with Special Guests ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN

with Special Guests ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN & DAvID
DAv
A ID KRAKAuER
Av
THE CEREMONY
Flumpet Voluntary
Bridle Chorus
J.S. Bachelor Party
Ave Maria
Canon in D, Mostly
Salut d’Amour
Shotgun Wedding March
1.
(0:59)
2.
3.
8.
(3:09)
9.
(5:13)
4.
5.
Celtic Wedding Medley
Kosher Chicken Dance
Le Jardin d’Amour
Fun der Khupe
O Sole Mio
Napoloni
Por una Cabeza
10.
(6:19)
13.
(4:18)
14.
(2:35)
(5:18)
(2:53)
THE END OF THE NIGHT
15.
4th Street Drag
My Buddy
Total Time: 66:18
(4:04)
16.
(4:20)
(5:02)
12.
(3:25)
(6:51)
(2:21)
11.
(4:21)
6.
7.
T H E PA R T Y
(5:09)
Wedding Party:
D A N I E L L A P P, L A R A S T. J O H N , M I K E AT K I N S O N , R O N N Y E D I D I A ,
M A R K T I M M E R M A N , J ack C amp b ell , Y U VA L E D O O T
The Joyful Sounds of the
Perfect Wedding Day
HOW DO I LOVE THEE?
The bride is glowing, the groom stands at the ready, and Polkastra launches into some rousing
processionals to set the mood. The ceremony proceeds to an accompaniment of angelic vocals.
The registry is signed, and a triumphant recessional propels the newlyweds and their well-wishers on
their merry way to the reception.
Toasts are made, bouquets (and accordions) are tossed as the fiery and eclectic band rips into
wedding tunes from around the world. Guests of all ages take to the dance floor….
The end of the evening approaches, the happy couple has departed, and the guests head homeward
- flushed, sleepy, footsore, and satisfied. A few drunk uncles snooze in the corners as the band plays
the last few numbers for themselves - a slow and dreamy rag... the perfect ballad of love.
The Band
THE CEREMONY
1.
Flumpet Voluntary
(0:59)
7.
ShotgunWeddingMarch
DANIEL, FLUMPET; LARA, VIOLIN; MIKE, HORN; RONN,
ACCORDION; MARK, CONTRABASSOON; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
DANIEL LAPP, FLUMPET; LARA ST. JOHN, VIOLIN;
MIKE ATKINSON, HORN; RONN YEDIDIA, ACCORDION;
MARK TIMMERMAN, CONTRABASSOON;
YUVAL EDOOT, PERCUSSION
2.
Bridle Chorus
T H E PA R T Y
(3:09)
( WA g N E R , a r r. vA N B R I N K )
DANIEL, FLUMPET; LARA, VIOLIN; MIKE, HORN;
RONN, ACCORDION; MARK, CONTRABASSOON;
YUVAL, PERCUSSION
3.
J.S. Bachelor Party
8.
Celtic Wedding Medley
9.
DANIEL, FLUMPET; LARA, VIOLIN; RONN, ACCORDION;
MARK, CONTRABASSOON; YUVAL, PERCUSSION;
BOTTLE CHORUS: DANIEL, JACK, MARK, MATT
(6:19)
ISABEL BAYRAKDARIAN, SOPRANO; TORONTO
CHILDREN’S CHORUS CONDUCTED BY MATTHEw
OTTO; DANIEL, MANDOLIN, VIOLIN, FLUMPET;
LARA, VIOLIN; wINONA ZELENKA, CELLO; MARC
ROGERS, BASS; MARTIN KENNEDY, HAMMOND ORGAN
Canon in D,Mostly
Le Jardin d’Amour
(2:21)
11.
Fun der Khupe
YIDDISh
( t R A D . , a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
DAVID KRAKAUER, CLARINET; LARA, VIOLIN;
RONN, ACCORDION; MARIO RODRIGUEZ, BASS;
YUVAL, PERCUSSION
(3:25)
( E Lg A R , a r r. S t. J o h N )
LARA, VIOLIN; DANIEL, MANDOLIN;
wINONA, CELLO; MARC, BASS
Por una Cabeza
(2:53)
ARgENtINA
( g A R D E L , a r r. Y E D I D I A )
LARA, VIOLIN; RONN, ACCORDION; MARIO, BASS;
YUVAL, PERCUSSION
THE END OF THE NIGHT
4th Street Drag
(4:04)
( N o vA C E K , a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
DANIEL, MANDOLIN, FLUMPET, GUITAR; LARA,
VIOLIN; RONN, PIANO; JACK, BASS; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
16.
(5:02)
(5:18)
DANIEL, FLUMPET, JACK, 2ND TRUMPET; LARA, VIOLIN;
RUBIN KODHELI, CELLO; MIKE, HORN; RONN, ACCORDION;
MARK, CONTRABASSOON; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
15.
