|
|
CARTHAGE – New England Celtic Arts will present Irish duo Matt and Shannon Heaton with Sarah Blair at Lakeside Theater in Rangeley, Maine on Tuesday July 6th, at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in South Carthage, Maine on Wednesday July 7th, and at Unity College Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday July 8th. Curtain is at 7:00 pm at Lakeside and Skye and 7:30 pm in Unity. There is a pre-show jam session 45 minutes prior to curtain at Skye and Unity. Audience members are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam with the artists for a few minutes.
Every Irish traditional musician has a collection of peak session memories: the spontaneous night of tunes after hours in the back of a pub, the house party in rural Clare with that wonderfully ancient concertina player, or the songs swapped backstage at a festival. Matt and Shannon Heaton share many similar Irish music memories, because they have performed together from their first meeting in Chicago in 1991. Behind their Irish flute- and guitar-driven tunes and stirring songs is a deep well of mutual memories, setbacks, and triumphs. Having built their act from years of touring together (first with band Siucra, then as a duo), Matt and Shannon have grown into thoroughly entertaining performers. They bring to the stage a depth of shared experience and a love for Irish music; their stage banter is comfortable, often hilarious.
Musically speaking, the Heatons play the heck out of their instruments (Irish wood flute/accordion, guitar/bouzouki). After years of study in Chicago, and many nights of music in Clare, Galway, and their adopted home of Boston, Irish Music Magazine’s John O’Regan wrote, “their duet playing is tight, sweet, and tasteful, lacking nothing on either technical expertise or instrumental virtuosity.” As for their singing, when Matt and Shannon perform centuries-old songs, it feels current, conversational. They make traditional music relevant to American audiences. O’Regan wrote “songwise [there are] hints an older domestic sound, the familiar down home harmonies of The Carter Family and Tim and Mollie O’Brien.”
Before focusing on Irish music, Matt earned a classical guitar degree, played with the Chicago pop group The Flavor Channel, and fronted the Nuevo tango group Orquesta Atipica. Meanwhile Shannon studied flute and ethnomusicology at Northwestern University, joined Matt’s tango band, and took weekend trips to Chicago’s Wat Dhammaram to continue the Saw Oo (lap fiddle) and Thai singing studies she began when she was an exchange student in Thailand.
Though she specializes in Irish wooden flute and traditional Irish-style singing, adores the Chicago musicians who started her out, and is deeply involved with her local Boston traditional music scene (she co-founded Boston’s Celtic Music Fest and teaches for Boston’s Comhaltas), she has retained a deep interest in world music, especially the music of Thailand. She and husband Matt Heaton included their own Irish-style version of Thai classic “Lao Dueng Duen” on their 2009 release “Lovers’ Well” (their 4th as a duo).
Sarah Blair began playing Irish fiddle in Providence, Rhode Island’s thriving traditional Irish music scene. She honed her playing as a sought-after session leader in Boston and in the world of American contra dancing. With her band The Sevens and with other ensembles, Sarah has played at festivals, concerts, and dance weeks from Alaska to Quebec to Florida. Her most unusual gig was filling in for fiddler Liz Carroll for a portion of The Eagles’ singer Don Henley’s 2000 tour.
Lakeside Theater is on Main Street in Rangeley. 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. UCCPA is at 42 Depot Street in Unity. Ticket price is $10.00 at the door*. For reservations at the theater you wish to attend call: Lakeside Theater at 864-5000 or Skye Theatre at (207) 562-4445 or Unity Center for the Performing Arts at (207) 948-7469.
*(Lakeside Theater is $12.50 in advance and $15.00 at the door. Advance tickets may be purchased for Lakeside at the theater or on the website, http://www.rangeleymovies.com )
More information is available at: http://www.necelticarts.com
