☼ ☼ ☼ Alan Reid & Rob van Sante | Nelson Town Hall

 About, Concerts, Songs
Sep 242016
 

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Join us Saturday, October 22 at 8:00 PM at the Nelson Town Hall for an evening Scottish music with Alan Reid and Rob van Sante. Admission is $15/$12(Senior, Student, or in Advance).

Alan Reid and Rob van Sante present a lively show rooted in the music of Scotland, its rich history and varied landscape providing much of the inspiration for their material. Seamless harmonies underpinned by sensitive arrangements on piano, guitars and accordion are topped by an engaging delivery peppered with dry humour and pithy anecdotes. Their latest album, ‘Rough Diamonds’, is currently showcasing on their regular tours of North America and and Europe.

ALAN was a vital member of celebrated Scottish folk group Battlefield Band from 1969 till 2010. He helped cement the band’s international reputation with his story-style songwriting and sensitive renditions of traditional song. From achingly beautiful ballads to a musical cycle on the Scots born American naval hero John Paul Jones Alan has gained a reputation for songs strong in melody and historical content.

He was nominated at the 2009 Scots Traditions Awards in the ‘Composer of the Year’ category and contributed to Linn Records’ mammoth 12 CD recording of the entire Robert Burns song catalogue. His writing featured in the National Theatre of Scotland’s 2014 production of the musical ‘The Glasgow Girls’ while his singing and speaking talents were utilised in ‘The Life and Times of Scrooge’, a solo album of Finnish rock star Tuomas Holopainen of metal band ‘Nightwish’.

ROB, born in Holland, has lived most of his life in the north of England. Steeped in music from an early age (his mother was a piano playing child prodigy) guitar has always been Rob’s favoured instrument. He was initially attracted to rock and blues as a teenager but it was in England that he discovered a love of folk music. Rob is well known in the English folk scene, playing with a host of folk luminaries and recording many of them in his home studio.

In 2014 he recorded, produced and engineered the latest album of veteran songwriter John Connoly (writer of the ever popular ‘Fiddler’s Green’). Rob gigs with John whenever he can.

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To purchase advance tickets for this concert, please visit our Concert page.
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 Posted by on September 24, 2016 at 10:02 am

☼ ☼ ☼ Troy MacGillivray w/ Wendy MacIsaac & Buddy MacDonald | Nelson Town Hall

 About, Concerts, Dance Music
Aug 242016
 

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Join us Sunday, September 18 for a special evening of Cape Breton music at the Nelson Town Hall. The concert starts at 7:00 pm and admission is $15/$12(Sr/Jr).

Troy MacGillivray was raised in Lanark, Nova Scotia; his musical prowess can be attributed to an especially rare combination of commitment and bloodline. By the age of six, Troy was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13 he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne’s, Cape Breton. He has completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, has spent four years in a stringed orchestra and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

Whether playing piano or fiddle, or showcasing his stepdancing capabilities, Troy MacGillivray displays a unique sense of pride and commitment to his Celtic heritage and his music continues to add to the history and development of the traditional music that is the epitome of the Maritimes, the place he calls home!

Wendy MacIsaac is a renowned fiddler from Cape Breton who has been playing music for over 30 years. She is recognized as one of the “old school” style of players who has kept the traditional sound going and has a deep respect for it.

Wendy is also a sought after piano accompanist and step dancer.have been chasing audiences around since thirty five years .

Cape Breton singer-songwriter Buddy MacDonald has performed all over Canada and the United States, Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and Holland as a solo act and as part of celtic folk band combinations.

Buddy MacDonald was born and grew up on Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia, in a rural setting where culture is strong and music is important, and it is that format that he follows, entertains is what he does.

 Posted by on August 24, 2016 at 8:15 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ ‘Ilumina’ – Stuart Fuchs with Sarah Carlisle | Nelson Town Hall

 About, Concerts
Jul 102016
 

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Sarah CarlisleJoin us Thursday evening, August 4th at the Nelson Town Hall for an evening not to be missed. Admission is $15/$12(Sr/Jr).