FRANCE
( t R A D . , a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
(4:21)
( PA C h E L B E L , a r r. vA N B R I N K )
Salut d’Amour
10.
(4:20)
Napoloni
ALBANIA
( t R A D . , a r r. At K I N S o N )
LARA, VIOLIN; RONN, ACCORDION; DANIEL, BASS;
YUVAL, PERCUSSION
DANIEL, FIDDLE, MANDOLIN; LARA, VIOLIN; MIKE, HORN;
RONN, ACCORDION; MARK, BASSOON; JACK CAMPBELL,
BASS; YUVAL, PERCUSSION; MATT VAN BRINK, FRONTPORCH PIANO
6.
Kosher Chicken Dance
uSA
( t h o M A S , a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
( S C h u B E R t, a r r. S t. J o h N / M . K E N N E DY )
5.
(6:51)
(2:35)
LARA, VIOLIN; MIKE, HORN; DANIEL, MANDOLIN;
RONN, ACCORDION; JACK, BASS; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
14.
(5:13)
O Sole Mio
I tA LY
( D I C A P u A , a r r. M A g g I o )
DANIEL AND LARA, FIDDLES; RONN, ACCORDION;
JACK, BASS; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
DANIEL, FLUMPET, HARMONICA; LARA AND LOUISE
OwEN, VIOLINS; MIKE, HORN; RONN, ACCORDION;
MARK, CONTRABASSOON; YUVAL, PERCUSSION
Ave Maria
12.
13.
I R E L A N D/ S C o t L A N D
( t R A D . , a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
( J . S . B A C h , a r r. M . K E N N E DY/ vA N B R I N K )
4.
(4:18)
( M E N D E L S S o h N , a r r. vA N B R I N K )
( C L A R K E , a r r. vA N B R I N K )
My Buddy
(5:09)
( M u S I C : D o N A L D S o N ; Ly r i c s : K A h N ,
a r r. P o L K A S t R A )
DANIEL, VOICE, FLUMPET; RONN, PIANO; JACK, BASS;
YUVAL, PERCUSSION
Total Time: 66:18
The Bride
THE CEREMONY
Flumpet Voluntary is a new treatment of Jeremiah
Canon in D, Mostly is that stalwart by Pachelbel,
Clarke’s chestnut, the "Prince of Denmark’s March," more
here in Van brink’s front-porch up-tempo fiddlin’ version.
commonly known as “Trumpet Voluntary.” Matt Van brink
Listen carefully and you’ll hear the canons start to roar
gives us an update featuring Daniel Lapp’s eponymous
after the Mostly.
hybrid flugelhorn-trumpet.
Salut d’Amour, Sir Edward Elgar’s charming engage-
Bridle Chorus comes to us famously from Wagner’s
ment present to his future wife, is taken on a little detour
opera Lohengrin. Polkastra takes it to the races and then
to Appalachia in this version for when the happy couple
dancing. Van brink and the band saddle up for a hoedown.
signs the registry.
J.S. Bachelor Party is the brainchild of Martin
Shotgun Wedding March: This Matt Van brink
Kennedy, conceived after a visit to a strip-polka club in
version of Mendelssohn’s famous recessional has all of
Leipzig. Here, in collaboration with Matt, he has created a
the attributes of the traditional wedding: rice-throwing,
loving tribute both to bach and to bachelor parties, quodli-
mothers crying, Greek dancing, drunken singing, accor-
betting the house on "Wachet auf" and "Jesu, Joy of Man’s
dion solos, and marrying up.
Desiring."
Ave Maria, Schubert’s wondrous and angelic song, is
T H E PA R T Y
sung here by special guests Isabel bayrakdarian and the
Toronto Children’s Chorus in this St. John/Kennedy ar-
Celtic Wedding Medley combines the beautiful
rangement.
Irish tunes “Give Me Your Hand” and “Garech’s Wedding”
(which Lara learned in Ulster) with O’Carolan’s “Haste to
the Wedding” and the Hebrides tune “Mairi’s Wedding.”
It’s Daniel’s house-party medley, where more and more
folks pour in!
The Groom
Kosher Chicken Dance takes Werner Thomas’s
while). What a great excuse for an excellent tango, here
famous wedding polka and bends it into a circle dance. In
arranged by Ronn Yedidia.
doing so, the band drained (and blew into) a few bottles of
beer and wine, and discovered just how well contrabassoonist Mark Timmerman can crow.
THE END OF THE NIGHT
Le Jardin d’Amour is a lovely little French waltz from
4th Street Drag: As the party starts to wind down,
1914. Lara found a disintegrating copy in an antique ware-
Ronn sidles up to the piano for this slow rag by John Nova-
house in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
cek, à la Tin Pan Alley.
