New England Celtic Arts will host highly acclaimed Celtic harp master and vocalist Nadia Birkenstock at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in South Carthage, Maine on Sunday September 27th. The concert starts at 7:00 PM. This is the third in a series of three special Sunday concerts being held at Skye Theatre in September. A pre-show jam will begin at 6:15 please bring your instruments and join in.
Nadia Birkenstock was born in Solingen in the north west of Germany. She started playing the piano at five and grew up listening to lots of classical music. Her first contact with the Celtic harp was when she saw the legendary Scottish harp duo “Sileas” perform, and she instantly fell in love with the sound of the instruments, the voices and the spirit of Celtic Music. Thanks to a scholarship, she received her first vocal training in the USA (Westover School, Connecticut) and afterwards studied voice at the Music Conservatory of Duesseldorf in Germany.
She taught herself to play the Celtic Harp at 16 and attended master classes with Kim Robertson (USA), Bill Taylor (Scotland) and others.
During her vocal studies she created her first solo performance program for Celtic harp and voice. This was very well received and Nadia has since appeared to great acclaim in concerts at festivals, folk-clubs, concert halls, churches, castles and many stunning venues in Central Europe.
Festival appearances include the “Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe Celtique” at Dinan (France, Brittany), the “Schlossfestspiele Potsdam Sanssouci” (Berlin), the Venne Folk Festival, Celtic Days Hude, Keltenfest Buchberg (Switzerland) Nadia has also appeared on tv and radio with WDR, SWR, RBB, France Musiques, Celtic World radio Australia and others. She also frequently plays for the Irish Embassies in Cologne, Munich and Frankfurt.
Nadia’s repertoire features both original songs and compositions and traditional Celtic folk songs and harp tunes. In 2001 her first solo album “Emerald Isles” was released, followed by “Wandering between the Worlds” (2003), “Winter Tales” (LAIKA 2006) “Les Berceuses de Coline” (an assignment for the French company “Grandir Nature” in 2007) and finally, her songwriting debut, “Strange New Land”, (LAIKA 2008).
Musical cooperations include live projects and recordings with Tom McConville, Allan Taylor, Morris Open, Sebastian Fuhrmann (percussion, piano, bouzouki), Mckinley Black, Jo Freya, Dominique Dantand (organ), Cathrin Pfeifer (accordeon), Northern Lights (string quartet), Bernd Roth (diatonic accordeon), Sarath Ohlms (percussion), Gabriele Steinfeld (violin, “Freiburger Barockorchester”).
Nadia plays a celtic harp that was built by the German harp maker Frank Sievert. Made of rosewood with E flat tuning: and 34 gut strings) and the CAMAC Elektroharp 36 strings model. Music downloads are available at: http://www.myspace.com/nadiabirkenstock
Skye Theater is located 3 miles West of East Dixfield village at 2 Highland Drive off Winter Hill Rd and US RT. 2 in South Carthage. Ticket price is $10.00 at the door. Call New England Celtic Arts at (207) 562-4445 for reservations and directions. More information at: http://www.necelticarts.com
