Poster Cedarwood Duo
Cedarwood Duo are Joseph Trucano, piano, and Hannah Peterson Green, flute.
Nate Ryan; Clint Ashlock

Live from the Fair: Cedarwood Duo

The Cedarwood Duo consists of Joseph Trucano on piano and Hannah Peterson Green on flute. "I forget what the first thing we played for was, but I think Hannah said, 'I need a pianist for something, can we try putting some pieces together?'," Trucano recalls. "We did that, and it worked really well, we worked really well together, and we had good musical product at the end, and it's kind of evolved from there."

Trucano — who works at MPR's parent company, American Public Media, as a producer on the program, Pipedreams — says the Cedarwood Duo typically perform about a half-dozen times per year. "We did something for the Tiwn Cities American Guild of Organists; they had an event on Charles-Marie Vidor, the famous organist, and we did a flute suite by him," Trucano says. "We've had the chance to explore all this different rep and new rep. It's been really fun."

Fun is something that Trucano says characterizes a performance at the Minnesota State Fair. "A performance, especially when it's live broadcast, is always a little bit nerve-wracking, but we know it's the State Fair and people are there to have fun," he says. "We're giving music to people who really want to be there: people who want to support MPR and classical music. I know the crowd is going to be really great, so I'm just really excited to get in and play and share what we have with them, and just kind of have a fun afternoon."

In October, the Cedarwood Duo will begin work as one of Classical MPR's Class Notes Artists, making visits to schools where they'll conduct performances with an educational focus. "We'll be working with two dancers — a married couple, actually — Blake Nellis and Leah Gallas. We've got a repertoire of dance music: some Piazzola, some Bach, some ragtime, a beatbox flute piece that Hannah's going to do. Our program that we're doing for kids asks, How does music relate to movement and dance? And how do we tie those together?"

In the short term, however, the members of the Cedarwood Duo are focused on what they'll get to do at the Minnesota State Fair. "I basically like any fried food," Trucano chuckles. "I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack afterward, but it's worth it for those two minutes of experiencing heaven. I'm a foodie, that's what I love, trying the new concoctions that they have."

Flutist Hannah Peterson Green is looking forward to a handful of specific activities. "Ever since I was little, I've always looked forward to having an ice cream cone and seeing the butter carvings at the Dairy Barn," she says. "It broke my heart as a little kid when I found out that you had to live on a dairy farm to be a princess!"

The Cedarwood Duo performs at the MPR booth at the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday, Aug. 25, at 12 p.m. Julie Amacher hosts.

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