Great North Woods Committee for the Arts Archives

Irish Music at the Colebrook Country Club

Get ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day at the Colebrook Country Club beginning at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, as the region’s Celtic ensemble gathers in town to celebrate the music of the Emerald Isle.

Islay Mist Ceilidh come to Colebrook bringing in a host of Irish tunes — and then some — with a successive blast of jigs, reels, airs and some familiar tunes to sing along with. The will be hosting this lively St. Patrick’s Day gathering.

Islay Mist Ceilidh includes fiddlers, guitarists, bodhrans, flutes and penny whistle. It brings together musicians from all over northern New Hampshire who at first started out playing Celtic music together for fun. That fun has grown to include numerous gigs at various venues and events; the band plays several times a year at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Highland Center Inn in Crawford Notch, at the Lancaster Fair, and for the past three years has been among the headliners at the annual First Night North New Year’s Eve celebration in St. Johnsbury, Vt. The group recently played at the First Day celebration on New Year’s Day in Colebrook helping launch the town’s 250th anniversary celebration.

Come along and join the fun and don’t forget to wear your green — and join in the singing to some old Irish favorites, including “Danny Boy,” “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and more. Whether you’re of Irish heritage or just Irish for the day, you will have a great time — and that’s no blarney.

Admission is $15 at the door for adults and $5 for children 12 or younger. You can secure advance tickets online at www.gnwca.org.

Celtic Musicians Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas at Rialto Theatre

The musical partnership between consummate top Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and dynamic Californian cellist Natalie Haas returns to the North Country on Tuesday, April 9, when the duo performs in concert at the Rialto Theater in Lancaster.

“For music fans worldwide, Alasdair Fraser has set the gold standard of Scottish fiddling,” said Charlie Jordan, President of the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts. “His teaming up with cellist Natalie Haas has taken this genre of Celtic music to new, previously uncharted heights.”

The GNWCA, which first brought Fraser and Haas to northern New Hampshire in 2013, has been fortunate to have corralled this globe-trotting duo for one night in their busy schedule for their first show ever at the Rialto.

They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.

Alasdair Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (”Last of the Mohicans” and “Titanic” among his credits). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame.

Natalie Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who’s who of the fiddle world including Mark O’Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese and many more. The GNWCA has brought Natalie to Colebrook on two recent occasions as one quarter of the super group Duo Duo.

The seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra. The duo’s debut recording, “Fire & Grace,” won the coveted the Scots Trad Music Album of the Year award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record four more critically acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe. In northern New England, they won over legions of new fans by their annual appearance as headliners at the N.H. Highland Games each September.

Tickets are $20 and available at the Rialto box office at 80 Main St. in Lancaster, at Fiddleheads, 110 Main St., Colebrook, online at www.gnwca.org or at the door on the night of the show.

For more information on this and other GNWCA shows, find the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts on Facebook, visit www.gnwca.org or you can call 246-8998.

Islay Mist Ceilidh at Colebrook Country Club

Get ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in grand style at the Colebrook Country Club beginning at 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, as the region’s largest Celtic ensemble gathers in town to celebrate the music of the Emerald Isle.

That’s the night that Islay Mist Ceilidh comes to Colebrook bringing in a host of Irish tunes–and then some–with a successive blast of jigs, reels, airs and some familiar tunes to sing along with. The Great North Woods Committee for the Arts will be hosting this lively St. Patrick’s Day gathering.

Islay Mist Ceilidh is a group of musicians from all over northern New Hampshire who first started out playing Celtic music for fun. That fun has grown to include numerous gigs at various venues and events; the band plays several times a year at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Highland Center Inn in Crawford Notch, at the Lancaster Fair, and for the past three years has been among the headliners at the annual First Night-North New Year’s Eve celebration in St. Johnsbury, Vt.

Islay Mist Ceilidh includes fiddlers, guitarists, bodhrans, flutes and penny whistle. The group recently recorded its first CD, which will be available for purchase at the show.

Come along and join the fun and don’t forget to wear your green–and join in the singing to some old Irish favorites, including “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” “Danny Boy” and more. Whether you’re of Irish heritage or just Irish for the day, you will have a great time–and that’s no blarney.

Tickets for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the Colebrook Country Club on Rte. 26 in Colebrook are available online at www.gnwca.org, at Fiddleheads on 110 Main St. in Colebrook or at the door on the night of the show. General admission prices are: adults, $15, children under 12, $5.

For more information on this and other GNWCA shows, find the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts on Facebook, visit www.gnwca.org or you can call (603) 246-8998.

Prince Edward Island Duo at Rialto Theatre

Prince Edward Island fiddler Richard Wood and guitarist Gordon Belsher will be performing in concert on Tuesday evening, Jan. 15, at the Rialto Theater in Lancaster.

The Great North Woods Committee for the Arts in Colebrook is hosting the show, which begins at 7 p.m. Wood and Belsher have performed three times in the region over the years, but not since 2014—and in fact, it has been eight years (2010) since they have performed in Lancaster. The duo is looking forward to their return to northern New Hampshire and the many fans who follow their music. “We’re delighted to have these two dynamic musicians back in the North Country,” said GNWCA President Charlie Jordan.

