A Benefit for the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp Scholarship Fund
Newman Center for the Performing Arts - Gates Concert Hall
 University of Denver 
Tickets Available at Ticketmaster or call 303-871-7720

Click here to listen to the 30-second radio spot!

Scroll down to meet the artists!

Al Franken, Comedian, Best Selling Author, & Radio Personality

“Chris and Cosima Luther are great fiddlers.  I’ve had them on my radio show a few times, and the audience loves them,” said Al.  “As listeners to my show know, their Dad, Mark, is a high school buddy of mine.  We’re very good friends, although we disagree about 90% of the time.  I’m glad they invited me; it’s going to be some great music and lots of laughs.”

Christopher Luther, Fiddler

"Each year I’ve done a bluegrass and Celtic recital, and each year the crowd has gotten bigger and bigger.  So this year we decided to line up a big hall, invite some big names, plus some really great local talent, and put on a really professional concert.  Andy Stein is one of the best fiddlers I’ve met.  It’s a great honor to have him and Al joining us.”

Cosima Luther, Fiddler

"My Brother and I have been performing together since I was seven.  We love entertaining and putting on a good show.  Having Al and Andy just makes it a lot more fun!"

Andy Stein, Swing Fiddler

"I've had the pleasure of getting to know Chris & Cosima during my times at Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp.  It's a great pleasure and treat to be invited to join them for this concert."

Andy Stein, is best known as the "Powder Milk Biscuit" fiddler on A Prairie Home Companion, where he has been heard for the last 14 years. Often compared with jazz greats Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti, he was a founding member of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, he recorded and won a Grammy with Asleep at the Wheel, and he has worked with a wide range of musicians, including Itzhak Perlman, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, André Watts, Mariah Carey, and Smashing Pumpkins. A native and resident of Manhattan, his arrangements and compositions have been performed by orchestras across the country, including an opera with librettist Garrison Keillor, and he has composed film scores for Roger Corman and National Lampoon.

Press Release

Al Franken hosts a Night of Fiddle, Bluegrass & Celtic

Best-selling author, comic and radio icon raises money for scholarship May 18

 DENVER ¾  Best-selling author, comedian and Air America’s Al Franken joins Denver fiddlers Chris and Cosima Luther and special guest A Prairie Home Companion’s Andy Stein at 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 18, at The Newman Center for the Performing Arts.

The evening, which includes bluegrass, jazz and Celtic fiddling amidst Franken’s monologues and an appearance by Stuart Smalley, raises money for the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp (www.RMFiddle.com) Scholarship Fund. The camp, now celebrating its eighth season, was founded by the Luthers with their father, and draws students and artists from around the world to a beautiful mountain setting near Estes Park each August. 

“Chris and Cosima Luther are great fiddlers.  I’ve had them on my radio show a few times, and the audience loves them,” said Al.  “As listeners to my show know, their Dad, Mark, is a high school buddy of mine.  We’re very good friends, although we disagree about 90% of the time.  I’m glad they invited me; it’s going to be some great music and lots of laughs.”

The concert is an extension of a series of recitals given by Chris Luther over the last three years at Lamont.  “Each year I’ve done a bluegrass and Celtic recital, and each year the crowd has gotten bigger.  So this year we decided to line up a big hall, invite some big names, and put on a really professional show.  Andy Stein is one of the best fiddlers I’ve met.  It’s a great honor to have him and Al joining us,” said Christopher.

Performance tickets may be purchased Monday-Friday at the Newman Center (corner of University & Iliff), 10 am-4 pm, and Ritchie Center Box Offices (2240 E. Buchtel Blvd.), 10am-6pm, and at all Ticketmaster outlets during posted hours. Charge by phone at 303.357.ARTS or order online at Ticketmaster.com. For more information, or to request accommodations for persons with disabilities, call 303.871.7720, Option 2.

 About Chris & Cosima Luther

Christopher Luther, a fifth-year violin student at the Lamont School of Music at Denver University, started violin at age 5 and began performing at the Colorado Renaissance Festival at age 8. He has been the Concertmaster of the Colorado All-State Orchestra, at Denver School of the Arts, Colorado Young Symphonia and the award-winning Lamont Symphony Orchestra. He has played and toured in France, Germany, China, Japan and Canada, in addition to his performances around America.

Cosima Luther, who has been playing the violin since she was 5, was Concertmistress of the Denver School of the Arts Orchestra and has performed with many acclaimed orchestras including the Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra, Denver Young Artists Orchestra and the Colorado Youth Sinfonia. She recently graduated from Pepperdine, where she was the Concertmistress of the Pepperdine Symphony Orchestra, and she has been accepted in the graduate program at the Thornton School of Music at USC.

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