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Visit the North Country on Memorial Day weekend to enjoy this fantastic festival! High quality arts & crafts vendors feature handmade products, food vendors and live music performances. This year’s music theme is “Springtime Songbirds,” featuring local female musicians.
The location is absolutely breathtaking, including a waterfall, ponds, and manicured lawns and gardens in a private setting. Fun for the whole family!
Free Admission.
Winner of 20 Grammy Awards, 36 Grammy Nominations, 3 Gold Records, DownBeat Hall of Fame.
PAT METHENY was born in Kansas City into a musical family. Starting on trumpet at the age of 8, Metheny switched to guitar at age 12. By the age of 15, he was working regularly with the best jazz musicians in Kansas City, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age. Metheny first burst onto the international jazz scene in 1974. Over the course of his three-year stint with vibraphone great Gary Burton, the young Missouri native already displayed his soon-to-become trademarked playing style, which blended the loose and flexible articulation customarily reserved for horn players with an advanced rhythmic and harmonic sensibility – a way of playing and improvising that was modern in conception but grounded deeply in the jazz tradition of melody, swing, and the blues. With the release of his first album, Bright Size Life (1975), he reinvented the traditional “jazz guitar” sound for a new generation of players. Throughout his career, Pat Metheny has continued to re-define the genre by utilizing new technology and constantly working to evolve the improvisational and sonic potential of his instrument. METHENY’S versatility is almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich to Ornette Coleman to Herbie Hancock to Jim Hall to Milton Nascimento to David Bowie. Metheny’s body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.
It is one thing to attain popularity as a musician, but it is another to receive the kind of acclaim Metheny has garnered from critics and peers. Over the years, Metheny has won countless polls as “Best Jazz Guitarist” and awards, including three gold records for Still Life (Talking), Letter from Home, and Secret Story. He has also won 20 Grammy Awards in 12 different categories including Best Rock Instrumental, Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, Best Instrumental Composition. The Pat Metheny Group won an unprecedented seven consecutive Grammies for seven consecutive albums.
Three top-of-the-list instrumentalists on Hammered Dulcimer, Fiddle & Banjo – the Ken Kolodner Trio is Ken & Brad Kolodner, with Rachel Eddy.
The dynamic father-son duo Ken & Brad Kolodner weave together a captivating soundscape on hammered dulcimer, banjo and fiddles, pushing the boundaries of the Old-Time tradition into uncharted territory. Regarded as one of the most influential hammered dulcimer players and Old-Time fiddlers in North America, Baltimore’s Ken Kolodner has joined forces with his son Brad Kolodner, a rising star in the claw hammer banjo world. Together, they infuse their own brand of driving, innovative, tasteful and unique interpretations of traditional and original fiddle tunes and songs. They perform tight musical arrangements of original and traditional old-time music with a “creative curiosity that lets all listeners know that a passion for traditional music yet thrives in every generation.” They perform on occasion with multi-instrumentalist Rachel Eddy (fiddle, banjo, guitar and vocals), a former member of the Old-Time supergroup Uncle Earl.
Tickets: $15.00 (adults) and $10.00 (under 18)
Internationally acclaimed vocal ensemble Windborne is a group of vocal chameleons who specialize in close harmony singing, shifting effortlessly between drastically different styles of traditional music within the same concert. Their musical knowledge spans many continents and cultures, but they remain deeply rooted in American folk singing traditions. Admission $10/Students $5.
The House of Hamill presents versatility of Irish fiddle music in a modern context: talented & engaging .
Rose Baldino and Brian Buchanan met 10 years ago, late one night backstage at a theatre in rural Pennsylvania.
Brian’s band Enter the Haggis and Rose’s group Burning Bridget Cleary were sharing a stage that evening, and the two bonded over a love of Irish fiddle tunes, Radiohead, and 4 a.m. whiskey. Their paths crossed a dozen times over the next decade on the road, but it wasn’t until the Folk Alliance 2014 conference in Kansas City that they finally became musical collaborators. Burning Bridget Cleary’s guitarist and drummer had their flights canceled at the last minute, and Rose (in desperation) asked Brian to grab a guitar and join her onstage. The two performed with virtually no rehearsal for over an hour, and their connection was powerful and immediate. A few months later Brian moved from Canada to Philadelphia, and as a tribute to the first tune Rose ever taught Brian, House of Hamill was born.
Whether House of Hamill is playing songs from their debut album “Wide Awake” (September 2016) or stomping through a set of original jigs and reels from their follow-up “March Through Storms” (2018), their chemistry onstage is always engaging and often hilarious. In the summer of 2018, their quirky all-violin cover of “Sweet Child Of Mine” went viral, amassing over 15 million views and more than 400,000 shares on Facebook in just a few weeks, and was picked up by publications all over the world. House of Hamill is on the bleeding edge of a new generation of traditional musicians.
