A four-day mandolin experience held in Marshall

The Marshall Mandolin Summit is the brainchild of Mike Marshall and Adrian Bagale. After some years of collaborating on mandolin design, having lots of opportunity to hang out and contemplate things over a kitchen counter and a BBQ, the two looked hard over their ethos (food, music, conversation, family, education, travel and adventure to name a few) and decided a gathering was in order!

With more than a decade of time invested, developing and refining the Mandolin Symposium in California, Mike has the keen sense of how to create a summit that draws on expert instruction to provide an exceptional group-based learning environment. He selects the instructors to offer a variety of musical styles and disciplines and brings everyone together. Serious tunes and mandolin verbiage – with a personal and informal communal vibe.

Adrian and his band of brothers at Northfield Mandolins are all about mandos, and gatherings. Together they’ve got the small beautiful town of Marshall, MI organized and ready for Mando Mania. Great historic buildings, a fabulous sounding theater, grub that’ll make any foodie happy, homemade coffees and ales, late night jamming with great ambience, friendly town folk and freshly made mandolins (special for the Summit) all dialed and all just a little down the road from Kalamazoo – where the modern-day mandolin was born!

On August 11th and 12th, The Marshall Mandolin Summit is proud to present two must-see concerts hosted by the Franke Center for the Arts in Marshall, MI. They will feature world-class acoustic musicians with performances centered around the mandolin. Premier mandolinists from the US and Europe will lead the audience on a sonic journey through the ages and around the globe.

Saturday night’s concert will be an amazing musical experience featuring full sets of each artist in a variety of creative configurations. Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg will take the stage performing everything from Bach to Vivaldi – Bluegrass to Brazilian. Darol Anger will ignite the stage with his fiddle, pulling out all the stops as he and Mike Marshall, “The Duo”, celebrate 40 years of making music together. The Don Stiernberg Trio will bring in the swing – laying down the groove that’ll have you crooning deep into the night. Don Julin will bring his own creative compositions into the fold. He’s a connoisseur of the mandolin with many styles at his fingertips. This is a unique chance to see some of the best acoustic musicians in the world showcasing their mandolin talents and mixing things up in some unexpected collaborations.

Sunday’s afternoon concert will feature the Marshall Mandolin Summit Student Showcase. A celebration of three days of classes, jamming, and rehearsals goes on display with duos, trios and more in a variety of musical styles and culminates when the 35-person orchestra takes the stage. Each artist instructor will perform a few tunes and then lead the larger ensemble through various arrangements they have worked up during the Summit classes. A mandolin variety show of sorts and a great opportunity to see a lot of mandolins singing in harmony!

Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? This is it, and it’s all happening in Marshall.