Fun der Khupe (“Under the Huppah”) is a Yiddish/
My Buddy: Daniel channels the one and only Chet baker,
Klezmer wedding dance starring Polkastra’s incredibly spe-
who made famous this Walter Donaldson song of romantic
cial guest David Krakauer, playing clarinet like no other!
longing. but don’t be sad! Just put the album on "repeat"
and relive the perfect wedding day.
O Sole Mio, traditionally sung at Italian weddings, is
sung here by mandolin, violin and especially French horn;
Polkastra dared Mike Atkinson to take his verse up the
octave and hold it forever like an Italian tenor. And he did.
Napoloni is a wild, drunken brass-band wedding dance
from Albania. Here, Yuval Edoot holds it down with tambourine, doumbek and castanets, while Daniel, Ronn and guest
cellist Rubin Kodheli take turns dancing through solos.
Por una Cabeza is a tango by Argentine composer
Carlos Gardel: A gambler’s horse loses “by a head,” but he
meets a lovely fiery lady, so he forgets his loss (for a short
Daniel Lapp (flumpet, fiddle,
mandolin, guitar, vocals, harmonica, stride
piano, bass) had his first wedding in front
of Grandpa Dan, the prairie-farming
fiddler who dragged his grandkids off
to the dances to play piano, accordion
or fiddle the moment they could eke out
a tune.
Lara St. John (violin, producer,
arranger) got married in Budapest a
long time ago for about three weeks.
She adheres to the old adage of trying
everything once. Lara is sole owner
of the world’s cutest iguana, as well as
Ancalagon Records, and spends most
His name was wutzke, and a very expressive and versatile old Polish name this
turned out to be! It was not uncommon to
hear, “whuts key is this tune in, Grandpa?”
or, “Pass the bottle of wutzkey down this
way!” Daniel is a folk, jazz, Celtic and country hero in his native Pacific Northwest.
daniellapp.com
of her time traveling around the world. She
performs on a 1779 Guadagnini and won
a Juno for her Mozart album. Sometimes
newspapers write hot stuff about her, like,
“She is a volcanic violinist with a huge, fabulous tone that pours out of her like molten
lava” (Los Angeles Times).
larastjohn.com
Michael Atkinson (horn, arranger)
began playing the French horn at the age
of eight. He is a member of The Knights
chamber orchestra and performs with the
New York Philharmonic and the Orchestra
of St. Luke’s, among others. As an arranger,
he has worked in many different genres,
including collaborations with Sufjan Stevens,
Gabriel and the Hounds, Mercedes-Benz
Fashion week and New York City Ballet.
Mike can also song-belch the entire American and Canadian national anthems.
michaelatkinsonmusic.com
Ronn Yedidia’s (accordion, piano,
arranger) musical career started when he
was a six-year-old accordion prodigy in
Israel. Two years later, on piano, he won
the country’s most prestigious young-musicians competition. He began composing
in his early teens, and his nine years in composition at Juilliard took him through three
Mark Timmerman (contrabassoon,
bassoon) never cries at weddings, but sees
them as opportunities to out-dance the relatives in his big Midwestern family, which
he did until the ordination of his cousin Bart.
Father Bart, officiator at countless weddings,
is known throughout southwestern wisconsin
as the “Dancing Priest” and now reigns as the
Yuval Edoot (percussion) hails
from Israel and graduated summa cum
laude from the Berklee College of Music.
He performs on a self-invented setup
which allows him to sound like several
percussionists at once and look like an
octopus. He has won prizes for composition
degrees (including a doctorate) and two marriages: The first involved a Big Fat Kosher
wedding, the latter (and continuing) one
was a New York City Hall union with a single
witness. He has five children, certainly
quite a few by any musician’s standards,
although far behind his hero, J.S. Bach.
ronnyedidia.com
champion Timmerman family dancer. Still, Mark
dances a mean chicken. when not dancing, Mark
plays bassoon with the New Jersey Symphony
and Glimmerglass Opera. He spent three
summers at the Marlboro Music Festival and
has played in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia
Orchestra, and the Chicago Symphony.
and performance and has played with Oscar
Peterson and Diana Krall, among many
others. A bachelor of 37 years, Yuval hopes
that this wonderfully romantic album will be
heard by his most sought-after soulmate
and awaken her to unite with him.
Jack Campbell (electric bass)
lives in Nashville, moonlights on trumpet and can be coaxed into making other
noises. A born tinkerer, Jack has never
been buttonholed into just one profession
but embraces all trades. He is experienced
with weddings, having had a few, and
is now willing to observe other people
getting married, provided it is from a
safe distance.
