Matthew Abelson (Special Event)

MATTHEW ABELSON stretches the capabilities of the hammered dulcimer. He grew up surrounded by folk music: his parents ran the Princeton (NJ) Folk Music Society. At the age of six, he became fascinated with the hammered dulcimer his father built for his older brother. He grew up learning how to play all sorts of other instruments (folks who run a folk music society have a lot of them hanging around the house). It was at Oberlin College that he became re-acquainted with the hammered dulcimer in a serious way. (He was even in the same dorm with the Clark Colons?see Changeling, April 10.) He majored in biology, but the music took over his life. His epiphany came during a Christmas gig at an upscale shopping mall in Cleveland. As he stood on stage in front of thousands and performed, he knew he was headed in the right direction. That was when he quit his day job.MATTHEW ABELSON plays a variety of musical styles. Although he started with primarily Irish tunes, his repertoire now includes traditional American music as well as classical, renaissance, jazz, and original works. His performances are exciting, engaging, and entertaining - weaving together traditional stories, personal anecdotes and humor to compliment the music.HIS CURRENT HAMMERED DULCIMER is a custom James Jones acoustic/electric dulcimer with dampers, three fill chromatic octaves and an extra octave on bass.ABELSON is now performing, recording, and teaching full-time. He appears extensively at colleges, universities, major festivals and coffee houses through-out the Mid-Atlantic region, Michigan and his current home state of Ohio. His audiences have included President Clinton, Vice President Gore, author Anne Rice and other notables. In May 1999, Abelson took first place at the Mid-East Regional Hammered Dulcimer Competition.