The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance

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Ellsworth, ME
The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance

Dedicated to celebrating Celtic-influenced music and dance through classes, workshops and concerts.

For centuries, Downeast Maine has flourished as a crossroads for many styles of music and dance: Acadian, Cape Breton, Irish, Scottish and Quebecois – just to name a few. The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Dance is dedicated to promoting education and appreciation of these traditions through an annual celebration held June 26-July 2, 2023 at the beautiful oceanfront campus of College of

the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Since 2013, Acadia Trad has brought world-class performers, students and the public together for awe-inspiring nightly concerts and dances, as well as daily classes and workshops. Our flagship program, Acadia Trad School, is a weeklong intensive program offering unparalleled instruction in fiddle, dance, piano, guitar, flute and other disciplines. Students of all ability levels and a wide range of ages (adults and children 12 years and up) are welcome. Full-time students spend the week in intensive studies, jam sessions and fun. A wide selection of afternoon workshops, dances and concerts are open to the public. Instrumental classes are taught in the aural tradition, with an emphasis on learning by ear. Shortly after the former Acadia Trad School 501(c)(3) disbanded in 2020, a dedicated group of volunteers began working to give new life to a reimagined festival in time for summer 2023. Explore acadiatradfestival.org to learn more about our mission and history, how to register for Trad School or purchase concert tickets, and ways you can support Acadia Trad.

11/15/2024

🧑‍🎓 Scholarships are available to students at any age and with any amount of experience in their discipline. Today, Adam McLean shares what a scholarship meant to him last summer. 🤍 We hope you’ll consider making a tax deductible donation towards our 2025 Fundraising Campaign. Our goal is to raise $8000 to fund next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🙏

11/13/2024

✨ Please join us in welcoming DAN FAIELLA to our Faculty! 🌟 Dan will be teaching GUITAR. 🎸

Dan Faiella is a guitarist specializing in traditional Celtic music. Trained as an accompanist through years of playing for New England contra dances and for Irish fiddlers, he has performed at venues and festivals around the country with numerous traditional music groups, as well as in a duo with his sister and longtime musical collaborator, fiddler and singer Liz Faiella. In his solo playing, Dan’s fingerstyle arrangements of traditional songs and tunes draw extensively on techniques and ornamentation from traditional idioms beyond those directly related to the guitar, such as Celtic harp-playing, sean-nós singing, and uilleann piping. Over many years of playing solo and collaboratively, he has developed an ability to adapt and synthesize these sounds into the context of the unique arrangement capabilities of the guitar.

11/10/2024

✨ Please join us in welcoming ERYNN MARSHALL to our Faculty! 🌟 Erynn will be teaching FIDDLE. 🎻

Erynn Marshall is an old-time fiddler who lives in Hillsville, Virginia and is known internationally for her traditional music. She learned the nuances of Appalachian old-time fiddling from visiting elder, southern fiddlers and through her love of archival recordings. Erynn was the first woman to win 1st place fiddle at Clifftop (The Appalachian Stringband Festival) among other awards and is featured in the 2023 exhibit, "Women of Old-Time Music," at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA). Erynn and husband Carl Jones have toured and taught at music camps across North America, Europe, China and Australia. Erynn has numerous recordings, is featured in five films, three books, and is coordinator for Swannanoa Old-Time & Dance Week (NC).

11/08/2024

We’re one 1️⃣ week into our 2025 Fundraising Campaign! Today we’d like to introduce you to 2024 scholarship recipient, Alden Gilg. Our Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs are 100% funded by generous donations from you, our Trad Family. 👫 Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us 📥meet our goal of raising $8000 to fund next summer’s programs. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 📥

11/06/2024

⚡ Please join us in welcoming BEN GAGLIARDI to our Faculty! 🌟 Ben will be teaching SINGING. 🗣

Benedict Gagliardi is a Rhode Island-based singer and musician whose style is the product of the eclectic folk-scape of New England. With his partner, Armand Aromin, he fosters an active social singing community in central RI where he organizes pub sings and advocates for adaptive change and reinterpretation of traditional material via intentional folk processing. An adept and inventive Anglo concertina player, Benedict instigates playful energy within the groove of any tune. He occasionally writes songs (usually about bugs) but more often exhumes and reanimates old songs and tunes pertaining to an array of thematic interests. Together with Armand Aromin and Flannery Brown he performs as The Vox Hunters. In non-musical life, he manages a natural history collection at The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design.

