Photo by Chelsey Poole
Imagine a band that comes to Ephraim playing both music from 300 years ago in addition to music that is being written now, as well as everything in between. This band comes with instrumentalists and dancers alike. Leaping Lulu, a Celtic band from Cache Valley, is this type of band, and the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts is proud to welcome them back to the Jorgenson Concert Hall.
Sara Gunnell, who plays violin, viola, and electric violin in Leaping Lulu, is an adjunct professor in the Horne School of Music. “People have been asking me to bring the band back since we performed at convocations about five years ago,” said Gunnell. “We do river dance, we do things from singers and songwriters in Ireland, but we also do a lot of our own stuff. We pretty much do whatever we feel is fun.”
Students in the Eccles Center also show excitement for the performance of this group. “I’m pretty excited about Leaping Lulu coming to Snow. They have a good sense of stylistic parameters and function incredibly well as a group,” said Anthony Jensen.
“I am relatively happy for Leaping Lulu to come to Snow [because it will] give students an opportunity see a professional group perform,” said Kurtis Surber.
The performance by this group will benefit music students in various ways. “This ensemble will benefit the students by performing here at Snow, because they are actually performing and traveling to play, and it will give students here a chance to see professional level performance,” said Surber.
“As a composer, this performance will benefit me because I can better understand the functionality of different instruments in a folk ensemble,” said Jensen. “This lends to bettering myself in the arrangement and even composition of folk music.”
Leaping Lulu will be performing a concert in the Jorgenson Concert Hall on Thursday, October 1 at 7:30 pm. Tickets are $7 for the public or $2 with a student ID. Tickets can be bought in the box office in the Eccles Center between 1:00 and 5:00 pm, or online at snow.edu/finarts.
Emily Suckow
Emily Suckow is a twenty year-old sophomore at Snow College. She grew up in South Jordan and graduated from Bingham High School in 2014. Being well-to do in the oboe, flute, and English horn, she was drawn to Snow for their four-year music major program, but has since switched her major and is pursuing a degree in Public Relations at this time. Emily spent her sophomore year at Snow College as Webmaster and Vice President of the Snowdrift, Snow College's student newspaper. When she was 13, Emily was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, but is currently cancer-free and loving life.