Internationally acclaimed English musician Samantha Muir will perform at a public concert in the Valla Beach Tourist Park on August 3. A classical string musician, Ms Muir plays a number of instruments including ukulele, guitar, Portuguese machete de braga and rajo, and is the headline act in Valla's glittering Superstar Concert. Supporting performers include Paul Jonson from New Zealand and some of Australia's top players, such as Jane Jelbart, Mark Jackson (Jack n Jel) from Newcastle, and locals The Wild Women of Anywhere Beach aka Cathy Welsford and Angie Smith from Valla Beach.
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Along with the concert, the weekend will also focus on a ukulele camp and beach party providing high quality developmental workshops for ukulele players of all levels at the tourist park from August 2 to 4.
Event organiser Cathy Welsford said during Ms Muir's much-anticipated visit to Valla Beach, she will present a day-long study institute for string players wishing to learn classical ukulele and melody-picking styles. The work shops will take place on Friday, August 2 and again on Monday, August 4, due to high demand.
Paul Jonson will also treat students to boogie, blues and ragtime. There will be multiple workshops for participants to choose from on Saturday and Sunday and a full-camp ukulele orchestra playing an arrangement of the jazz standard, Fly Me to The Moon.
Concerts will be held each day, with Friday night featuring some of the tutors, as well as community ukulele groups from Sydney (The Lightly Strung Orchestra) in the south and Yamba Ukulele Group in the north and places in between including groups from Sawtell, Hungry Head and Valla Beach Garage Band. Saturday night is the feature performance starring our international guests and other Australian performers. On Sunday, the camp participants will present what they have learned in their workshops. The Saturday evening concert is open to the community with tickets available at the door.
As for the beach party - throughout the weekend there will be opportunities to take advantage of the superb location of the Valla Beach Tourist Park and head across the creek to the beach with ukes and fun in mind!
Ukulele concert open to public
The Valla Beach evening Superstar Concert on Saturday, August 3 from 7pm to 9pm at the Valla Beach Tourist Park is also open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $25 or $20 concession, with free entry for participants attending the institute or weekend workshops.
To sign up to workshops, visit www.vallabeachukulelecamp.net.
About Samantha Muir
Samantha Muir is a performer, music teacher and composer currently based in England. She has presented concerts and workshops at leading folk festivals across the United Kingdom including the Biddulph Festival, Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, Uke East, Highland Ukulele Gathering, Forest Ukulele Retreat and Halsway Manor Ukulele Weekend.
Ms Muir has taught in Europe, Australia and the UK. Her credentials include university degrees in English Literature, Performance Studies from the Royal College of Music, London where she was awarded the Madeline Walton Guitar Prize, and she is currently doing a PhD at the University of Surrey entitled New Works for Classical Ukulele.
She teaches classical guitar and ukulele at Sherborne School in Dorset and runs the Ukulele Ensemble course at Benslow Music.
Ms Muir is also a highly successful recording artist and arranger whose arrangements include works by Carulli, Sor, Carcassi, Giuliani, Tarrega and Bach. In 2015 she was commissioned by Schott World Music to arrange a mixed media book and CD of 35 Scottish Tunes for Ukulele. Her other recorded works include For Love... And a Small Bag of Diamonds, featuring classical guitar music from Spain and South America, Alma Apaixonada music of Villa Lobos and Dilermando Reis, Hope, a mini CD of duets with Lara Taylor, and The Beauty of Uke, a compilation of solo classical and campanella arrangements for ukulele. Her arrangements andcompositions are published by Les Productions d'Oz (see https://samanthamuir.com).
"We are thrilled to have enlisted Samantha Muir as our featured guest artist in this year's Valla Beach Ukulele Camp and Beach Party," Ms Welsford said.
"She is a true musical genius and an immensely talented performer. When Australian ukers heard she was coming her Study Institute was booked out within hours, but she generously agreed to do a second day so people won't be disappointed."