‘Ilumina’ is a duo of lifelong musicians who perform an uplifting blend of dazzling instrumentals, world music, jazz, sacred poetry and soulful original songs.  Stuart Fuchs (guitar, ukulele, Native American flute & didjeridoo) and Sarah Carlisle (upright bass, mandolin) tour internationally to music festivals and with the renowned sacred chant artist Snatam Kaur.

Stuart Fuchs is a performing multi-instrumentalist who is passionate about bringing the healing benefits of musical play into everyone’s life. He performs virtuosic instrumental music and soulful original songs on Ukulele, Guitar, Native American flute, Aboriginal didjeridoo and the Bolivian charango.  Through his innovative, compassionate and holistic workshops he introduces people of all backgrounds to their “long lost musician” – from Fortune 500 company executives to hospice patients.  Stuart has been featured on National Public Radio with his award winning gypsy jazz band “Babik” and has collaborated in creating and performing orchestral arrangements of Django Reinhardt’s music with symphony orchestras.  Stuart worked as an artist in residence at Roswell Park Cancer Institute for over six years and in 2014 was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to composing and perform healing music with cancer patients and performed these multimedia compositions at the University at Buffalo Mainstage.

Sarah Carlisle (Siri Kirtan Kaur) began her musical studies on the double bass at the age of ten, and in 1998 attended the Peabody Conservatory on full scholarship. She studied classical and jazz music in college and spent many years playing jazz in Washington, DC, and New York City.

 Posted by on July 10, 2016 at 8:53 am

TRADITIONAL ARTS CAMP FOR KIDS in Brattleboro

 About
Jun 202016
 

TRADITIONAL ARTS CAMP FOR KIDS
Traditional Music & Arts
With Andy Davis, Keith Murphy & Becky Tracy
June 27 – July 1, 2015, 8:30 am to 3 pm
Youth Ages 9 – 14
Tuition: $260
This exciting camp for kids features a program of traditional New England dancing and singing as well as dance band classes for beginners and more experienced players.

While this camp is a great place for kids to deepen and pursue their love of traditional music and dance, it is completely open to those wanting to explore traditional music and arts for the first time.

The camp day, from 8:30 am to 3 pm, will also include other forms of traditional English dance as well as storytelling, crafts and games.

The camp is organized and run by three prominent musicians from the local, traditional scene – Andy Davis, Keith Murphy and Becky Tracy working in conjunction with the Brattleboro Music Center.
Mail or deliver registration form to: BMC, 38 Walnut Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301
For registration help please contact us at: info@bmcvt.org, or 802-257-4523.

 Posted by on June 20, 2016 at 2:36 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ Aurora Nealand & The Mississippi Gipsy | Dublin School

 About, Concerts, Dance Music, Special Programs
Jun 142016
 

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Join us for a special evening of traditional New Orleans jazz with Aurora Nealand and the Mississippi Gipsy at the Dublin School in Dublin, NH. This will be an outdoor event, weather permitting, Friday, July 8, 7:30 pm at the Fountain Arts Building on the Dublin School campus.RussellWelch

 

The concert is co-sponsored by The Walden School, the Monadnock Folklore Society and the Dublin School and is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

 

 

Aurora Nealand is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and sound artist based in New Orleans, Louisiana.Voted “Best Saxophonist” “Best Female Performer” & “Best Traditional Jazz Band” in the 2015 & 2016 Big Easy and OffBeat Awards, Nealand leads projects that span from traditional New Orleans Jazz to avant-garde rock to free improvisation. She is the leader of The Royal Roses, Rory Danger & the Danger Dangers, The Monocle, and is a member of Panorama Jazz Band and Redrawblak trio. She has been awarded residencies to develop her original compositions at MacDowell Colony, New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, & the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She regularly works with Found Sound Nation (an organization based in NYC, facilitating international musical collaboration and diplomacy), and has participated in the Dosti Project (India & Pakistan), LADAMA (South America), & OneBeat. Nealand has toured as a featured artist internationally to festivals including Istanbul Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, European Swing Dance Championships (Stockholm), and RecBeat Brazil, and has appeared on HBO’s TV series Treme and NCSI: New Orleans.

