Inspired by her father Werner Von Trapp’s guitar playing and singing, Elisabeth has carried on the legacy of the internationally renowned Trapp Family Singers. She began taking piano lessons when she was eight and by the age of 16 she was playing guitar and traveling the back roads of New England performing with her siblings at weddings, gospel meetings and town halls.
Building on her famed family’s passion for music, Elisabeth has created her own artistic style, at once ethereal and earthy, delicate and powerful. Listeners have likened her to Judy Collins and Loreena Mc-Kennitt. Critics have called her voice “hauntingly clear,” “joyfully expressive “and “simply beautiful.”
Elisabeth’s concert repertoire ranges from Bach to Broadway, Schubert to Sting. With equal ease and eloquence she sings timeless wonders like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Favorite Things” and “Edelweiss,” “Lieder” by Mozart, Puccini's “O Mio Babbino Caro,” soaring gospel tunes, pop classics like “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and her own stunning compositions.
Her cathedral program includes sacred and secular music extending from Gregorian chants, songs by 12th Century mystic Hildegard of Bingen, early American hymns, spirituals and psalms set to her own compositions. She is accompanied by the elegant arrangements of her guitar.
In the spring of 2001 Elisabeth was granted permission from Robert Frost’s publisher, Henry Holt & Co., to sing parts of the poet’s oeuvre. “Poetic License,” released in June 2004, features the musical settings of poems by Frost and Shakespeare, a Japanese haiku and interpretations of “Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World,” Sting’s “Fragile” and Schubert’s “An Die Musik.”
On her summer 2005 release, “Love Never Ends/Sacred Sounds,” Elisabeth has collected, arranged and recorded some of her favorite hymns, psalms and chants with influences from jazz and gospel, contemporary and classical musical styles.
Elisabeth has released five self-produced albums, and has performed across the United States, Austria and Russia. Her music has been featured on National Public Radio, BBC-Radio, Japanese National Radio and CNN Spanish Radio. She has appeared on CBS’s Eye on People, ABC’s “Good Morning America” and BBC-TV.
“This is a rare treat for our audience to have a front-row seat to one of the most famous musical names in New England, carried here into the 21st Century by the lovely vocals of Elisabeth Von Trapp,” said Charlie Jordan, President of the Great North Wood Committee for the Arts. “We are delighted to present her in the beautiful setting of Monadnock Congregational Church.” Church members will have food and beverages for sale during intermission at the show.
Admission to the concert is $15. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Fiddleheads on Main Street in Colebrook or at the door on the night of the concert.
The Von Trapp concert is part of a summer series presented by the GNWCA at the Monadnock Congregational Church. Information about this or other concerts can be found at gnwca.org or by calling 237-9302 or 246-8998.