Brian and Rose are both accomplished traditional fiddle players and classical violinists, and despite being young, have over 25 years of writing and performance experience between them. Together, they write unusual new fiddle tunes and exciting, unpredictable original songs while also breathing new life into traditional and contemporary songs. Both are confident and unique lead vocalists, and the blend of their two voices in harmony is hypnotic and irresistible.
Tickets: $15.00 adults and $10.00 under 18
On Tuesday, April 9th, at 7 pm, one of the world’s most thrilling pianists, Andrew Willis, will be returning to the Medallion Opera House, Gorham Town Hall, with a Baroque forte-piano in the Florentine tradition. The celebrated pianist will perform three of the six Partitas of J. S. Bach. Five years ago Andrew Willis played at the Medallion, delivering a memorable concert which brought the enthusiastic audience to its feet, begging for more. The concert, which is co-sponsored by Music in the Great North Woods, will be offered by donations at the door. Donations will help fund this summer’s Big Moose Bach Fest which is in its tenth year.
Andrew Willis performs in the United States and abroad on pianos of every era. Keenly interested in the history of the piano, he is a past president of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society and a Trustee of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies. Willis has recorded solo and ensemble music for the Albany, Bridge, Claves, Centaur, and CRI labels, notably with Malcolm Bilson and other colleagues in the first complete Beethoven sonata cycle recorded on historical pianos. His recording of Op. 106 was hailed by The New York Times as “a ‘Hammerklavier’ of rare stature.”
Andrew Willis has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival, and numerous others across the country. A Professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro School of Music, Willis teaches performance on instruments ranging from harpsichord to modern piano, and for over a decade has directed the biennial “UNCG Focus on Piano Literature” symposium. Willis received the Doctorate in Historical Performance from Cornell University, where he studied fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson, the Masters from Temple University under the guidance of George Sementovsky and Lambert Orkis, and the Baccalaureate in Piano from The Curtis Institute of Music, where his mentor was Mieczyslaw Horszowski.
For more information, visit Music in the Great North Woods, www.musicgnw.org or the Medallion Opera House, www.medallionoperahouse.org.
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.
Celebrate the transition from a long winter to a welcome spring with The Rocks’ annual Maple Dinner. This year’s dinner will be held at The Maplewood in Bethlehem, following the loss to fire of the program center at The Rocks. Proceeds from the dinner will benefit The Rocks Fire Fund, which will be used for operating and capital costs in support of the post -fire transition to restore operations at The Rocks.
Returning to wow diners is Chef Joe Peterson of Sugar Hill. Highlights of the evening’s buffet dinner include: Ginger butternut squash bisque, grilled vegetable salad, macaroni and cheese with baby spinach and fire-roasted tomatoes, wood-roasted barbecue chicken, Bali barbecue ribs, and wood-roasted beef brisket.
Dennis Cote of Sugar Hill will provide musical entertainment during the evening.
Cost: $50 per person (cash bar). Pre-registration required. RSVP online or call Maria Stewart at 603-224-9945 x 346. Deadline is March 28th.
(Note: Unfortunately, the Maplewood is not wheelchair accessible.)
RSVP: forestsociety.org/mapledinner
At the core of Searson are Colleen and Erin Searson, two sisters who hail from the Ottawa Valley, Ontario, Canada. Their spirited live shows feature Colleen on fiddle and Erin on piano and tenor guitar, interspersed with the incomparably rich sounds of sibling vocal harmonies, and both sisters “pounding the boards” with Ottawa Valley step dancing.
Rounding out their band is bass/guitar player Fraser Gauthier, who has studied at Humber College and Capilano University, gradually gravitating towards roots music, and Dave MacDougall, a drummer and percussionist who brings creativity and groove to a variety of styles of music.
In the past 10 years, Searson has toured throughout Canada, the United States, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland and the Caribbean. They have brought hundreds of fans with them on various bus tours while performing throughout Ireland.
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 (603) 246-8998.
Searson is giving Canada’s old time sounds a renewal into modern roots. Seamlessly blending spirited fiddling, energetic dancing and gorgeous harmonies.
Searson has toured for well over a decade and have the confidence and drive to continue with their musical careers more than ever before. Sisters, Erin and Colleen Searson have developed their own original style of high energy fiddling, passionate vocals and step dancing.
The sisters perform on a variety of instruments throughout their live show, which includes Colleen on fiddle, vocals and Ottawa Valley Step Dancing, while Erin performs on piano, vocals, Ottawa Valley Step Dancing and tenor guitar. Rounding out the live show is bass/guitar player Fraser Gauthier, who has studied at Humber College and Capilano University, gradually gravitating towards roots music. Dave MacDougall is a drummer and percussionist who brings creativity and groove to a variety of styles of music.
Tickets: Adults – $15; Under 18 – $10