Aurora was a faculty member at the Walden School for 5 years, and is thrilled to return for this summers concert series, joined by some amazing musicians from New Orleans, featuring the music of guitarist Russell Welch. Welch is is a specialist in gypsy jazz (a la Django Reinhardt), and has toured world wide performing both his original compositions as well as with Meschiya Lake & the Little BigHorns. They will be joined by violinist Dr. Sick (Squirrell Nut Zippers), Tomas Majcherski (Rhythm Wizards) on clarinet  and saxophone, Leo Forde, guitar & Joshua Gouzy, bass (New Orleans Jazz Vipers).

 Posted by on June 14, 2016 at 9:49 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ English Country Dance in Nelson

 dance
Apr 252016
 

The Monadnock Folklore Society presents the last in its series of English Country Dances with the theme “Dance Around Monadnock.”

On May 15th from 2:00 to 5:00 PM, the dance will be held at the Nelson Town Hall in Nelson, NH, with Brad Foster teaching dances that will appeal to all, from novice to experienced dancers. Lovely music will be provided by performers lydia ievins, fiddle and Kate Barnes, piano.

English Country Dance is a form of social dance that harkens back to the days of Jane Austen and “Pride and Prejudice”, but its roots extend further back in time. Its traditions and innovations continue right up to the present.

Hauntingly beautiful tunes, elegant yet simple steps, friendly people and beautiful surroundings combine to make an English Country Dance a pleasant and energizing experience. No special clothing is required, but comfortable clothes and shoes are recommended.

Beginners and singles are welcome and all dances are taught throughout the session. Admission is $10. For more information call (603) 209-3304 or visit http://www.monadnockfolk.org. The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

 Posted by on April 25, 2016 at 2:16 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ Ari & Mia – Americana Sister Act | Nelson Town Hall

 About
Mar 222016
 

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Join us Sunday, June 12 for a 7:00 PM concert with Ari & Mia, Boston’s Americana sister act at the Nelson Town Hall. Admission is $12/$9(Sr/Jr). Referencing the traditions of Southern and Northeastern fiddle music and the early American songbook Ari and Mia create a realm where their own compositions cross paths with older traditions. Their stylish and sophisticated music honors the sounds of Appalachian cottages, rural dance floors, and urban concert halls.

Combine this with their innovative approach to song and tune-writing and the result is a fresh and contemporary sound.

Ari & Mia “blend a traditional rootsy grounding with a clear background of classical training. Their own works are soothing and fresh, tasteful and accomplished. This duo is taking the classical study of a conservatory program and bringing it alive in folk touring circles,’ says SingOut! Magazine. Both sisters studied at Boston’s New England Conservatory in its cutting edge Contemporary Improvisation department. Their newest album, Unruly Heart, ranked high on the national folk radio charts for 2011 and Mia’s song “Across the Water,” won the 2010 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the folk category. Their new album, Land on Shore, was released in May 2013.

Ariel Friedman, a classically trained cellist from the Boston area, is one of few musicians to be challenging the boundaries of cello-playing. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 where she studied cello performance with Hans Jorgen Jensen, and received a masters of music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory in 2011. A winner of ASTA’s 2009 Alternative Styles Award, she is in current exploration of American roots traditions, early jazz, a range of classical repertoire, and in composing songs and pieces influenced by her diverse musical tastes. She tours internationally with Scottish National Fiddle champion Hanneke Cassel, plays with New England’s highly acclaimed fiddle band, Childsplay, and has taught at music camps and programs from New England to New Zealand.

Mia Friedman began playing violin and singing at an early age. She is largely influenced by American roots music and old-time Appalachian traditions, and blends this with contemporary experimental music in her compositions. She graduated from New England Conservatory in 2012 where she studied with Anthony Coleman, Carla Kihlstedt, and Hankus Netsky, and is an active composer, performer, and educator. Her song “Across the Water” won the 2011 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the folk category. She tours around the United States with Ari and has her own solo act.

 Posted by on March 22, 2016 at 7:48 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ Rhythm Future Quartet | Nelson Town Hall

 About, Concerts
Mar 212016
 

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Join us at the Nelson Town Hall on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 8th) for an evening of traditional and original Gypsy Jazz with the Rhythm Future Quartet. The concert will begin at 7:00 PM. Admission is $15/$12(Sr/Jr).

