The Willow River Ensemble is a new group in the Blue Water area, playing acoustic music from the Renaissance to present day on instruments ancient and modern. The arrangements are a bit out of the ordinary (La Bouree arranged for modern flutes and a Moeck Blackwood Baroque recorder? Here is a recording of it from a recent concert), but we feel that it is a wonderful to be able to play this music on diverse instruments. During the Renaissance these songs would have been played by "pick up" bands using whatever instruments were available, so it is in that tradition that we play the music on the instruments that we have.
Karen Johns has been a solo performer for years, playing her flutes and harps at local events. Through a series of serendipitous meetings, she was able to form the Willow River Ensemble with Nancy Keyt, a fellow flute player in the Anchor Bay Community Band, and Barbara Susan, a professional musician specializing in Renaissance music.
Karen built many of her instruments from kits, including a 22-string Irish lap harp, the 33-string Voyager lever harp and most recently a hammered dulcimer which she is teaching herself to play. She is a Michigan Certified Florist and Master Gardener, currently employed by Gardens and Beyond and The Water Lily in Algonac. Nancy is a labor delivery nurse at St. John River District hospital. Karen and Nancy play in the East China Community Band and Karen is a member of the Algonac Music Club. Barbara is the owner of 1stwebkeeper.com, Website Maintenance Services.
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