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Musicians Perform Lunchtime Concerts in May

Arts & Health at Duke presents free concerts in the Trent Semans Center plaza

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The Eno Islanders is one of the scheduled performers during Arts & Health at Duke's "May Music Wednesdays" concert series. The Eno Islanders will play Hawaiian music on May 13 in the Trent Semans Center courtyard. Photo courtesy of Arts & Health at Duke

Grab your lunch and take a break listening to classical guitar or Hawaiian melodies in an outdoor courtyard on campus.Arts & Health at Duke, a program that brings the arts to halls and patient rooms of Duke Medicine, presents “May Music Wednesdays,” a free concert series in the plaza of the Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans Center for Health Education. Local musicians will play from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Wednesday during the month of May.“Come out and celebrate spring with us,” said Sharon Swanson, Arts & Health at Duke’s program coordinator. “Come find the joy in the music. For as much or as little time as you have, bring your lunch, bring your friends. That’s what this is all about. It’s a respite during the day.”This is the first time the organization is holding outdoor concerts in the Trent Semans Center plaza. To start the series, on May 6, the Carlos Salvo Duo will perform in the musical style of New Chilean Song, a genre that came out of Chile in the 1960s, and marry the sounds of Spanish classical guitar with the cello. The Eno Islanders will play Hawaiian music on May 13, and Shawn Luby will perform classical guitar music on May 20. To finish the series, Chapel Hill-based Onyx Club Boys will play hot European jazz on May 27.William Dawson, the performing artist in residence for Arts & Health at Duke, plays upright bass for The Eno Islanders and will be part of the performance May 13. He’s proud of the diversity presented in the concert series. Many of the songs will be performed in Spanish, Hawaiian and English, with young to seasoned performers sharing their music on the Duke Medicine campus.  “There’s a lot of humanity still going on while you have to be at the hospital,” Dawson said. “There’s hope and there’s joy, and we picked all these musicians and performers to reflect that.”

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