2007 Lake Superior Ragtime Festival
The Lake Superior Ragtime Society was founded in 1984 by Yvonne Cloutier and Tim Sandor. The (mostly) annual ragtime festival began in Duluth in 1986 and this year marks the 17th occurrence for this wonderful event. For many years, the festivities were set at Barker's Island Inn (Superior) but this year, they were relocated to the Duluth Radisson. The festival format featured three simultaneous venues during the day: the 5th Avenue Lounge and the Viking Room are located inside the hotel while the Depot Train Museum is just a short walk across Superior Street. Formal evening concerts were presented at Mitchell Auditorium on the campus of the College of St. Scholastica, which features great acoustics and two beautiful grand pianos. This year’s headliners included: Paul Asaro, Mimi Blais, Nan Bostick, Sue Keller, Alex Sandor and Adam Swanson. Other performers included: Andrew Barker, Rich Berry, Bill Brown, Yvonne Cloutier, Ann Doberstein, Beth Gucinski, Dick Haines, Harmony Trio (Ruth Juntunen, Marinda Marden, Kerry Tomhave), Janet Jennings, Jack Love, George Mackey, Ginny Mahlum, Yvonne McDonald, Larisa Migachyov, Judy Olson, Galen Parker, John Partridge, John Remmers, Stephen Rhyner, Tim Sandor, Donna Schultz, Mike Schwimmer, Bill Sell, Steve Standiford, Monty Suffern, Adrian Swanson, Ruby Thomas, Judy Thompson, David Tucker, Jeff Williams, and Sandy Williams. A pair of informative and entertaining Saturday morning seminars included “The Music of Donald Ashwander” by Sue Keller, and “From Ragtime to Swing Time” by Nan Bostick. A couple of notable standouts include Pat Conn and Larisa Migachyov. Pat is a dear friend of ragtimers everywhere and is the daughter of Joe Lamb, who is one of ragtime’s “big three” (along with Scott Joplin and James Scott). Larisa Migachyov is a very talented pianist/composer who discovered the ragtime scene just this year and who we hope to see for many years to come.
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