Award-Winning Performer Rhiannon Giddens Brings Powerful Voice to Eccles Center for New Year's Eve

Park City Institute's traditional New Year's Eve show features virtuoso vocalist, banjo and fiddle-player Rhiannon Giddens. The show begins at 8:00 p.m. The performance is part of the Anniversary Main Stage Season at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for Performing Arts. Giddens, who is co-founder of the Grammy award-winning band, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, is known for presenting heartfelt, often haunting performances, woven with themes of social justice.

"Rhiannon Giddens' vocals are stunning, her banjo and fiddle-playing are masterful. She brings a passion for social justice to her music, along with a powerful connection to the audeince. Her version of St. James Infirmary will flatten you," said PCI Executive Director Teri Orr. "Her powerful and inspiring performance style will end the year on a strong note."

Her music is an expression of unity. "I am a daughter of the South; of the white working class, of the black working class; of the Democrat, and the Republican; of the gay, and the straight; and I can tell you one thing-we are far more alike than we are different," Giddens said. "We cannot let hate divide us; we cannot let ignorance diminish us; we cannot let those whose greed fills their every waking hour take our country from us."

Giddens, who studied opera at Oberlin college, has also played with Yo-Yo Ma in the Silk Road String Ensemble. Her two solo albums, the Grammy-nominated "Tomorrow Is My Turn," and "Freedom Highway," earn praise from every corner of the music industry. She is the first female winner of the Steve Martin Award for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass. Earlier this year, Giddens was honored with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" award.

The New Year's Eve audience in the Eccles will hear the voice the New York Times called, "a perpetually soulful marvel," and The Guardian praised for its "phenomenal power, effortlessly jumping between gospel holler, tender folk song, and lachrymose country ballad."

Tickets to Park City Institute's New Year's Eve Celebration with Rhiannon Giddens, are available at parkcityinstitute.org, or by calling the box office at 435-655-3114. Prices for New Year's Eve: Sapphire section $49, Ruby section $109, VIP Amethyst tickets are $189 for the Amethyst section, including entrance to the Park City Institute's intimate and festive New Year's Eve after-party.

The Box Office is located within the Eccles Center (1750 Kearns Boulevard, Park City.) Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday; the Box Office is open from noonthrough show time, on the day of a performance.

Park City Institute is a non-profit organization, dedicated to bringing world-class performances and new ideas to the community. Since 1998, PCI has presented internationally renowned and cutting edge musicians, actors, authors, comedians, dancers, speakers, and film, at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts (a joint-use facility with the Park City School District). The organization will embark on its 15th season of headliner concerts at Deer Valley® Resort, next summer. PCI is dedicated to introducing young people to the arts through free student outreach workshops, shows and demonstrations. Since 2010, PCI has offered a free, after-school literacy program to students in grades one through 12 at the thinky and fun tutoring hub, The Mega-Genius Supply Store and IQ HQ (located at 435 Swede Alley).

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