In booking the first act for his series of traditional music concerts at Newport’s Library Arts Center, folk guitarist Eric McDonald had the Quebecois duo of Yann Falquet and Pascal Gemme at “hello.”
“When Eric was telling us what he wanted to do, we were excited,” Falquet said this week in a telephone conversation from his home outside Boston. “This type of music is always linked with a rich tradition of storytelling. Even if we’re singing something in French, we always try to share a slice of the life that goes with the tune, give the context that goes with it.
“We love to share these with the audience.”
Falquet, a guitarist, and Gemme, a fiddler, will share the rhythms and some of the stories of French-Canadian and Franco-American culture on Saturday night at the Library Arts Center starting at 7, the way they’ve done around New England and North America for more than a decade both as a duo and in the band Genticorum. This past winter, they anchored Revels North’s Christmas Revels shows at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover.
For McDonald, who plays guitar and mandolin and sings for a variety of folk and roots ensembles in the Northeast and also lives near Boston, Falquet and Gemme fit both the venue and the mission of the Three Bridges concert series. (The Three Bridges name refers to three historic bridges in Newport, two of them covered.) McDonald started planning the series about two years ago.
“My main motivation is to spread the music and build community, both with the local population and with touring musicians,” McDonald wrote during an exchange of emails this week. “I perform for a living, but I still love to go to concerts and listen. I love the acoustics in the LAC. … When I conceptualized this series, Yann and Pascal were the first group I thought of. They embody everything that Three Bridges is about.”
Falquet said that in their shows, he and Gemme often touch on French-Canadian immigration to the mills of New England in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a history that resonates with descendants of those immigrants.
“We play every weekend, small concerts and house concerts,” Falquet said. “The biggest part of the art is to share the stories. These days, with all the information people get on social media about immigrants that isn’t necessarily accurate, that generates such strong opinion, it’s more important than ever to remind people that we all come from somewhere else.”
While telling such stories wasn’t McDonald’s impetus in starting the series, “I agree that music can be a major bridge to better understanding another culture,” he wrote this week.
McDonald has performed at the arts center twice over the last six years, including a 2016 concert with the Celtic ensemble Cantrip, which will play there in July.
“It is one of the most intimate-feeling venues of its size I have ever played,” McDonald wrote. “Seventy-five people feel like a cozy 30 in that room. Beyond that, the natural sound of the room is exceptional. … Venues like this are few and far between and they make for some magical evenings.”
Fiddler-singer Pascal Gemme and singer-guitarist Yann Falquet kick off the Three Bridges series of performances of traditional music at the Library Arts Center in Newport on Saturday night starting at 7. Individual admission to this show costs $16 in advance and $20 at the door, and a pass to the full series is $50. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit libraryartscenter.org/threebridges or call 603-863-3040.
Best Bets
The Meadows Brothers play their mix of folk, country and rock ‘n’ roll at the final Corinth Coffeehouse concert of the season on Saturday night at 7 at Corinth Town Hall. Admission is by donation, with proceeds going toward operation of the town’s Northeast Slopes ski area. To learn more, visit facebook.com/thecorinthcoffeehouse.
Students from the Dancers’ Corner studio in White River Junction demonstrate ballet, jazz, hip hop and other styles at two free performances on Saturday. The tour, part of the Hopkins Center’s HopStop program, begins at 11 a.m. at Dartmouth College’s Alumni Hall in Hanover. For their next act, the ensemble will dance at 3 in the afternoon at Claremont’s Claremont Savings Bank Community Center.
The Camerata New England ensemble of violinist Omar Guey, violist Peter Sulski, cellist Linda Galvan and pianist Evelyn Zuckerman perform works of Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms on Saturday night at 7 at the Norwich meetinghouse of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley. For tickets ($28) and more information, visit cameratanewengland.org or call 802-785-4833.
The Burlington-based ensemble Steady Betty rocks across the spectrum of Jamaican music at Alumni Hall in Haverhill on Saturday night at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($20 for members of Court Street Arts, $22 for others) and learn more, email info@alumnihall.org or call 603-989-5500. Before the concert, Bailiff’s Cafe offers dinner between 6 and 7:15.
Accordionist/pianist Jeremiah McLane, fiddler Ethan Hazard-Watkins and guitarist/bouzoukist Owen Marshall set the rhythm and Dave Eisenstadter calls the steps for the Second Saturday contradance this weekend at Tracy Hall in Norwich. The dancing begins at 8 p.m., after a 7:45 walk-through for beginners and newcomers. Dancers should bring clean, soft-soled shoes and snacks for the potluck at intermission. Admission is $6 to $9.
Looking Ahead
Seventeen Upper Valley musicians will perform a wide range of classical compositions during the ninth annual “Next Generation” concert at Randolph’s Chandler Music Hall on May 19 at 7:30 p.m. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464 during weekday business hours.
