| The Princes of Serendip (2002) |
|||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
|||||||||||||||
| Growth & Gravity (1996) | |||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|
| You can hear a recording of a live radio performance given by the Princes of Serendip on April 12th, 2000 on Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Dancing on the Air (click on "Artists" and then scroll down to The Princes of Serendip). The performance featured the following songs: The Bargain, Every Moment is Now, Bright-eyed Boy, Appleberries, and The Prince of Serendip. |
|
|
"The Princes' music is difficult to describe.... Folk, New Age, and classical influences
can all be detected, as well as lyrics that Lewis Carroll and Ogden Nash would envy."
Cheryl A. Rice, Hudson Valley Folk Guild, 2002 |
|
"Charged with Celtic mystery and wonder....Layered over strands of familiar folk melodies that settled into the ear like old friends or joined to boldly embroidered and exquisitely crafted original melodies, Vanini's sublime flights into mists of fantasy...swept listeners along like a current."
Gary Alexander, The Woodstock Times, January 18, 1998 |
|
"...absolute delight of ageless entertainment...a masterfully entertaining talent. Bravo."
Gary Alexander, The Woodstock Times, January 18, 1998 |
|
"It's a flashing gypsy violin, it's a bit of Mozart, it's an ancient Irish refrain-the music of T.G. Vanini and his band, the Princes of Serendip, is as alluring as it is hard to describe. ...Vanini's songs have a strong emotional charge. His material ranges from love songs that have their roots in British folk music...to the mythical and surreal landscapes and imagery of dreams."
Baruch College News, February 6, 1998 |
|
"...the animate resonance of musicianship illuminating their eclectic whimsical repertoire exposed the royalty of their ensemble from the first set."
Kitty Montgomery, Kingston Daily Freeman, December 31, 1996 |
|
"A transcendental, magical, spiritual evening...a perfect marriage of word and song."
Sam Rand, Berkshire Record, June 1997 |
|
"His song-poems limn the richness of both the mortal world and the deathless realm of enchantment, and that magical point at which they intersect....The melodies and harmonies are haunting; so, too, the prevailing sense of wistful, tender sadness at the fleeting nature of life and love."
Mikhail Horowitz, Ulster Publising Company's Alm@nac, July 1998 |
| Articles |
|
Mike Jurkovic
Rhythm & News, March 2003 Shamefully I must confess that this was the first time I've experienced the Princes, even though I've been acquainted with the trio for some time now. With a beguiling and mischievous understanding of all things mythical and musical, an evening with The Princes Of Serendip is equal parts chamber recital, story hour, and poetry reading. Coalescing Old World balladry with mountain folk, Celtic swing with Vivaldian flourish, these baroque pranksters entrance their audience, creating entirely new worlds of child-like, though adult themed, wonder. Sprung from the vivid imaginings and lyrical weaving of songwriter/violinist/vocalist and possible past life court jester T.G.Vanini, fellow Princes, Don Yacullo (piano) and Julie Parisi Kirby (vocals), create in harmonious tandem the full pallette upon which Vanini tells his tales. 'Miranda' 'Plutonium Pops', 'Sheffield Square', and the shanty 'Onions' were revisited on this night. Songs performed from the new CD included the hauntingly majestic 'Like an empty room', 'City of Visitors', the playfully prophetic 'The dinosaur's advice' and '42 years on'. But listing song titles, throwing around critical qualifiers, and assuring you the audience responded energetically to each performance, does The Princes no big favor. Not needing to be cranked up to ten, or fronted by some hot shot chick singer or fire-for-fingers lead guitarist, The Princes Of Serendip prove, both onstage and on their recordings, that imagination, and a fearless originality, go a long, long, way. |
|
The Secret Life of Professor Kirby
by Irv Yarg. December 2002 In R.M. McKenna's award-winning short story, "The Secret Place," there is an invisible landscape which is both 'there' and 'not there.' It's a matter of perspective. Likewise, in Edwin A. Abbott's classic social satire of 1884, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions , the inhabitants of the author's two dimensional universe change dramatically with shifts of perspective. The hidden universe which Laurence Kirby maps musically with his talented cohorts in The Princes of Serendip will be on display in concert at the Woodstock Artists Association on Saturday, December 7th, starting at 7:30 pm. |