Tickets:
https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/thestraycafe/mary-beth-orr-ditch-lily-baker-s-basement
Mary Beth Orr is a passionate classical hornist and folk vocal artist intent on bringing connection through music, most recently a finalist for The American Prize in instrumental performance 2023. The chosen medium of her classical horn and solo voice combine with the rich and soulful traditional melodies of her Appalachian heritage, creating a poignant musical journey of the human spirit.
Currently 3rd Horn of the Grand Rapids Symphony, she has also performed frequently with the Detroit Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Breckenridge Music Festival, of which she is 2nd Horn. She has been a guest artist at the Interlochen Horn Institute, and faculty with the Charleston Horn Institute. She made her premier at the Spoleto Music Festival as a featured recital soloist with her mixed ensemble Femme Forte in 2017.
After winning 2nd prize in the professional division at the International Horn Competition of America in 2013, she started exploring artistic opportunities as a soloist, placing 2nd in the Horn Division of the 2014 International Women’s Brass Conference Solo Competition. Upon returning to the IWBC in 2019 she was awarded 1st prize in the Professional Division for Horn. Most recently she premiered as guest soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony on her own arrangement of "Stand up For Me" for voice, piano, horn and string orchestra at the 2021 Frederik Meijer Gardens Summer Concert Series.
Between 2020 and 2022 she was a multi prize winner of the Sound Espressivo International Music Competition, and 1st prize winner of the Golden Classical International Music Awards, American Protégé International Talent Competition, and the Charleston International Solo Competition 2021, where she was also voted most outstanding performance. As also a first prize winner of the Grand Prize Virtuoso Competition, she made her European premier at the Beethoven Haus in Bonn, Germany, August 2021. In May 2022 she premiered as a soloist at Carnegie Hall.
As featured performer for Vox Novus' Fifteen Minutes of Fame Project she travelled to New York City to perform and record fifteen one minute works commissioned specifically for her for this project, showcasing and fostering support for new music. Upcoming engagements include St. Augustine Music Festival, a solo recital at International Horn Society’s 55th annual Symposium in Montreal and an upcoming debut album with PARMA Recordings.
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Ditch Lily is an oddball folk band. Oddball for obvious (?) reasons, and folk in the sense that they are people (folks) telling human stories about human concerns. Sometimes that involves a pine tree or geese. A moon, a waterfall. They consider the peripherals of life to be filled with strange and necessary magic. That’s what they hope you’ll notice in their songs.
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2-piece, Cleveland based, indie folk bucket band the Baker’s Basement (tBB) features the eclectic musical stylings of vocalist/drummer Kate Dedinsky and vocalist/guitarist Adam Grindler. At their rhythmic core pulses an orange striped, homemade, bucket-drum concoction, the funky back beat on which Dedinsky performs standing up with her signature swagger and sway. The duo’s intimate sound, rooted in a whimsical flavor of indie folk rock and topped with playful vocal layers, often volleyed to-and-fro across the stage, offers a humorous yet heart-wrenching sonic signature that’s altogether their own.
A hidden gem of the midwest, tBB’s affectionate and direct spoken word vocal delivery bounces atop their unusual percussive foundation of odds & ends, a drum apparatus that the group calls the “Tempeh Kit”—when matched with triggered samples and Grindler’s acoustic & electric guitar methods, both finger picked and strummed, their playful and oscillating sound is solidified. Between songs, the duo endears themselves to their audience through storytelling and banter. All and all, a performance by this dynamic pair is an invitation into an intimate world of creative fancy and captivating chemistry nurtured over years of playing both stages and street corners.
Always active live and in studio, tBB has released several singles in 2024 including: “Love I Can Love;" “Sure Enough Another Swell;" “Started Jammin' in the Basement;” and their most recent, “Why Does This Always Happen?” On November 8th, tBB released their 5th full length record entitled “Down Down Domino."
TBB performs the midwest and beyond, and has shared bills with artists such as Melvin Seals (of the Jerry Garcia Band) and Keller Williams through multiple festival appearances at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park. tBB has also appeared at Kinda Spoopy Festival, Jubileego, and Cleveland’s Brite Winter Festival & Ingenuity Fest in addition to residencies at Cedar Point. In addition to crafting and recording songs, the duo is invested in creating homemade video works to match their music. Recently the music video for their song “Wild Wild Sheep”, which the band scripted, filmed, and directed, was nominated at the 2023 Cordillera Film Festival in Reno, Nevada.
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In addition to our craft beer, coffee and wine selection, our kitchen will be open serving our full dinner menu until 9pm! Get here early to snag your favorite seat and grab a bite to eat before the show begins. Save money by getting discounted tickets online in advance.
The Stray is a listening room style venue and cafe, where performers are front and center, not background entertainment. We frequently ask attendees to silence their phones and keep conversations low out of respect to performers and other audience members.
You may also like the following events from The Stray:
- Next Thursday, 22nd May, 06:30 pm, Trivia Night in Grand Rapids
- This month, 29th May, 06:30 pm, Board Game Night in Grand Rapids
- This month, 30th May, 07:00 pm, Ticketed: Kyle Kuhn, Squatch, isobel in Grand Rapids
Also check out other
Entertainment events in Grand Rapids,
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