For more than two decades, Richard Wood has impressed audiences all across Canada, as well as in the Unites States, Europe, Japan and Australia. Highlights include TV guest appearances with Shania Twain on “David Letterman” and “Good Morning America,” Carnegie Hall with Irish legends The Chieftains, a featured performer on CBC’s Canada Day on Parliament Hill, “Rita MacNeil and Friends,” and with Jean Butler of Riverdance on “Celtic Electric.”

A fiery fiddler from Prince Edward Island, Richard has played for Canada’s Prime Minister and Governor General, the Queen of England (in Toronto), and for the Emperor of Japan in Tokyo. He’s played at Lincoln Center in New York City, Epcot at Disney World, and was a featured performer in the touring fiddle spectacle “Bowfire.” He has won three Canadian East Coast Music Awards. MacLean’s Magazine named him one of the Top 100 Canadians to watch in the 21st Century. Most recently, he performed for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their Canadian visit to his home Province.

Prince Edward Island’s Gordon Belsher has been entertaining audiences in Canada and around the world for more than 40 years, performing at concerts, ceilidhs, conventions, and pubs. His solo CD “Past & Present,” won Roots Traditional Recording of the Year at the Music PEI Awards in 2013. He received a Music PEI Lifetime Achievement Award and has been the Artistic Director for Prince Edward Island Mutual Festival of Small Halls. Whether playing before large festival crowds or intimate folk club settings, Gordon’s engaging personality, charming voice, and versatility on a variety of instruments are a recipe for a memorable evening.

Over the last few years, Richard and Gordon have been performing and touring as a duo. Enthusiastic audiences have been taken on a roller coaster ride of exhilarating–even exhausting–jigs and reels, strathspeys and hornpipes, and beautiful airs, many composed by Richard himself. This is complimented by Gordon’s engaging songs, some humorous and some poignant, warming things up for the next fiddle blaze.

Tickets for this show are $15 per person and on sale at the Rialto Theater in downtown Lancaster or Fiddleheads, 100 Main St., in Colebrook. Tickets are also available online at www.gnwca.org and at the door on the night of the show.

GNWCA Presents TubaChristmas

The Great North Woods Committee for the Arts presents the annual TubaChristmas at Trinity United Methodist Church on Bridge Street in Colebrook on Saturday, Dec. 22, at 1 p.m. This free public concert has become a beloved tradition in the Colebrook community. The Methodist church is the perfect setting for the glorious sounds of tubas, euphoniums and baritone horns.

Each year, participants come to Colebrook from all around New England and beyond. Several of them play in other TubaChristmas events, but claim Colebrook’s as their favorite. The setting, the hospitality and the spirited audience are all part of their fun. Douglas Nelson of Keene and Colebrook will return to conduct the family-friendly program, hosted along with his daughter, Sharon Pearson. It will include many favorite Christmas carols, with several designed for the audience to sing along with. As in recent years, Nelson has also arranged a special feature for a quartet.

While the concert is free, donations of any size are requested to help offset the other costs of this very special event. “The donations we receive at this show amount to our greatest single fundraiser each year,” said GNWCA President Charlie Jordan. “The funds go directly into helping pay the performers of the over 20 concerts the GNWCA hosts regionally each year.”

Something special this year is that the audience will be invited after the show to visit the Great North Woods Center for the Arts on Route 3 in Columbia (former Shrine) for a holiday gathering for hot chocolate and goodies, as well as an opportunity to tour the property and the main structure, which is decorated for Christmas. This event is also free. The doors will open at the Arts Center at 2 p.m.

For more information on this and other GNWCA shows, find the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts on Facebook, visit www.gnwca.org or you can call (603) 237-9302 or (603) 246-8998. Online donations to the GNWCA can be made at www.givegab.com/campaigns/support-the-gnwca.

Mile Twelve Bluegrass Band at The Rialto

Mile Twelve is a fresh, hard driving young band beautifully walking the line between original and traditional bluegrass. Banjo luminary Tony Trischka says, “Mile Twelve is carrying the bluegrass tradition forward with creativity and integrity.” Since its formation in the fall of 2014, Mile Twelve has quickly been on the rise. They released their debut six-track self-titled EP, and performed extensively throughout the U.S., Ireland and Canada, including several major festivals: Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, FreshGrass Festival, Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival and Joe Val Bluegrass Festival. A track from their debut EP was featured on Sirius XM Bluegrass Junction’s “Hand Picked with Del McCoury,” while another track was featured on Spotify’s “Fresh Bluegrass” 2015 playlist. That same year, they were selected as formal showcase artists at the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance.

Band members include Evan Murphy on guitar, David Benedict on mandolin, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes on fiddle, Nate Sabat on bass and BB Bowness on banjo. Their energy and youthful flair is sure to make for a great night in music on the Rialto stage.