11/05/2024

Hey Trad Lovers! We're looking for someone to join our team and assist with merchandise for the festival. It would be a bonus if this person was local to MDI, however, we may be able to develop the role without that requirement. If this is of interest to you, email [email protected] to learn more!

(*Please note: this role would conflict with taking afternoon workshops during the festival. Handing cash & electronic sales will be necessary.)

11/03/2024

⚡ Please join us in welcoming MÀIRI CHAIMBEUL to our Faculty! 🎶 Màiri will be teaching HARP. 🙌

Mairi Chaimbeul is a JUNO-nominated harp player and composer from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. A native Gaelic speaker, Màiri is known for their versatile sound, rooted in language and tradition, combined with a distinctive improvising voice and expressive rhythmic approach. Currently based in rural Nova Scotia, after almost a decade in Boston MA, Màiri tours regularly throughout North America, the UK, and Europe. Màiri can be heard regularly in duo with leading US/Scottish fiddler Jenna Moynihan, CFMA-winning prog-trad group Aerialists, and the ECMA-nominated improvised-music group Quilting. Màiri has collaborated, recorded and performed with a wide range of artists including Darol Anger, Eleanor Buckland (Lula Wiles), Liz Carroll, Rose Cousins, and Bruce Molsky. Màiri was Berklee College of Music’s lever harp and Celtic music professor from 2018-2021, and maintains a small online private teaching studio as well as regularly teaching at short courses and camps internationally. Màiri is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where she was awarded the American Roots award, before joining the college's faculty in 2018.

11/01/2024

Today we’re kicking off our 2025 Fundraising Campaign! 🙌
Here’s Nora Carroll to tell you what a scholarship meant to her last summer. Have a watch, and please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us meet our goal of raising $8000 to fund next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/
📥 Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🎶

10/30/2024

🌟Please join us in welcoming Marie-Soleil Pilette to our Faculty! 💃🏻 Marie-Soleil will be teaching DANCE. 🎶

Marie-Soleil Pilette has been working in traditional Québec dance for over 25 years. Choreographer, stepdancer, and caller, she calls traditional Québec dance evenings in Canada and the United States. She is an active member of the Danse Trad Waterville committee, and the Danse Trad Sherbrooke collective, which organize traditional Québec dances in Eastern Townships, Québec. Graduate of contemporary dance from UQAM and founder of the SANS TEMPS danse company, she played a leading role in the revival of Québec stepdancing on stage in the 2000s. She has also performed and taught stepdancing and Québec traditional dance in different places in North America and Europe, notably with the group Rapetipetam alongside Pierre Chartrand, but also as a guest dancer with various music groups. Marie-Soleil has helped train several dancers and choreographers who are active in dance today. She is a dynamic and valued instructor.

10/27/2024

🎻 Please join us in welcoming DEVON LÉGER to our Faculty! 🌟 Devon will be teaching FIDDLE. ⚡

Devon Léger is a second generation fiddler who has spent many years studying the wild traditions of Acadian fiddling. He specializes in the Acadian fiddling of New Brunswick, his father's home province, and in the playing of Acadian fiddlers like André à Toto Savoie, Eloi LeBlanc, and Vilbon le Violoneux. Acadian fiddling is still one of the least known fiddle traditions in North America, and Léger has been rooting out this old, strange, and beautiful style of fiddling for a long time now. He's learned from archives, field recordings, and has tracked down elder fiddlers across Canada to learn from directly. He's currently working on tracing the roots of the instrumental tunes from Western France, through the Acadian provinces, and down ultimately to Louisiana's Cajun communities. He primarily performs in his family band, La Famille Léger with his father, Louis, and his wife, Dejah. He teaches Acadian fiddling, presents a series of videos on YouTube about these traditions, and has led French-Canadian jam sessions for over 20 years in the Pacific Northwest.

