MARQUETTE, Mich.— A music and dance ensemble from southern Italy, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, will perform a Valentine’s Day concert in Ishpeming. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 14, in the Westwood High School Auditorium. Tickets are $20 and include an afterglow reception with Italian sweets provided by the Paisano Club of Marquette County. They can be purchased at the door or in advance from all Northern Michigan University EZ Ticket outlets.

Formed in 1975, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is regarded as Italy’s leading and longest-standing traditional music ensemble. The group hails from the Salento, the heel of the Italian boot, in Puglia. Fiddler and drummer Mauro Durante leads the seven-piece band and featured dancer. They represent a new wave of young performers re-inventing Southern Italy's Pizzica musical and dance traditions for today's global audience.

The concert is part of the NMU Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center’s Upper Peninsula Folklife Festival and is funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.