CARTHAGE — New England Celtic Arts will present the Boston-based trio Matching Orange on Sunday, March 13, at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center.

The 3 p.m. performance is the launch of Sunday Series at Skye’s 2011 season.

Whether playing for contra dances, jamming at a local pub or giving a concert, the band members offer a refreshing approach to traditional fiddle music.They combine a repertoire of traditional and original material with a brotherly stage presence.

Making up Matching Orange are Eric McDonald on guitar, mandolin and vocals; Eric Eid-Reiner, piano;  and Brendan Carey Block, fiddle. They take full advantage of diverse musical backgrounds, with extensive training in folk, classical, jazz and other traditions.

The band released its debut, self-titled CD in January.

 Block has been playing fiddle since age10. For five summers he received scholarships from the New Hampshire Highland Games and the Saint Andrews Society of New Hampshire, enabling him to travel to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to immerse himself in Celtic music.

In 2001, he became the U.S. National Junior Scottish Fiddle Champion, and he is a three-time New England champion. He has been a member of the renowned Glengarry Bhoys and performs with the Boston-based Annalivia and his own duo project with Flynn Cohen. 

McDonald picked up the mandolin when he was 17; and, in 2009, he discovered DADGAD guitar tuning. He was a founding member of Jaded Mandolin, a teen string band that became a local phenomenon in the Boston area. He plays regularly with Ari & Mia Friedman and tours with the Dave Rowe Trio.

McDonald is working on a duo project with guitarist Rebecca Wudarski and can be heard playing for contra dances with his band Scoot! and fiddler Edward Howe. He is  a student at Berklee College of Music.

Eid-Reiner won multiple youth fiddle contests and at age 7 discovered the piano.  Today, he performs throughout New England with numerous groups, including the Reiner Family and Rachel Cole bands.  In early 2009, he appeared on Brian O’Donovan’s “Celtic Sojourn: A Boston Session,” where he performed with fiddler Oisin Mc Auley, the band The Hay Brigade and other artists. He has released two CDs.

Also scheduled to perform in the Sunday Series at Skye are the Abbott Hill Ramblers with The Franklin County Fiddlers and the Pineland Fiddlers; Teresa Doyle; Cadence, The Old Time Radio Gang; The Don Campbell Trio; the Sebago-Longlake Festival String Orchestra; Dave Mallett; and Ward MacDonald & Ellen MacPhee. There will be a preshow jam session 45 minutes prior to curtain. Audience members are encouraged to bring their instruments to jam with the artists for a few minutes.

Concert tickets are $10. Skye Theater is at 2 Highland Drive. For reservations, call Skye Theatre at 562-4445.