Trick and Alderighi performing a joint concert at the Center at 2 p.m. Wesley United then hosts the annual Syncopation Supper at 5 p.m. with music by the Locust Street Boys – a Quad Cities-based Dixieland jazz band formed in 1990 at St. Ambrose University – followed by another 7 p.m. concert with Ivory & Gold, Trick, Alderighi, and Souvigny.
Sunday, meanwhile, will feature the Mad Creek Mudcats performing for the 10 a.m. Gospel Worship Service as Wesley United, while the neighboring Faith United Church of Christ (3307 Mulberry Avenue) will present its own Gospel Worship Service accompanied by Jeff and Ann Barnhart. And Ivory & Gold will wrap up the festival with a 2 p.m. concert even at the Muscatine Art Center.
Each evening concert is $20, afternoon concerts are $15, and Saturday Silent Movie is $5. A three-day concert package is $50, and ages 16 and under are free to all events. For more information on the 24th Anmnual Eagles & Ivories Ragtime Festival, visit MuscatineArtCouncil.org.
