Group Features Conestoga Native

The Tamburitzans music and dance troupe will perform at Warwick Middle School, 401 Maple St., Lititz, on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 3 p.m. The group has performed across the United States as well as internationally and will present traditional music and routines from various European cultures. Among its performers is Cody McSherry, a Conestoga native who will return to Lancaster County as a member of the group for the first time.

This year marks the 86th consecutive season that the Tamburitzans has performed, and the group bills itself as it the longest-running live stage production in the United States. The group was founded in 1937 by A. Lester Pierce after he met three young tamburitza musicians. They performed as the St. Thomas Tamburitza Trio until traveling to Pittsburgh, which Pierce felt would make a good headquarters due to its cultural diversity. Pierce made a work scholarship arrangement with Duquesne University for the performers, and they became known as the Duquesne University Tamburitzans in the 1940s.

The tamburitza, after which the company is named, is a family of stringed instruments originating from Croatia and is commonly used in folk music from Serbia, Bosnia and several surrounding countries. In its earlier days, the Tamburitzans focused only on music from Eastern Europe, but has since expanded its catalog to feature multiple other cultures. "As the world has changed, so have we," said Alyssa Hrishenko, executive director of the Tamburitzans. "We've done Bollywood and Latin American performances and try to respectfully represent as many countries as we can across the states."

The performance that will be featured in Lititz is titled "Phoenix: A New Dawn." It will include music from Italian culture and conclude with a traditional Ukrainian piece. "We like to think of this production as a rebirth of culture and our ensemble after (the COVID-19 pandemic)," said Hrishenko. "We're also happy to do our part to keep Ukrainian culture on stage during this time of turmoil."

McSherry is the lead accordionist and leader of onstage musicians for the Tamburitzans and is a sophomore at the University of Pittsburgh. He began performing at 8 years old, playing his accordion at local nursing homes and eventually becoming involved with productions though Servant Stage and the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre. This is McSherry's second year with the Tamburitzans, and he is looking forward to bringing its music to his hometown. "Performing with them is absolutely wonderful. I'm not Eastern European, so this entire world of music is new to me," said McSherry. "I love getting to explore it and meeting so many new people." McSherry is studying classical languages and French, and he now hopes to major in Slavic studies as well.

The Tamburitzans will hold auditions on Saturday, Dec. 3. For more information on auditioning, visit http://www.thetamburitzans.org/auditions. To purchase tickets for the performance in Lititz, visit https://tinyurl.com/lititzshow.