Dancing in the streets, drumming in the avenues, and singing on the boulevards: all of these and more are yours this week as Berkeley's arts and entertainment hub springs into action for the Downtown Berkeley MusicFest! Highlighting the amazing diversity of Berkeley's downtown scene, the festival features a rich array of musical performances at venues throughout the downtown area, our future home. The Freight will produce the festival's signature concert, our annual Fiddle Summit at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Roda Theater.

Some of traditional music's most notable players bow, strum, and pluck up a storm tonight at the Roda in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Alasdair Fraser's famed Scottish Fiddling Camp. Make sure you join Alasdair and members of this summer's camp faculty, Natalie Haas, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, and Bruce Molsky, as they offer up a rousing evening of fiddle magic and help inaugurate the highlights new music festival!

Fiddle Summit host Alasdair Fraser is justly renowned for his warmth and wit as well as his music. One of Scotland's most valued tradition-bearers, his richly expressive playing transports listeners across a broad spectrum ranging from haunting laments drawn from the Gaelic tradition to classically styled airs and raucous dance tunes, all delivered with sincerity, flawless virtuosity, and the sweetest of sounds. Alasdair performs with brilliant young cellist Natalie Haas, a recent graduate of the Juilliard School who has also toured extensively with Mark O'Connor and Natalie MacMaster. The pair showcase driving, dancing rhythms from their most recent duo album, In the Moment.

Irish fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes and Chicago-born guitarist Dennis Cahill possess a rare musical kinship, ranking them among the most memorable duos of our era. The two hold listeners spellbound with their slow-building, fiery performances, releasing the pure, lyrical beauty of traditional Irish music. Their new CD, Welcome Here Again (Compass), captures the amazing fire and chemistry of their duo playing, which Martin describes as "a three-way conversation between the two of us and the music."

One of the most influential old-time fiddlers of his generation, Bronx-born Bruce Molsky continually proves that traditional music knows no geographical or cultural boundaries. Veering naturally toward the fun and engaging, Bruce's high-spirited playing melds the archaic mountain sounds of Appalachia, the power of blues, the nimble music of Eastern Europe, and the rhythmic intricacies of traditional African music. He learned his art directly from renowned Blue Ridge Mountains musicians Tommy Jarrell and Albert Hash, and has earned numerous awards at fiddle and banjo contests around the South. His most recent solo CD is Soon Be Time (Compass).