The Tryon Concert Association will present two “TGIF” concerts, hour-long presentations of music on Friday evenings beginning in October.

The musicians will interact with the audience, talk about the music and composers and offering insights into their performances.

The cash bar will open at 5:30 p.m. The concerts will start at 6 p.m. and finish at 7 p.m., which will give concert-goers time to dine in downtown Tryon.

Flutist Angela Massey will give the first concert on Friday, Oct. 26, at the Tryon Fine Arts Center.

Massey, who will be accompanied by Miles Massicotte, has been recognized for her “beautiful and enchanting” playing. She has been praised by Jeanne Baxtresser, former principal flute of the New York Philharmonic, for her “pure and lovely tone” and “impeccable intonation.”

Her career as a solo artist, chamber artist, orchestral musician, and instructor has taken her to many concert halls across the United States and Europe. She is the Artistic Director of the Astralis Chamber Ensemble, an ensemble of young musicians.

Massey is a champion of new music, having commissioned many new works and worked with contemporary composers.

Kymric Mahnke, pianist, will present the second TGIF concert, which will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, March 8, 2019, also at TFAC.

Mahnke is well known in the Tryon area for his performances at Bach’s Lunch Lenten and Advent recitals at Holy Cross in Tryon, Tryon Estate’s Laurel Lake Music Society, Converse College’s Petrie School of Music, and the South Carolina School of the Arts.

A former college professor at Presbyterian College, where he taught piano and music theory, Mahnke was a frequent recitalist and appeared as piano soloist with the University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the North Carolina Symphony, and the Virginia Beach Pops Orchestra. Mahnke has recently returned to performing in addition to maintaining a career in law.

More information is available on the Tryon Concert Association website, tryonconcerts.org.

– Submitted article