On Saturday, September 2, 2006, Jeremy and I attended a "Starlight Serenade" presented by the Sierra Nevada Balalaika Society. This music is magical to me .. I love it, and the energy the musicians exhibit while playing. This was a phenomenal night, and I wanted to share some of the photos with anyone interested. I'll add explanations and descriptions when I can.


The large triangular "guitar" in the back is a balalaika


This instrument is called a domra


This instrument is a type of harp-like creature, called a Gusli.


Big Rock Balalaikas, from California. Talk about energy on the stage! They had everyone clapping along, whooping and hollering .. what a blast!


Sieglinde and Dr. Claus Prodehl, a couple visiting from Karlsruhe (Pfinztal), Germany, is an amateur duo (Claus being a seismologist, Sieglinde being a teacher).

Misha (Mikhail) Smirnov - talent, plus a wealth of knowledge! Please click on his name to open up a new page with his life story, and all KINDS of information on the instruments from this concert. What a fascinating person! He performed with Sasha Menshikov, pictured immediately below. They were a really amusing and extremely talented singing duo. More talent in their little fingers than I have in my entire body! Please definitely take the time to learn more about them and even listen to some mp3 clips if you'd like!


Sasha (Aleksander) Menshikov is a professional singer, vocal teacher, musician and performer, and is also director of the Brooklyn-based Russian folk dance and music ensemble Barynya.


George and Irina Arabaji, Moldavian dance duo.


Shaska, born and raised in the spirit of the ancient dancers from Peru, she has traveled and studied various belly dance traditions around the world. She teaches belly dance classes at the Performing Arts Center in Reno. Who knew there was so much talent in our own backyard?


I ran up the hill at the end of the performance to get a nice overall view of the stage and the immensely talented artists upon it.

If you want to know more about the Sierra Nevada Balalaika Society, please click on their name to open up their web site in a new window.