Category: Workshops

Peterborough Fiddles | Laura Cortese

Concerts, Events, Sessions, Workshops

THURS SEPT 25


LAURA CORTESE (Scottish)
Stunning fiddler/singer, performs solo and with the band Halali

All events:
6:30pm FIDDLE WORKSHOP ($15)
8pm CONCERT w/ guitar accompanist Flynn Cohen ($10)

HELD AT:

PETERBOROUGH UNITARIAN CHURCH

Parish Hall

25 Main Street

Peterborough, NH 03458

(603) 924-6245

Peterborough Fiddles is a monthly gathering that showcases the various traditional fiddles styles that make up the musical landscape of New England: Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, Contradance, and Old-Time. We get together on the fourth Saturday of each month in Peterborough, NH for an evening that combines education and entertainment, each time featuring a different world-class fiddler. Here is the format:

WORKSHOP
The guest fiddler chooses a tune for students to learn in advance, then spends the hour-long workshop teaching authentic traditional bowing and ornamentation. This process highlights the specific stylistic differences between the various fiddle music traditions and lends a greater depth to the students’ musical appreciation and technique. Transcriptions of the chosen tunes will appear on this website, along with links to sounds files. COST: $15

CONCERT
The guest fiddler will perform one long set of of their given style and each will have CDs available. COST: $10

SESSION
There will be an open session for all fiddle music following each concert (all traditional instruments welcome).

Hosted by guitar accompanist Flynn Cohen. Called “a versatile string virtuoso” by Dirty Linen Magazine, Flynn has recorded CDs and performed all over the globe with many acclaimed artists in traditional and contemporary acoustic music, including: John Whelan, Cathie Ryan, Halali, Annalivia, Adrienne Young, Aoife Clancy, Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, Matt Glaser, John McGann, Airdance, The Sevens, Sheila Falls, Skip Healy, Mark Simos, Lissa Schneckenburger, Laura Cortese, Jake Armerding, Bruce MacGregor, and others.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

FLYNN 603-784-5094

☼ ☼ ☼ English County Dance | Nelson | David Millstone ~ caller, Thal Aylward ~ fiddle, Carol Compton ~ piano

About, Contra Dance, Events, Workshops

On Sunday, March 1, MFS presents an English Country Dance at the Nelson Town Hall. David Millstone, Carol Compton, and Thal Aylward will provide calling and music.

This event will be an introduction to the pleasures of English Country Dance and is designed for both contra dancers and experienced English dancers. All are welcome and no partner is required. Bring clean shoes to protect the floor.

1:00 – 4:00 PM

Admission: $10

David Millstone, Lebanon, NH, started contra dancing in the early 1970s and
became an enthusiastic English country dancer starting in 1987. He has been a
caller of American dance for thirty years and English country dancing for about
half as long.

He helped start the Strafford (VT) Ball, a Playford country dance event, and he
helps set the program each year for that event. He leads a regular English
country dance series in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont and
he has shared his love of English country dance at such varied venues as
Pinewoods, the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, the regular
English dance series in Boston, the Brattleboro Dawn Dance, balls in upstate New
York, and in such far-flung locations as Atlanta, New Mexico, Winnipeg, and
Copenhagen. In addition to leading sessions for experienced dancers, he has
enjoyed introducing English country dances at international folk dance camps, to
groups of hard-core contra dancers, and with dancers in such overseas locations
as Prague and Zurich.

An elementary school teacher for thirty years, he’s known for his broad
repertoire, good sense of humor, and clear instructions. He enjoys mixing older
dances (both familiar and less well known) with contemporary compositions.

Millstone is also a dance historian and videographer who has completed
documentaries about Bob McQuillen, Dudley Laufman, and Ralph Sweet; he is
co-author of Cracking Chestnuts, a look at some classic contra dances, being
published by Country Dance and Song Society. He was a member of the CDSS
Governing Board for six years.