2020 Backyard Music Festival - Caroga Arts Collective

Backyard Music Festival: A Virtual Fourth of July Celebration

Caroga Arts brought the Caroga Lake Music Festival experience to audiences at home with the 2020 Backyard Music Festival, a special virtual concert celebrating Independence Day.

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The event featured a diverse lineup of world-class musicians, including a jazz segment by Taylor Swift’s music director David Cook, a ragtime performance by Ethan Uslan, and a stunning vocal quartet rendition of America the Beautiful.

For the first time ever, thirty musicians from the Caroga Arts Ensemble performed a virtual arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Echoes Ring, a piece composed by Artistic Director Kyle Barrett Price. Other highlights included a virtuosic violin duo of Stars and Stripes Forever and a heartfelt performance of This Land Is Your Land by the Saunders Family Band.

As a fundraising event, the Backyard Music Festival supported Caroga Arts’ mission to revitalize local culture and community through the arts, with donations doubled through a generous matching gift.

Caroga Arts Collective is a tax-deductible 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

2020 Backyard Music Festival Performers:

David Cook, jazz pianist

Pianist, composer and Musical Director David Cook was born in San Diego to a musical family and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Now living in New York City, he has enjoyed a varied career of performing, recording and producing.

A graduate of the University of Michigan school of music, David has Music Directed and/or played for many notable artists, including 10-time Grammy Award-winner Taylor Swift, Thomas Rhett, Emmy/Oscar/Tony winner Ben Platt, Maren Morris, Shoshana Bean, Lizz Wright, Academy Award winner Jennifer Husdon, Kesha, Utada Hikaru, Halsey, NSYNC, Billy Porter, Tei Shi and Shayna Steele. He has also played piano in jazz groups led by drummers Mark Guiliana and Red Baraat’s Sunny Jain, guitarist Greg Howe, saxophonists Adam Kolker and Bob Reynolds as well as 2-time Grammy-nominated trombonist Alan Ferber. Learn more…

Performance Sponsor: Paul & Janice Corr

Ethan Uslan, Ragtime pianist

Hailed by the Chicago Tribune for his “vivid musical imagination” and “deep understanding of far-flung performance practices,” Ethan Uslan is a ragtime/jazz pianist and raconteur. He is a 3-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest (yes – that really exists!) and has performed all over the USA, including at the Ravinia Festival, Scott Joplin Festival, and on NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion. He has also performed in England, Ireland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Cyberspace, where his jazzed-up Für Elise has gone viral. Learn more…

Performance Sponsor: Ellen Freeman

Saunders Family Band

The Saunders Family Band, hailing from Canada Lake, is a multi-instrumentalist ensemble featuring Luann, Clark, Robert, Geoff, and Richard Saunders. Known for their harmonious blend and musical versatility, they have become a local favorite in the Caroga Lake region. The family is also the driving force behind SAUNDERSFEST, an Americana music festival that began over a decade ago on their porch and has since grown into a celebrated community event.

Performance Sponsor: Chris & Judy Simon