Vail Series Presents ‘The River’: ETHEL + Robert Mirabal

Denison University's Vail Series presents “The River”: ETHEL + Robert Mirabal in concert. Tickets are free to Denison students, faculty, and staff. A limited number of tickets will be available to the general public for $15. Tickets are available beginning April 1.

Denison ‘alums’ ETHEL, having received honorary degrees at Commencement 2017, present a concert reflecting on their experience as Denison’s ensemble-in-residence. At the heart of ETHEL is a collaborative ethos — a quest for a common creative expression that is forged in the celebration of community. That has certainly been the experience at Denison! Invited guest Robert Mirabal, an amazing Native American flutist and vocalist, will join ETHEL and together they will be performing selections from “The River,” a project and CD that was created in large part in Herrick Hall during one of their residency weeks at Denison. The concert will also feature a few selections reflecting on their past five years at Denison. We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be an emotional and inspirational concert, kicking off the next phase of their residency at Denison.

Established in New York City in 1998, ETHEL quickly earned a reputation as one of America’s most adventurous string quartets – heirs to the likes of the Kronos Quartet and Soldier String Quartet, and part of a generation of young artists blending uptown, conservatory musicianship with downtown genre-crossing – by playing with the intensity and accoutrements of a rock band. The New York Times has described them as “indefatigable and eclectic,” The New Yorker has deemed them “vital and brilliant” and Pitchfork has called them “infectiously visceral.” Celebrating 20 years of their singular career, ETHEL has in turn become seminal in its own right, a path-breaker for countless younger genre-spanning ensembles and a prolific commissioner of new music.

“ETHEL's impact over the past five years has been nothing short of sensational. The breadth and depth of the experiences they have provided in classrooms, in various performance settings, and in individual student coaching and mentoring has been remarkable," says Mike Morris, director of the Vail Series and fine arts programming at Denison. “It is entirely appropriate that we celebrate their first five years with this Vail Series concert, the program for which had its beginning at Denison.”