Library to host mellow spring lawn concert

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While the temperatures are still cool, Maricopa Library and Cultural Center will host an outdoor afternoon performance by a Valley music duo on March 24 at its north amphitheater.

Robert and Cindy Leger, the married performers behind Duo Ocotillo, will play a free concert on cello, mandolin and classical guitar for library patrons. The program will consist of classical, movie and pop tunes set around the world, as well as a discussion about the background of the music pieces.

“We hope that we surprise the audience from time to time with the combination of music,” Robert Leger said, noting that composers range from Debussy to Henry Mancini to Jefferson Airplane.

The concert will begin with “Baby Elephant Walk” from the 1962 film “Hatari!,” then shift to tunes from Europe and South America. The pair will also play a Summer of Love medley they composed, followed by music from “Game of Thrones.”

The program features an educational element with a discussion on the setting of each piece and how the music defines each location.

“’Baby Elephant Walk,’ in the way it so vividly depicts a young elephant rambling along, can only be (set) in Africa,” Leger said. “And our ‘Summer of Love’ medley depicts both a time and a place. How do these songs do this? It’s the magic of music and we’ll pull back the curtain just a little bit.”

‘An unlikely pairing’ for performances

The Fountain Hills couple described their music duo as “an unlikely pairing,” noting the unique mix of the two stringed instruments.

“The cello and guitar, you can find others like that,” Leger said. “But we have found no one else in the Southwest, maybe even in the country, with a duo that combines cello and mandolin.”

Leger noted the low, mellow sounds from the cello offers a surprising contrast with the soprano range and percussive sounds from the mandolin.

Musicians Robert and Cindy Leger of Duo Ocotillo pose with their instruments. The pair will play a lawn concert at the Maricopa Library and Cultural Center on March 24. Photo courtesy of Duo Ocotillo.

“Most people would not put them together. We only put them together because, like the Brady Bunch, they were the children we brought together,” he said.

Details: Duo Ocotillo will perform Friday, March 24, 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Maricopa Library and Cultural Center. Admission is free but attendees are encouraged to register on the library’s event page.