10/20/2024

🎶 Please join us in welcoming ADAM HENDEY to our Faculty! 🌟 Adam will be teaching BOUZOUKI. 👏

Adam Hendey is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer living in Boston, Massachusetts. Known for his sense and skill as a sought-after accompanist, Adam has collaborated and performed with many of traditional music's brightest stars, including Éilís Kennedy, Elias Alexander, Mari Black, Iona Fyfe, Eliot Grasso, Maura Shawn Scanlin, and Alasdair Fraser. Adam is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied Traditional Music as a Master's student, and the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, where he graduated summa cm laude with Bachelor's degrees in Music and Philosophy.

10/16/2024

☀ Please join us in welcoming SOPHIE WELLINGTON to our Faculty! 👏 Sophie will be teaching DANCE. 👞

Sophie Mae Wellington is a Boston-based musician who draws inspiration from old time fiddling, percussive dance, flatpicking guitar and jazz improvisation. Raised in Staunton, VA by concert pianist Lynne Mackey and old time musician and dance caller Bill Wellington, her childhood was steeped in the confluence of music and movement. Community events and organizations such as contra dances, choirs, music festivals and camps kindled her expressive curiosity and inspired her to pursue music professionally. In 2021, after graduating from Berklee College of Music, she recorded and released her debut solo record Roving Jewel. This collection of fiddle tunes, banjo/flatfooting duets, and vocal jazz standards demonstrates her broad relationship to sound and feel. Sophie’s performances bring her sense of rhythm, harmony, and melody together in an engaging conversation for listener and player alike.

10/11/2024

✨ Please join us in welcoming NICOLE RABATA to our Faculty! 🌟 Nicole will be teaching FLUTE. 🎶

Multi-genre flutist Nicole Rabata has appeared with critical acclaim on international stages in the United States, Europe and Asia. Notable highlights include the International Flute Festival of Lund and the Magic Flute Festival in Sweden; Portland Chamber Music Festival; White Mountain Bach Festival; Festival Interceltique du Lorient in France; Hebridean Festival in Scotland; World of Music and Dance Festival in the UK; Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Arts; and two artist residencies in Kalimpong, India. She has been on the artist faculty at the Interharmony International Music Festivals in Sulzbach-Rozenberg, Germany, Arcidosso and Acqui Terme in Italy. Mrs. Rabata has been a guest artist and lecturer at the National Flute Conventions in San Diego, New York City and Phoenix.
Holding a Masters Degree and International Artist’s Diploma from Royal Northern College of Music, U.K., she serves on the music faculty at Colby College. She has also been on the faculty at UMA and Bowdoin Colleges.

10/04/2024

🌟 Please join us in welcoming PASCAL GEMME to our Faculty! ✨ Pascal will be teaching FIDDLE. 🎻

Pascal Gemme is a leading light in Quebec’s traditional music scene. Known as much for his original compositions as his fine interpretation of traditional tunes, Pascal is the fiddler, singer and arranger of the band, Genticorum, whose CDs have met with critical acclaim in several countries.

10/01/2024

Registration is officially open for ! https://acadiatradfestival.org/register/ Join us to study Fiddle, Guitar, Piano, Flute, Dance, Community Singing, Bodhran, Bouzouki, Harp, or Mandolin! It's going to be another magical week in Bar Harbor, where the music, dance and friendship will nurture and inspire us. ♥️ You are very welcome here!

Address

PO Box 723
Ellsworth, ME
04605

Website

http://www.acadiatradfestival.org/

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Videos

Meet 2024 Scholarship Recipient - Adam McLean!

Meet Alden Gilg, one our 2024 Scholarship Recipients!

