Concert series coming to a close, but don't fret

Next Thursday is your last chance to get in on the Motley Kitchen's dinner concert series for the spring and summer season.

The season will wrap up July 16 with a visit from The Fretless, a unique band that transforms fiddle tunes and folk melodies into intricately beautiful, high-energy arrangements.

The Fretless is expanding the rhythmic and harmonic structure of the many folk genres they play, including different fiddle styles from across Canada and around the globe. Its members are influenced by a vast array of traditional and contemporary music.

However they are unified in their goal to push traditional music as far as possible. They maintain all the energy of fiddle tunes, while shattering all expectations in writing, creativity and performance.

Their 2012 debut album Waterbound won three awards: Instrumental Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards, and both Ensemble of the year and Instrumental Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Then, just last year, their most recent recording went on to win two more, again taking the CFMA Ensemble of the Year and WCMA Instrumental Album of the Year.

The members of The Fretless are: Ivonne Hernandez (violin, viola, step dancing and vocals) from Victoria, Trent Freeman (violin and viola) from Vancouver, Karrnnel Sawitsky (violin and viola) from Saskatoon, and Eric Wright (cello), from Los Angeles.

Individual members have been provincial, national and North American fiddle champions multiple times. Three of them are graduates of the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Dinner and entertainment combined costs $50, including HST. Show-only seats are $19 each. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the buffet dinner served at 6:30 p.m. and the show at 7:30 p.m.

Seating is limited, so reserve early. Drop by the Motley Kitchen at 70 Young St. during business hours (Monday- Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) or phone 705-222-6685.