May 27, 1998 May 29 Concert Features Alan Jabbour, Stephen Wade

The Music Division and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress will present a free concert of traditional fiddle and banjo, tunes from the Appalachians performed by Alan Jabbour, violin, and Stephen Wade, banjo on Friday, May 29, at noon in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E. The concert is the final event in a special spring "Violin Summit" concert series spotlighting several different genres of music for the violin.

Stephen Wade is best-known for his one-man performance in "Banjo Dancing," one of the longest-running theatrical works in American stage history. Scheduled for a three-week engagement at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., Wade stayed for 10 years. "Banjo Dancing," as well as his other performance pieces, "On the Way Home" and "Alligator Horse and a Touch of the Earthquake," all draw heavily on his original research at the Archive of Folk Culture in the Library of Congress.

Alan Jabbour, director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, began playing the violin at the age of 7 and at 15 began to perform with the Jacksonville Symphony in Jacksonville, Florida. He later became a member of the Brevard Music Festival Orchestra, the Miami Symphony under Fabian Sevitsky, and the University of Miami String Quartet. He taught English, folklore, and folk music at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1969, Mr. Jabbour became the head of the Archive of Folk Song at the Library of Congress. In 1974, he moved to the National Endowment for the Arts, where he founded the Folk Arts Program, and in 1976 became the first director of the American Folklife Center.