skye theatre

SO. CARTHAGE — Many Maine musicians including The Don Roy Band and Boreal Tordu will perform a benefit concert at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, March 11.
Curtain is 6:45 p.m. A pre-show jam session will start at 6.
With the announcement of the closing of Skye Theatre in September many musicians have rallied their support to help Skye Theatre meet its expenses this final season. Director Phill McIntyre said, “It is a very difficult decission to end programing at Skye this year. Many musicians who have played here over the years are coming back to help us stay in the black this final season. Skye is very special to them and it has been great to see several artists make the transition from this stage to the festivals and larger stages beyond Maine.”
The lineup is impressive and includes:
The Don Roy Band. Don is the Dean of Acadian and Franco traditions in Maine and has been named Artist in Residence for the 2014 edition of Crossroads Celtic Festival. The ensemble will include Don and Cindy Roy, with Jay Young and Larry Burkette. Performances by the Don Roy Band include; the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Their Library of Congress performance was reviewed by the Maine Arts Commission. Other notable concerts include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, The Barns at Wolf Trap, two appearances with Garrison Keillor and two performances at the American Folk Festival to name a few.
The Internationally recognized Acadian/Quebecois band, Boreal Tordu is well recognized for its very high spirited performances and includes Maine master fiddler Steve Muise; vocalist and composer Rob Sylvain, guitarist and vocalist Pip Walters, and on upright bass Andy Buckland. Boréal Tordu began when fiddler Steve Muise and singer Robert Sylvain discovered a mutual interest in the music of their shared Acadian heritage. While signs of their parents’ French culture can still be found in Maine, it was almost lost to their generation, after years of forced assimilation.
Maine Country fiddle legend Bill Scott & Friends, Jody and Bill Kasregis are also highlighted. Bill’s career spans back to the 50’s in Rock & Roll and Country. Scott says, “I grew up listening to my dad, a mandolin picker, and local musicians do their versions of Carter family and Hank Williams music. I started fooling around with the fiddle at nine years old and the guitar about the same time. Then, at 15, when I was a sophomore in high school, Elvis Presley came on the scene and it was bye-bye country music. Started playing bass six nights a week in a R&R band in Miami beach in 1962 and continued with rock & roll right up through the ’60s. I got out of music for a few years until the mid ’70s. That’s when I got back to country and started playing fiddle and guitar again. I feel eternally grateful to be blessed with this talent that has brought me such joy over the years and continues to this day and it gives me great pleasure to share it with others.”
Filling out the evening will be Maine luthier and performer Nick Apoilonio. Nick has been on the music scene in Mid-Coast Maine for many years and has been a great supporter of Celtic music throughout the region. Also Ellie Buckland will be here representing the Patriot Renewables Emerging Artist Series, which is in its third year at Skye. Ellie is a Farmington girl who is currently studying at Berkeley School of Music in Boston. She will very likely have some friends in tow to wow the audiance with her fiddling and vocals.
“It will be a very full night with a few surprises thrown in”, says McIntyre. “It has been a amazing run over the past 10 years and I do plan to continue programing Celtic and Folk in the Western Maine region as I always have.”
Skye Theater is located three miles west of East Dixfield village at 9 Highland Dr. off Winter Hill Road and RT. 2 in South Carthage. Ticket price is $15. More information is available at: http://www.necelticarts.com or call 562-4445.


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