Lyra, the famed choral group from Russia, will present a concert of both religious and secular Russian music at Mount Zion United Methodist Church at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30. Lyra is a community of more than two dozen musicians, most of whom are students or graduates of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, which offers the highest level of musical training in Russia. The musical program is a mix of songs and hymns from the Russian Orthodox tradition as well as folk songs and secular music from Russia’s most accomplished composers.

The Greater Love Quartet will perform 11 a.m. Aug 24 at Rochelle Christian Church.

Under different circumstances, the Grammy award-nominated bluegrass family band Cherryholmes may have been full-time Madison County residents.
“We often said if the music didn’t work out, we would just pick apples on the mountains in Syria,” said Sandy Cherryholmes – mother, mandolin-player and vocalist of the group, set to perform during a Sunday, July 20 concert at Graves Mountain Lodge in Syria.

The band opening this year’s Music on the Lawn series has its roots in old-time Appalachian string band traditions, but if you’re going to its June 12 concert, be prepared to hear the unexpected. The Web site for the Charlottesville-based band – Mando Mafia – says, “A typical performance might, in addition to old-time hoedown music, include calypso, reggae, rockabilly, klezmer and bluegrass, together with the occasional Finnish wedding march, Chilean sikureada, Puerto Rican or Argentine waltz and Italian polka.”

Audiences attending the Graves Mountain Lodge Festival of Music have heard multi-instrumentalist Randy Kohrs play in a number of bands over the years. This season, it’s his turn in the spotlight. Kohrs will be leading his own band, the Lites, in two performances Thursday, May 29, to help open the Syria resort’s 16th annual bluegrass festival.