SPECIAL GUESTS:
Isabel Bayrakdarian (soprano;
special guest, Ave Maria) has appeared
in major roles at the Met, La Scala, the
Royal Opera House, Opéra de Paris, and
with the orchestras of Chicago, Montreal,
Toronto, Vancouver and San Francisco,
as well as the L.A. Phil at the Hollywood
David Krakauer (clarinet, special
guest, Fun der Khupe) is both a master of
Eastern European klezmer and a renowned
voice in classical music. He has collaborated with an amazing range of artists,
such as Fred wesley, Socalled, Danny
Elfman, the Kronos Quartet and many
major orchestras. He has made some of
the most important klezmer recordings of
Bowl, just to name a few. She has an honors degree in biomedical engineering as
well as four Juno awards and two Grammy
nominations. In 2004, she was married
in a fourth-century Armenian monastery called Keghart, and this is her first
recording of Ave Maria.
the past decade, including The Twelve Tribes and
The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind, by
Osvaldo Golijov, which received the Diapason d’Or. He records and tours the world
regularly with his band, Klezmer Madness! David collects kitschy yet artsy
tchotchkes from the 1930s to the 1960s.
davidkrakauer.com
Toronto Children’s Chorus
(special guests, Ave Maria) was founded
in 1978 and is Canada’s premier treble
choir. They tour throughout the world,
have won numerous choral competitions, and their musical education model
is globally recognized for its excellence.
Since 2007 the chorus has been led by
Artistic Director Elise Bradley.
torontochildrenschorus.com
ARRANGERS:
Matt Van Brink (arranger,
Flumpet Voluntary, Bridle Chorus, Canon
in D, Mostly, Shotgun Wedding March)
entered the hall and took his place by the
cake. The rest of the wedding party arrived
to applause, but Matt’s attention was on
the vast confection to his left. was it real?
Or just another decoration, like the cheap
Martin Kennedy (arranger,
J.S. Bachelor Party), is married to the
sea.
martinkennedy.com
rings sewn to the pillow of which he was
bearer? No, this cake could not be real. Testing his hypothesis, he was shocked to find
his finger covered in icing. As he hid the
evidence in his mouth, his family roared
with delight at the tuxedoed five-year-old.
Matt now lives in Brooklyn, composing,
teaching, and performing.
mattvanbrink.com
ADDITIONAL GUESTS:
Rob Maggio’s (arranger, O Sole Mio) music has
been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston
Pops, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and
many others. Rob lives with his partner and their daughter
in Lambertville, New Jersey. He will be getting married
when it is legal in his state.
robertmaggio.net
Rubin Kodheli (guest cellist, Napoloni) is from
Albania. He and his band, Blues in Space, often play a
tune he wrote called "wedding Music", inspired by crazy
Albanian weddings he attended in his childhood. He also
plays in the North Sky Cello Ensemble, a quartet of cellistcomposers. He lives in New York and enjoys weddings, but
not yet his own.
rubinkodheli.com
Mario Rodriguez (guest upright bass, Por una
Cabeza, Fun der Khupe) was born in Uruguay, grew up in
Argentina, plays with Gato Barbieri and has played with
Tito Puente, Alicia Keys and Liza Minnelli.
Louise Owen (guest violin, J.S. Bachelor Party)
performs on Broadway, makes delicious truffles, and was
featured on 60 Minutes in 2011 for her extraordinary autobiographical memory.
kitchenfiddler.blogspot.com
Winona Zelenka (guest cello, Salut d’Amour,
Ave Maria), is the assistant principal cellist of Toronto
Symphony. Her solo Bach recording had Audiophile Audition declaring, “This is the single best set of these suites
I have ever heard!”
winonazelenka.com
PRODUCER: Lara St. John
RECORDING ENGINEERS: Sal Mormondo, Jeremy Tusz
BALANCE/MIxING/EDITING ENGINEER: Jeremy Tusz
EDITING SEQUENCE: Lara St. John
Recorded at Kaleidoscope Sound, Union City, NJ, on
July 4 and 5, 2011, and in Toronto (tracks 4 and 6)
on July 4, 2012.
COVER PHOTO: Matt Van Brink; MODEL: Stephanie Cadman
STYLIST: Lara St. John
Special Thanks to choreographer Stephanie Cadman, videographer Nick Fox-Gieg, Brian Foote, Keve wilson, Deniz Hugues, Adrienne Lloyd, Eduard Laurel, Aaron Poole
and Bob Sutherland’s chickens for their participation in the
Kosher Chicken Dance video. Thanks also to
Anthony Deckoff for his eagle eyes.
worldwide Representation:
Judson Management Group, Inc.
145 East 57th Street , 5th floor
New York, NY 10022 USA
PERSONAL DIRECTION: Stephen Judson
shjudson@gmail.com
+ 1 (212)974-1917
The End