In 2007, Keita Fukushima, violin, and myself formed a duo called Strada.

We had the good fortune, through Keita's connections, to get a concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York City. We came up with an eclectic program of violin duos with some special guests.

At the time I had a friend who worked for composer Ned Rorem and I asked him if he would write a lullaby for our duo. He agreed since he had never written one before! Thankfully, I was able to get funds from several generous donors within the Erie community. We also commissioned Iranian-American composer Reza Vali who wrote a beautiful piece for violin and struck glasses.

We also spent a week in Japan performing this show - I was very grateful to be involved in this project!

The polka Old Country Oberek was accordionist Joe Matzcak's idea. I arranged a twin fiddle part and we recorded it at Peppermint Studio in Youngstown, Ohio for the album Diamond Anniversary Edition by the Penn-Ohio Polka Pals. You can listen to both of these pieces by click below!