Michael brings his hammered dulcimer to Branford Folk

BRANFORD — The Branford Folk Music Society will feature dulcimer Walt Michael, an influential figure during the revival of the hammered dulcimer in folk music in the 1970s, in concert Saturday at 8 p.m.

Michael and his ensemble will perform in the auditorium of the First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St. The church is on the Town Green. Admission is $20 for nonmembers, $17 for members and $5 for children age 12 and under.

For more information, call 203-488-7715 or go online to www.branfordfolk.org.

Based in Maryland, Michael has left quite a footprint in his more than four decades performing, appearing at The White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the closing ceremonies of the XIII Olympics Winter Games at Lake Placid, N.Y.

He also has performed at major folk festivals throughout America, Canada and Europe , as well as multiple times on nationally distributed television and radio shows.

Michael helped reintroduce the hammered dulcimer to folk music audiences back in the 1970s, establishing a repertoire that ranges from old-time Southern Appalachian to Celtic to his own compositions.

In addition to playing the hammered dulcimer, he’s a vocalist and multiinstrumentalist with 14 albums and instructional videos to his credit.

Michael will be joined for this show by his “New York Ensemble,” which features seamless, fourpart vocals and two fiddlers in Evan Stover and Frank Orsini, as well as the bass playing of Tom Wetmore.

The band members have performed together in different combinations since 1973.

Michael is artist in residence at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland (his alma mater when it was Western Maryland College.)