Tickets ($15) area available at gnwca.org (click on “upcoming events”), at the Rialto Theater, or at Fiddleheads on 110 Main St., in Colebrook. For more information on this and other upcoming GNWCA concerts, visit www.gnwca.org or call (603) 237-9302 or (603) 246-8998.

Celtic Music with Còig at Rilato Theatre

Nova Scotia’s powerhouse Còig has cemented its status as one of today’s most exciting new North American Celtic groups. With a combined total of over 30 group and solo awards and nominations, the four members of the band are already recognized as major stars of the Celtic world.

Còig’s like no other, thanks to the unique mix of four different talents. They all have traditional roots, but each brings something more. Fiddler Chrissy Crowley has touches of world and contemporary music. Pianist Jason Roach has a jazz degree, Darren McMullen (guitar, banjo, mandolin, etc.) has worked everywhere from Irish to rock groups, and fiddler Rachel Davis is the most Cape Breton trad, but with folk and roots infused flavors as well.
Ask anyone who has seen them, from New England theater stages to huge European festivals to their own beloved small halls of Cape Breton, and you’ll always hear about Còig’s energy. Trad fans love them of course, and the crowds are growing all the time. “We really feed a lot on the energy we get from the crowd, everybody is hootin’ and hollerin’ and clappin’ and stompin’ and goin’ on,” says multi-instrumentalist Darren McMullen. “We want our shows to be more where we’re all just having a party together.”

Còig’s music is a unique combination of influences that could only come from these four players. It’s traditional for sure, but it’s performed in a lot of non-traditional ways. Tickets are $15 and are available at the door and at GNWCA at www.gnwca.org. More info: www.gnwca.org or (603) 237-9302 or (603) 246-8998.

The GNWCA Presents Rock On at Colebrook Country Club

If you enjoy retro-Rock music from the 1960s and ’70s and like to dance, the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts invites you to the Colebrook Country Club on Saturday, Nov. 3. That night local favorites Rock On will be turning out the hits from yesterday.

The show begins at 7 p.m. and the Country Club will have the dance floor down and ready to roll. Rock On features Jules Rancourt on guitar, Katie Rancourt on drums, Bernie Walling on guitar and Tom Jordan on bass. Jules has been a veteran of the music scene for decades, starting off with rock music of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, exploring country music in the ’90s, and returning to vintage rock with the creation of Rock On. Jules is joined by longtime collaborator Bernie Walling of Bloomfield, Vt., who brings his surf guitar licks out in full force. Tom Jordan, a member of multiple area bands, holds down the bass lines, and the real fire in the group comes from the drumming of Jules’ daughter, Katie. Her aggressive performance of “Wipe Out” is always a crowd pleaser wherever the band goes. Expect everything from The Beatles to Bryan Adams to Creedence Clearwater Revival, and everything in-between.

Tickets are $15 and available at Fiddleheads, 110 Main St., Colebrook, online at www.gnwca.org or at the door. For more information on this and other GNWCA shows, find the Great North Woods Committee for the Arts on Facebook, visit www.gnwca.org or you can call 237-9302 or 246-8998.

Harp Twins — Concert at the Rialto Theatre

Identical twins Camille and Kennerly Kitt are multi-talented professional duet harpists and actresses. Known as the “Harp Twins,” Camille and Kennerly have a passion and flair for arranging and performing contemporary music for Harp Duet and perform internationally as a dynamic acoustic and electric rock/pop/contemporary Harp Duo.

The Harp Twins have achieved extraordinary success by taking Electric Harps and acoustic Concert Grand Harps to unprecedented levels and smashing boundaries between different genres of music. The duo has amassed over 625,000 fans across their social media sites and over 33 million views on their YouTube music videos, easily making Camille and Kennerly the most followed and recognizable harpists in the world. Mixing their virtuoso harp skills with their stunningly complex arrangements of rock, metal, and soundtrack hits, the Harp Twins deliver exciting performances audiences cannot forget!

Please call (603) 237-9302 or (603) 246-8998 for additional information.

Tickets: $15 all seats. Tickets may be purchased in advance here.

The Outside Track — Concert at the Rialto Theatre

The Outside Track is one of the top Celtic acts in the world. Winner of “Best Group” in both the Live Ireland awards and the Tradition In Review awards. Live Ireland called them, “Among the top bands in the world–stunning on every cut.”

The Great North Woods Committee for the Arts will be hosting this award-winning international band at the Rialto Theatre in Lancaster. This will be the third appearance for this popular group in northern New Hampshire under the sponsorship of the GNWCA.

The Outside Track’s marriage of Celtic music, song and footwork has been rapturously received around the world. Hailing from Scotland, Ireland, and Cape Breton, its five members are united by a love of traditional music and a commitment to creating new music on this as a foundation. They blend fiddle, accordion, harp, guitar, flute, whistle, step-dance and vocals with breathtaking vitality.

Please call (603) 237-9302 or (603) 246-8998 for additional information.

Tickets: $15 all seats. Tickets may be purchased in advance here.