The Irresistible Dance Music of Cape Breton

Potomac, MD Fiddler, Adam Bern will appear in concert at the Glen Echo Town Hall on Thursday, January 2, 2014, 8 p.m.

Imagine the power and driving pace of the Scottish bagpipe wedded to the tunefulness of the violin and you’ll have an inkling of why Canada’s Cape Breton-style fiddle music has captivated the younger generation of American fiddlers.  Come to Glen Echo Town Hall on January 2, and hear this electrifying style as local Cape Breton-style fiddler, Adam Bern teams up with his musical mentor, Cape Breton’s foremost traditional-style pianist, Doug MacPhee.

Adam Bern is about as local as you can get.  He grew up in Potomac, Maryland and attended Karen Ashbrook and Paul Oorts’ Celtic Band classes in Silver Spring, Maryland.  At 16, he first heard Cape Breton fiddling at Washington, DC’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival and was enchanted.  He traveled to Cape Breton to learn the music he loved.  Doug MacPhee recognized and nurtured the young American’s talent.  Now, at age 21, Bern is performing with his mentor and raising awareness of authentic Cape Breton music.

Doug MacPhee (http://www.dungreen.com/MacPhee/MacPhee.html; http://capebretonsmagazine.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=2195) comes from a family steeped in the traditional music of Cape Breton Island.  His mother is the respected Cape Breton piano player Margaret MacPhee and his childhood home was an open house for musicians.  Growing up, he heard and learned from the Island’s greatest musicians.  Although he prides himself in his ability as an accompanist, Doug is also known as Cape Breton's foremost piano soloist.  MacPhee has also been active in collecting and preserving Cape Breton Music.  In 2008, he was received into the Order of Canada for his contributions to Cape Breton traditional culture.

When:  Thursday, January 2, 2014, 8 p.m.

Where:  Glen Echo Town Hall, 6106 Harvard Ave, Glen Echo, MD 20812

Admission: $15.00 donation requested

Information and Reservations: fsgw.org or contact Marty Summerour at 703-981-2217.