The acoustic jazz ensemble, Rhythm Future Quartet has a straightforward agenda: to keep the spirit of Gypsy jazz alive and expanding in today’s musical universe. The virtuosic foursome, named for a Django Reinhardt tune, offers up a newly minted sound, influenced by the classic Hot Club of France, yet wholly contemporary. Led by violinist Jason Anick and guitarist Olli Soikkeli, the quartet performs dynamic and lyrical arrangements of both Gypsy jazz standards and original compositions that draw upon diverse international rhythms and musical idioms. With Max O’Rourke on second guitar and Greg Loughman on bass, Rhythm Future is dedicated to expanding the boundaries of a vital musical genre.

Where the band’s self-titled debut album re-visited classic jazz and Gypsy jazz favorites, Travels, the quartet’s current release, concentrates on group originals that make captivating use of musical sources from outside the conventional Gypsy jazz terrain. Travels reflects both the accumulated knowledge garnered from the groups world wide touring as well as the international influences that inspired new rhythmic and harmonic possibilities within their compositions and arrangements.

Jason Anick, an award-winning composer and one of the youngest professors at the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, has shared the stage with an array of artists including Grammy award winning guitarist John Jorgenson, Stevie Wonder, The Jim Kweskin Jug Band, and Tommy Emmanuel. Olli Soikkeli (coined “the Finnish boy wonder”) recently made the move from Scandinavia to New York City, where he quickly became a top call guitarist in the bustling Brooklyn jazz scene. He has performed alongside rising star Cyrille Aimee, world-renowned Gypsy guitarist Stochelo Rosenberg, Bucky Pizzarelli and many others.

Max O’Rourke was the winner of the 2015 Saga Award from DjangoFest Northwest, and at 19 has already toured/recorded with many of the top American Gypsy Jazz musicians including John Jorgenson and Gonzalo Bergara. Greg Loughman is a top call bassist in Boston and has been heard with such luminaries as Sheila Jordan, Curtis Fuller and George Garzone.

 Posted by on March 21, 2016 at 7:31 pm

Johnny Trombly Scholarship Deadline March 15

 About
Mar 062016
 

 

The Johnny Trombly Scholarship supports and encourages young musicians interested in playing piano orother instruments for traditional New England dance music, an American dance music form that includes contra-dance and square dance music.
The Monadnock Region is the heart of traditional New England dance music, with a heritage dating back centuries. Bob McQuillen, widely recognized as a master of traditional New England dance music, established this scholarship to honor his mentor, Johnny Trombly, who was the area’s premier piano player in the 1940’s and early 1950’s. Through this scholarship, Bob McQuillen hopes to preserve and advance traditional New England dance music, one of the Monadnock region’s unique contributions to the nation’s cultural heritage.
 Posted by on March 6, 2016 at 1:55 pm

☼ ☼ ☼ English Country Dance in Peterborough

 dance
Feb 252016
 

The Monadnock Folklore Society presents the third in its series of English Country Dances with the theme “Dance Around Monadnock.”

On March 20th from 2:00 to 5:00 PM, the dance will be held in Bass Hall at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, 19 Grove Street in Peterborough, NH, with Rich Jackson teaching dances that will appeal to all, from novice to experienced dancers.

Lovely music will be provided by performers Jacqueline Schwab, piano and Emily O’Brien, recorder.

English Country Dance is a form of social dance that harkens back to the days of Jane Austen and “Pride and Prejudice”, but its roots extend further back in time. Its traditions and innovations continue right up to the present.

Hauntingly beautiful tunes, elegant yet simple steps, friendly people and beautiful surroundings combine to make an English Country Dance a pleasant and energizing experience. No special clothing is required, but comfortable clothes and shoes are recommended.

Beginners and singles are welcome and all dances are taught throughout the session. Admission is $10. For more information call (603) 209-3304 or visit http://www.monadnockfolk.org. The Monadnock Folklore Society has presented dances and concerts of traditional music since 1982.

 Posted by on February 25, 2016 at 3:36 pm
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