Peter Ostroushko

Folk/world

"Music was just something that we had around the house," says Peter Ostroushko, of his Ukrainian family's approach to music. "They neither encouraged me nor discouraged me. When I picked up my dad's mandolin and started picking "I Want to Hold Your Hand' they didn't act surprised." Ostroushko never set out to learn the old tunes, they just spontaneously flowed from his fingers after years of hearing his family make music. A look at his discography, of course, reminds us that his mastery goes beyond Ukrainian, to swing and old time and new acoustic music. Today he has a 12-year-old daughter, who, he says, "Has heard quite enough of dad's music." She plays violin, too, but in youth symphonies, no learning by chance there. Though her taste is not so far from home; her dad regularly helps symphonies and chamber orchestras sink their roots into "Appalachian Spring" and even "Orange Blossom Special."

Sat., Jan. 24, 7:30 p.m., $10-$20, with pianist Dan Chouinard, Crossroads, Calvary Center, 48th St. and Baltimore Ave., 215-729-1028.

—Mary Armstrong

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