December 3, 2025
Eddie’s Attic
Decatur, GA – USA
Ridibund Chamber Music Society (Kirsten Browning, violin; Mary Horst, cello; Molly O’Roark, harp; Ronnie MacDuff, drums; Michael Kurth, contrabass).
Various repertoire crossing classical and popular genres.
William Ford | 9 DEC 2025
The Ridibund Chamber Music Society—Michael Kurth (bass), Kirsten Browning (violin), Mary Horst (cello), Molly O’Roark (harp), and Ronnie MacDuff (drums)—returned to Eddie’s Attic with exactly the kind of cheerful irreverence that has become their calling card. Formed during the pandemic as a neighborhood project led by Kurth, the ensemble has evolved into one of Atlanta’s most consistently inventive musical curiosities.
Kurth, a noted composer, crafted all the arrangements on the program, and his fingerprints were unmistakable: each piece kept the spirit of the original intact while adding flourishes of humor—sometimes through an unexpected rhythmic treatment, sometimes through a slyly chosen mashup partner, always with affectionate respect for the material.
The evening kicked off with one of Kurth’s most gleefully audacious inventions: “Jingle Bells” in the style of Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance. The familiar melody flew by at breakneck speed, driven by MacDuff’s percussive insistence and delivered with crisp, high-energy articulation from the strings. It set the tone immediately—bold, clever, and unapologetically fun.
From there, Ridibund leaned into its signature blend of affection and mischief. “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” collided delightfully with “500 Miles,” the group treating the two melodies as if they had always belonged together. Kurth’s bass grounded the harmonic shifts while O’Roark’s harp added a bright shimmer that kept the whole thing airborne.
The classical-to-pop transformations were even more surprising. Vivaldi’s Winter—normally all bite and frost—melded seamlessly with Sleigh Ride, as though the Baroque master had been reincarnated as a studio arranger with a mischievous streak. Browning and Horst managed the stylistic pivots with ease, and MacDuff stitched the pieces together with crisp rhythmic control.
The Nutcracker suite provided some of the most imaginative moments of the night. The “March,” recast with a bolero pulse, gained a sly swagger, while “Trepak” erupted in Gene Krupa–style big-band bravura. This was Ridibund at its best: charmingly off-center but grounded in serious musicianship and sharply attuned ensemble playing.
The night reached its communal peak when Ridibund played “The Twelve Days of Klezmas,” coaxing the audience into exuberant participation. Browning’s violin leaned into klezmer inflections, O’Roark’s harp became unexpectedly extroverted, and the room joined in with undisguised joy. The performance captured what makes this group so appealing—humor, intelligence, and the freedom to treat familiar material as a playground for creative exploration.
The evening then shifted with a more traditional set from singer-songwriter Josh Schicker, whose voice carried a touch of huskiness but remained golden throughout, wrapping itself gently around his material in the best troubadour tradition. His performances offered a warm, reflective counterbalance to Ridibund’s gleeful unpredictability. The highlight was a luminous rendition of John Denver’s Aspenglow, delivered with a quiet radiance that allowed Denver’s long-overlooked craftsmanship to shine again. The song’s imagery—winter light settling over the Rockies—felt newly alive in Schicker’s hands, a reminder that Denver penned songs of genuine poetic beauty that have slipped from view as tastes shifted and his idealistic persona fell out of fashion.
Eddie’s Attic, with its great sound system, proved an ideal venue for this hybrid evening: intimate, relaxed, and open to the full range of musical impulses onstage. What united both sets was sincerity, whether expressed through Ridibund’s idiosyncratic inventiveness or Schicker’s reflective singing, and the result was a warm, spirited night of holiday-season music-making. ■
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Ridibund Chamber Music Society (Facebook): facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563043837009
- Eddie’s Attic: eddiesattic.com
Read more by William Ford.
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