AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Valley YMCA will host Rick Charette in concert at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, at the Harold Alfond Gymnasium, 31 Union St.

As a singer and songwriter, Charette has been capturing the hearts and spirits of young and old alike with his delightful and inspiring children’s songs. His performances blend original contemporary pop music and lyrics with imaginative activities that generate all kinds of audience participation.

Charette graduated from the University Of Southern Maine with degrees in music education and English. Elementary teachers across the country use his music in their classrooms to enhance and facilitate their language arts programs. He has been a featured speaker at the Northeast Whole Language Conference, a keynote speaker at the National Association For The Education Of Young Children Conference in Washington, D.C., as well as other education conferences around the U.S.

Charette travels throughout the U.S. and Canada and performs at schools and concert halls. For large concert events he performs with The Bubblegum Band and has appeared in venues such as Riverfest in Little Rock, Ark., Boston Citywide Arts, Boston, and Imagination Parade, a live concert radio broadcast in New York City.

His music has been featured on Peter Pan and Walt Disney records and been cited in Entertainment Weekly and Billboard magazines. The television broadcast on NBC affiliates in New England, “An Evening With Rick Charette,” won the National IRIS Award for programming excellence. His music receives airplay on such radio networks as KTOO in Juneau, Ala., which syndicates its program “We Like Kids” on 35 public radio stations around the U.S.

He has released 10 albums, two children’s picture books and two live concert videos, which are distributed nationally and have sold over a quarter-million copies to date. His 10th album “King Kong Chair,” his newest collection of original songs, was released in March 2004. In 2009, he recorded his third DVD of a live concert filmed at Deertrees Theater in Harrison, in which several new songs were debuted, in addition to a new version of his timeless classic “I Love Mud.”

A lifelong resident of Maine, Charette and his wife have three grown children.

The event is free, but preregistration is recommended. Those planning on attending may register by visiting the Manchester or Augusta campuses or by calling 207-622-9622.

FMI: 207-622-9622, www.kvymca.org, carrie@kvymca.org.

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