Violin Duo Gypsy Moon Performs At Lakewood Public Library

Violinists Ariel Bittner and Nate Bocchicchio should not be performing as Gypsy Moon at Lakewood Public Library on June 17th. They should be sitting quietly at home writing their life stories about travelling the world perfecting a style of Gypsy music that transforms an ordinary stage into an Eastern European circus tent. But then again, sitting at home isn’t something these two tend to do.

“We both come from Eastern European and Italian bloodlines, so to learn and play our ancestral music, and to understand the history of the Roma culture has been one of our greatest motivations,” says Nate. “We met between separate travels abroad in 2002, Ariel was doing research in Nicaragua, and I was riding freight trains and working on an Alaskan fishing boat,” he continues. Before they even knew one another, the two Lakewood natives had individually worked in travelling carnivals, Nate in South Dakota and Ariel in Vermont. As a couple, their life of adventure continues.

Starting in a Lakewood collective house, they became involved with the local art and music scene. In time they moved to Arizona where Nate became a welder in a bronze art foundry and Ariel studied herbalism and the holistic healing arts.

A new life on the road began after Nate turned an old bread truck into a mobile home. The couple volunteered on farms throughout New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and California. Nate describes their growing interest in gypsy music, “During that time we started learning and collecting traditional Eastern European gypsy folk songs, busking on the street, and trading music with other performers.” Now the road has led them home again.

As artists, Nate and Ariel create sculptures and are currently building a glass garden wall for a local patron. As musicians, they are bringing their love for gypsy music to local venues and the Lakewood Public Library.

So please join us on June 17th at 2:00 p.m. when the fascinating duo Gypsy Moon stars in a special Sunday With The Friends concert in the Main Library Auditorium. This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Lakewood Public Library. And as always the performance is free and open to the public!