Theater/Performance Art
Northern Stage continues its production of Mamma Mia, the sex farce/musical built around the hit songs of ABBA over the next week, starting with performances this afternoon at 2 and tonight at 7:30. The show runs through May 21. To order tickets ($14 to $54) and learn more, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Shaker Bridge Theatre lowers the curtain on its run of Becky Mode’s Fully Committed this weekend, starting tonight at 7:30 at Whitney Hall in Enfield. Subsequent performances of the comedy, which follows a day in the life of an out-of-work actor juggling the competing demands of his family and of bigwigs pleading for reservations and special treatment at a Manhattan hotspot, are scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and Sunday afternoons at 2:30. To reserve tickets ($25 to $32) and learn more, visit shakerbridgetheatre.org or call 603-448-3750..
For the 43rd annual Christmas Revels in December, on the theme of “A Nordic Celebration of the Winter Solstice,” Revels North holds auditions for singers, actors and dancers ages 7 to adult on Friday and Saturday at Tracy Hall in Norwich. To sign up for an audition, visit revelsnorth.org/christmas-revels/auditions.
Revels North also is inviting aspiring singers of all ages to rehearse weekly for its summer solstice concert. Monday is the deadline to register, as well as the first night of rehearsals. To learn more, visit revelsnorth.org/summer-revels/registration..
Music
Folk singer-songwriter Livingston Taylor appears tonight at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre, in a concert benefiting the Ottauquechee Health Foundation. The Burlington-based indie folk-rock duo The Dupont Brothers will open for Taylor at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($35 to $45) and learn more, visit pentanglearts.org or call 802-457-3981.
Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kim Logan leads her band through the Upper Valley for two performances of psychedelic, swamp blues, rock and soul music — tonight at 9 at Salt hill Pub in Newport and Saturday night at 7 at Taverne on the Square in Claremont.
On the theme of “On This Earth Together,” the Thetford Chamber Singers blend the work of composers such as Gwyneth Walker and Henry Purcell with writings of Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson and Wendell Berry, in performances on Friday night at 7:30 at Woodstock’s North Universalist Chapel and on Sunday afternoon at 4:30 and Sunday night at 7:30 at the First Congregational Church on Thetford Hill. To reserve tickets ($8 to $12) and learn more, visit thetfordchambersingers.org or the Norwich Bookstore or Woodstock’s Yankee Bookshop. Admission at the door is $15.
Veteran entertainer John Davidson sings at the Claremont Opera House on Saturday night at 7:30. For tickets ($20) and more information, visit clarmentoperahouse.org or call 603-542-4433.
Bar and Club Circuit
Pianist Randall Mullen commands the keyboard at the Canoe Club in Hanover tonight at 6. Musicians following him to the venue with 6 to 9 p.m. shows over the coming week are pianist Bob Lucier on Friday, pianist Gillian Joy on Saturday and Kimball Union Academy pianist Sam Weinberger, of Sunapee, on Sunday.
Singer-songwriter Brian Warren appears at the tavern of the Lyme Inn tonight starting at 6.
Singer-songwriter Andrew Merzi plays at Taverne on the Square in Claremont tonight at 7. Next up to the microphone are the crossover country duo of Jilly Martin and Ryan Brooks Kelly on Friday night at 8.
The Strangled Darlings pull into Windsor Station to perform their “Americana doom pop” tonight starting at 7:30. Following them to the microphone over the coming week are The Pilgrims on Friday night at 9:30, Traveling Broke & Out of Gas on Saturday night at 9:30 and guitarist Ted Mortimer on Tuesday night at 6.
FryDaddy frontman Carlos Ocasio rocks the tavern at Jesse’s in Hanover on Friday evening starting at 5.
Sixteen-year-old singer-guitarist Quentin Callewaert performs at the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse on Friday night at 7, downstairs at the Methodist Church in Sunapee. While admission is free, donations are welcome. To learn more, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org.
Bluesman Arthur James kicks off the weekend of music at Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon on Friday night at 8. Country musician Ben Fuller performs Saturday night at 9.
Singer-songwriter Seth Adam performs at Lebanon’s Salt hill Pub at 8 on Friday night, followed on Saturday night at 9 by The Conniption Fits.
Tirade rocks the Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Friday night starting at 9. And on Saturday night at 8, Alex Smith & The Mountain Sound mix acoustic rock with upbeat bluegrass.
John Lackard sings and plays the blues at the Salt hill Pub in Newport on Friday night at 8. Club Soda takes the stage on Saturday night at 9 to perform danceable top-40, classic rock, R&B, pop and a hint of country.
The Gaslight Tinkers perform their blend of traditional fiddle music and grooves from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Friday night at 8:30. On Saturday night at 7:30, Band of the Land takes the microphone with a set of roots and reggae, and Bow Thayer plays his weekly set of Americana on Wednesday night at 7:30.
Sensible Shoes sets the rhythm for dancing at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners on Friday night starting at 9.
Mary Maguire sings and plays roots music at the Stone Arch Bakery in Lebanon on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Open Mics
Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret tonight starting at 7.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 on Thursday nights. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic, Tuesday nights at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts his weekly open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern at 8:30 on Wednesday night.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.