Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Mountain Music

Burlington-based band Black Sea Quartet may have sailed into the multicolored sunset, but fans of its Gypsy-folk fusion would do well to catch the UVM Lane Series’ first concert offering of the season. Conservatory-trained instrumental trio Veretski Pass takes its name from the notch in the Carpathian Mountains through which Jews, Moslems, Magyars, Romanians and Roma poured into a geographic area sandwiched between Eastern and Western Europe. The rocky basin’s melting pot produced a multicultural, world-music mélange: Veretski Pass’ original classical-klezmer compositions feature rare “Old Country” melodies gathered by its members in field recordings from Poland, Romania, Moldavia and Bessarabia. The collage has proved popular: Violinist Cookie Segelstein’s musical stylings were featured in a Jewish-wedding episode of HBO’s “Sex and the City,” and the trio has played sold-out shows in the Netherlands and elsewhere. Hear them for yourself at the UVM Recital Hall.