FIDDLER'S HOLIDAY

A musical travelogue featuring an amazing array of fiddle music from a variety of traditions, including Appalachian, Bluegrass, Cajun, Canadian, Irish, Scottish, Scandinavian, and jazz. Songs, legends, and fiddle tunes abound as Ungar and Mason take you on a musical journey from colonial hearths and pioneer settlements to a Texas fiddle contest and a 1930s dance hall-with stops in the Scottish Highlands, the Appalachian Mountains and the Louisiana bayou along the way.

SYMPHONY PROGRAMS

These unique programs provide an opportunity for audiences to extend their horizons beyond the boundaries of classical and folk to a new orchestral fusion of the two. Toward this end, Ungar and Mason perform a variety of original works, songs, and American fiddle classics with the orchestra. Frequently included are the duo's tour of the seasons, The Harvest Home Suite; Hits of the '60s, a rousing medley of Civil War favorites; Jay's haunting Ashokan Farewell (the theme from PBS's The Civil War); and Hoedown Revisited, a unique version of Copland's classic that incorporates a traditional version of Bonapart's Retreat, the Kentucky fiddle tune that is Hoedown's main theme.

ASHOKAN FAREWELL: THE CIVIL WAR AND BEYOND A two-part concert featuring songs and traditional fiddle tunes popular long before the advent of records and radios, songs from the golden age of country music and swing, and haunting contemporary classics composed by Ungar and Mason. From Stephen Foster's Old Folks at Home to Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin' to Jay's own Ashokan Farewell, this concert presents a wide range of traditional, 100 percent American-made music.

TENTING TONIGHT: MUSIC OF THE CIVIL WAR

A concert of lively dance tunes, sentimental ballads and rousing marches heard in homes and front-line encampments during America's Civil War. Included are works by George Root, Henry Clay Work, Stephen Foster and other great songwriters of the day. Ungar and Mason perform parlor favorites-Lorena and The Faded Coat of Blue; songs about the hardships of life-Tenting on the Old Campground and Hard Times Come Again No More; and stirring melodies that were sung by soldiers in both armies-Battle Cry of Freedom and Bonnie Blue Flag. They also share stories drawn from historical records, letters, song books and diaries, making history come alive.

RADIO & TELEVISION

Ungar and Mason host Dancing on the Air - Live At The Linda on WAMC Northeast Public Radio (WAMC-FM Albany and on the Internet at www.dancingontheair.com). They have produced and hosted numerous music specials for Public Radio International (PRI)-The Catskill Mountain Festival, Harvest Home, The Pleasures of Winter-and have been guests on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Ungar and Mason's music is heard in most of Ken Burns's PBS documentaries, including The Civil War, Lewis and Clark, Thomas Jefferson, Baseball, The West and Not For Ourselves Alone. They composed and performed the score for Brother's Keeper on PBS's American Playhouse, were musical consultants and performers for PBS's Songs of the Civil War, and have appeared on CBS's This Morning, PBS's Great Performances and the BBC's Transatlantic Sessions.