Creative Cauldron’s popular annual “Passport to the World of Music Festival” featuring some of the most talented and diverse musicians in the Metro DC area and beyond will launch on January 6 and run through February 3, 2024. The Festival is curated by Wammy Award-winning artists Ken Avis and Lynn Veronneau. It features musical styles and genres from folk, Latin, jazz, and blues along with global musical traditions. Each weekend has its own theme, a festival within a festival…American Classics, Guitar Fest, Women in Music, and more. The “Passport to the World of Music” Festival is sponsored by Ken Trotter, JD Realtor TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
2024 “Passport to the World of Music” Festival Performances
Week One: Passport Favorites…Encore!
Saturday, January 6 at 7:30 pm The Kennedys
DC’s legendary folk-pop duo, featuring Pete & Maura Kennedy, return from New York City for one special show.
Sunday, January 7 at 2:00 pm Raymi
Juan Cayrampoma and his band bring the haunting sounds and mystic power of the Andes using traditional zamponas, moscenos, quenas, and tarkas with contemporary drums and guitars.
Sunday, January 7 at 7:30 pm Ken & Brad Kolodner
This renowned, dynamic father-son team weaves together a captivating soundscape on hammered dulcimer and clawhammer banjo blurring the lines of Old-Time, Bluegrass and American Roots music.
Week Two: American Classics
Friday, January 12, at 7:30 pm “Hail! Hail! Rock n Roll” A Tribute to Chuck Berry – An all-star band led by Kenny Pirog, celebrates the King of Rock n’ Roll Chuck Berry; “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” “Johnny B. Goode”…the hits kept on coming. Featured pianist Daryl Davis has performed with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Platters, The Drifters, The Coasters, Bo Diddley, and many more.
Saturday, January 13 at 7:30 pm Newmyer Flyer Presents A TRIBUTE TO THE EVERLY BROTHERS –One of the most important vocal duos in rock history. With more than 20 Top Ten hits, including; Wake Up Little Susie, Cryin In the Rain, When Will I Be Loved, All I Have to Do Is Dream, were in for a fabulous night in the company of some of DC’s finest including David Kitchen, Willie Barry, Ruthie Logsdon, Jess Elliott Myrhe, Bill Starks, Andy Rutherford, Louie Newmyer & Tom Fridrich.
Sunday, January 14 at 2:00 pm Shenandoah Run – This eight-member ensemble presents traditional and contemporary folk music, along with a wide selection of Americana from the acoustic ’60s and ’70s in a manner that delights a diverse mix of music lovers of all ages.
Sunday, January 14 at 7:30 pm The Other Side of Nat King Cole – Award-winning jazz and soul vocalist Alison Crockett, originally performed at the Kennedy Center, highlights some of his well and lesser-known songs with Alison’s unique arrangements and interpretations and features some of the DC area’s finest jazz musicians.
Week Three: Guitar Fest Weekend
Friday, January 19 at 7:30 pm Nate Najar & Daniela Soledade “Love & Bossa Nova” – Florida-based duo Daniela Soledade and Nate Najar, create an enchanting soundscape of irresistible Brazilian rhythms. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Soledade’s family roots are steeped in Bossa Nova’s inception.
Saturday, January 20 at 7:30 pm Telemasters of the Anacostia Delta – Two Masters of the Telecaster performing the music of Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, and other legends of DC guitar history. Get ready for a guitar jamboree covering the gamut of music from the 1950s on, country, blues, rock, jazz – it’s all in this guitar gumbo.
Sunday, January 21 at 2:00 pm “Guitar Alchemy” With Ken Avis & Friends – Four solo musicians perform an in-the-round concert, exploring the more exotic instruments of the guitar family. Expect the beautiful and the unexpected from this gathering of guitar composers, characters, and innovators, with one foot in the musical traditions.
Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 pm The Guitar Renegades – A brand new project featuring DC area’s most exciting jazz guitar soloists performing as a quintet. Cristian Perez (Project Locrea), Jan Knutson (The Great Guitars), and Connor Holdridge (Hot Club of Baltimore).
Week Four: DC Women in Music
Friday, January 26 at 7:30 pm Iona “Celtic Traditions” – One of the leading Celtic music groups in the region. Founded by lead singer, bouzouki, guitar and bodhrán player Barbara Ryan and Bernard Argent; and featuring percussive dancer and singer Marsha Searle, of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, the band perform a unique, acoustic weave of the traditional music of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, the Isle of Man, Asturies and Galicia, as well as their transplants in America.
Saturday, January 27 at 7:30 pm Wicked Sycamore – An all-female trio of multi-instrumentalists and songwriters, grounded in traditional roots, Americana, and bluegrass music. Intricate vocal harmonies, thoughtful arrangement, and instrumental prowess are the bedrock for their eclectic, touching and fun musical explorations.
Sunday, January 28 at 7:30 pm Seven Voices: A Tribute to Patsy Cline – A rare team of talented DMV artists to pay tribute to the First Lady of Country with classic renditions of her songs, and reimagined versions featuring new instrumentation and creative arrangements played by internationally-touring, award-winning musicians: Jess Eliot Myhre (Bumper Jacksons), Maureen Andary (Sweater Set), Be Steadwell, Nicole Saphos, Dave Chappell, and Ele Rubenstein.
Week Five: Passport to the World Fest – Finale Weekend
Friday, February 3 at 7:30 pm Sean Heely’s Celtic Experience – It’s always a party when champion fiddler and singer Seán Heely is at the Cauldron with his band. One of the most creatively versatile and captivating Celtic artists of his generation, Sean is a U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion as well as an award-winning Irish Fiddler, singer, and harpist in the folk and Gaelic traditions of Scotland and Ireland.
Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 pm Veronneau’s Passport to the World Fest Closing Party! – Award-winning Quebecoise vocalist Lynn Veronneau and British guitarist Ken Avis close out the Passport festival with multi-lingual, original, and classics from the world of jazz, bossa nova, chanson, swing, and blues. Come celebrate with Veronneau….tickets will sell fast, so don’t delay!
Creative Cauldron presents Passport to the World of Music Festival, January 6 to February 3, 2024, at 410 South Maple Avenue Retail 116, Falls Church, VA. For more information about the series and to purchase tickets go to creativecauldron.org or call the box office at 703-436-9948.
About Creative Cauldron
Creative Cauldron is an award-winning non-profit theater and educational arts organization whose innovative programs in the performing and visual arts embody collaboration, experimentation, and community engagement. Creative Cauldron was founded by Artistic Director Laura Connors Hull in 2002. In 2023 Creative Cauldron launched a $500,000 New Home-New Horizon capacity campaign to raise funds for a move into a new theater at the corner of Broad and Washington in Falls Church City.
Programs are presented in part through grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsFairfax, the City of Falls Church, the Little City CATCH Foundation the Ross-Roberts Fund for the Arts, and the Robert W and Gladys S Meserve Charitable Trust. Generous corporate and individual sponsors also support Creative Cauldron’s programs.
