We have a full spate of Centrum singing events lined up for 2008! First, the May 8-11 Swing Intensive will  feature, in a long weekend, a focus on “vintage swing”: classics from the nineteen-thirties and -forties, with vocals as well as instrumentals being highlighted. Morning sessions will be devoted to technique; afternoons will include a faculty-led band lab that will demonstrate how to put it all together.

The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, June 29-July 6, will feature a full lineup of contemporary old-time singers, sharing their craft in total-immersion workshops presenting regional styles of fiddle music. The program’s spectrum includes workshop classes, band lab classes, tutorials, dances, concerts, open jams, parties, and informal and spontaneous gatherings. The emphasis at the workshop is on the oral tradition of close observation and listening followed by personal experimentation. Evenings feature unamplified showcase concerts and social dancing.

The summer fun will be rounded out by the July 20–27 Jazz Port Townsend workshops, featuring singers Dee Daniels and Sachal Vasandani, and the July 27-August 3 Port Townsend Country Blues Festival, with a full lineup of blue guitarists, pianists, and singers on hand, including Shirley Smith. 

Jazz Port Townsend, the Pacific Northwest’s premier jazz destination, is led by Artistic Director John Clayton. The week-long workshop gives ardent jazz students that chance to live, learn, and jam with such jazz artists as Wycliffe Gordon, Monty Alexander, Paquito D’Rivera, Eric Alexander, Ingrid Jensen, and dozens more. The workshop is for playing professionals, aspiring professionals, and committed avocational players, as well as talented high school and college students.

The Port Townsend Country Blues Festival, the largest gathering of country blues west of the Mississippi, is led by Artistic Director Phil Wiggins and features John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, Warner Williams, Daryl Davis, Louisiana Red, Terry “Harmonica” Bean, and dozens more. The festival is a week-long, total-immersion experience that passes down the skills, sounds, stories, laughter, and pain of the authentic bearers of the blues tradition.