Today we’re kicking off our 2025 Fundraising Campaign! 🙌 Here’s Nora Carroll to tell you what a scholarship meant to her last summer. Have a watch, and please consider making a tax deductible donation to help us meet our goal of raising $8000 to fund next summer’s Scholarship, Artistic Work Study & Artists in Residence Programs. 👉 https://acadiatradfestival.org/donate/ 📥 Scholarship applications are open to all now through the end of January. https://acadiatradfestival.org/apply-for-a-scholarship/ 🎶

New YouTube Playlist!

🎥 While you plan for registration to open on October 1st, you might like to visit our new YouTube playlist 👉 https://bit.ly/4etQ63w with videos about our groups for music or dance classes, about how the programs will flow, our philosophy, and more. This is a playlist we’ll update as time goes on with more helpful information to help you make decisions and prepare for next summer! ☀️

Our closing dance...except it kept going and going into the wee hours!

Our Thursday night faculty concert finale included everyone joining in from their seats. Music and dance filled the auditorium, and joy filled our hearts 🩷

Màiri Chaimbeul leading her workshop on "Scottish Waulking Melodies" today! 🤩 Our afternoon programs are available for sale in person up until they start, so please feel free to join us! https://acadiatradfestival.org/workshops/

Part of tonight's finale from our Monday night concert: ‘Round the House – and Mind the Dresser! What a first full day of the festival. Thank you all for the part you are playing to make it happen!

The last dance of the first night - yipppppppp! 👏

#AcadiaJigJam2024 🥳 Send me your version by email and I'll post it, or post it yourself with the hashtag so we can all find it! View the original post about this great tune, with sheet music link & Frank's very own tutorial in the comments here: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=985534626906599&set=a.535613285232071

2024 Workshop Program launching on April 3rd!

📢 It's coming! 🎉 Mark your calendars and get ready for the #AcadiaTrad2024 Workshop Program Launch! 🗓️ Starting on Wednesday, April 3rd, you'll have the chance to dig in and plan your own personal afternoon enrichment schedule. 🎶🕺Tickets (individual, daily, or weekly passes) will be available for purchase on the same day. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to learn and connect with fellow trad lovers! 😍 Check out these amazing memories captured by our amazing Videographer-in-Residence, Dylan Ladds 📸 from AcadiaTrad2023 to get you in the spirit! ✨

Meet Fern Tamagini-O'Donnell, a delightful individual and grateful 2023 scholarship recipient. 🎓✨ If you or someone you know is interested, our scholarship applications are open until the end of January. 🌿📣 In even more exciting news, a generous anonymous friend of the festival has pledged to MATCH ALL DONATIONS made between January 12-22, up to a total of $2000! 🎁💰 This means that every (tax deductible) dollar you donate during this period will have double the impact! https://rb.gy/x38u0l To all the incredible souls who have already donated, we extend our deepest gratitude. 🙏❤️ We invite you to help us spread the word by sharing this post with your friends and family. Together, we can empower more deserving individuals to join the Acadia Trad family this summer!

Shortcuts

Thank you for seven incredible years!

Due to a variety of personal, organizational, and logistical factors, the 501(c)3 entity known as the Acadia School of Traditional Music and Arts is formally closed as of August 1, 2020.

Over the past seven years, we have built a community that spans the country and the world. We’ve inspired countless students of all ages to bring traditional music and dance into their lives, and to keep it there. We’ve brought programming to local schools and performance venues, infusing Down East Maine with the traditions we so adore. All of this has been accomplished by a small group of dedicated volunteers, to whom we will be ever grateful.

Music and dance are particularly special art forms, ones that – much like life itself – must be appreciated for their fleeting, momentary nature. Like beautiful Tibetan sand mandalas, they are created slowly and carefully by a community, appreciated for a time, and then brushed away, the individual grains of sand free to become another work of art. We close knowing we have created something powerful, and something beautiful that has touched many, many lives.

We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished, and even prouder that our mission can continue with the support of countless other organizations in Maine and across the globe. To that end, as part of our closure proceedings, all assets of the Acadia Trad School will be transferred to the Maine Traditional Music Association, the parent organization of the legendary Maine Fiddle Camp. We urge you to support their efforts as you have ours.