Hear holiday harp music from Bronn and Katherine Journey

Published 8:19 am Thursday, December 15, 2011

Musician Bronn Journey can’t help himself. He has to make a joke: He said he just turned 50 this year and he’s going to start spelling the harp “H-AARP.”

Journey has been playing the harp for a long time. In fact, this year will be his 30th presenting a Christmas concert to Snohomish County audiences.

Journey will be joined by his wife, Katherine Journey, who will sing during the concert of traditional Christmas music on Sunday at the Everett Performing Arts Center.

Bronn Journey said this year’s concert will focus mainly on Christmas music but in a way that is very informal.

Journey is a performer who is known for engaging his audience with jokes and casual banter and for providing symphony caliber music without any stuffiness.

“We like to think of it as an informal formal evening. We are very approachable and the music is very nice,” Journey said in a phone interview. “We like to bring the audience up a little bit.”

Journey also wants people to bring their bells.

A tradition during this Christmas concert is that people bring jingle bells and are then asked on stage to shake their bells while everyone sings a rousing version of “Jingle Bells.”

Sometimes people bring special bells. Journey said one year, a woman brought a bell her great grandmother had on the farm in North Dakota she used to bring in the hired hands from the field for dinner.

Some people use the jingle bell app on their cell phone, Journey said.

Bronn and Katherine are also known for their virtuosity.

Bronn holds a degree in harp performance from the University of Washington. Katherine holds an undergraduate degree in music education from Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, and a master’s degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University in Tempe.

This year’s backup musicians are a group called Erwilian, which blends traditional melodies with modern influences, according to the group’s biography.

Their instruments range from recorders and drums to the lutelike bouzouki and hammered dulcimer. Their band members backgrounds’ include classical, rock, new age and bluegrass.

Journey said Erwilian plays in a “cool renaissance” style.

This year’s concert will focus on the traditional songs of Christmas time, Journey said, such as “In the Bleak Midsummer,” “Solemn Hush of Midnight” and “Snow Lay on the Ground.” Katherine Journey will sing selections from her new CD, including the title track “When Love is Born” and “One Small Child.”

There will also be a Christmas carol or two for people to join in and sing.

“There are always those people who don’t want to be there, but we make it entertaining,” Journey said.

Journey said he’s done these Christmas concerts for so long because they make his season.

Journey did say that he and Katherine already have had offers to be guest performers at other Christmas gigs next year.

“Maybe these Christmas concerts are numbered,” Journey joked. “Heck, I’m not going to be doing this when I’m 80.”

The Bronn and Katherine Journey Christmas Concert is at 2 p.m. Sunday at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett.

Tickets are $24 and $20 with group rates available; 425-257-8600 or www.VillageTheatre.org.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.