VERMONT FOLKLIFE “SUGAR IN THE PAN” CONCERT

Vermont Folklife’s “Sugar in the Pan” Trad Band is coming to Maine! Sugar in the Pan will be performing in Callahan Hall at the Lewiston Public Library on Thursday, May 23rd at 6:30pm. While in Maine, they will also perform at Rockport Opera House on May 24th at 7pm and will be the band for the Kennebec Contra Dance in Hallowell at 7pm, with additional concerts at schools and retirement communities. After learning traditional Québecois repertoire from Pascal Gemme (of Genticorum) and Véronique Plasse (of Bon Débarras) with the Young Tradition Vermont Touring Group, these superstar teenage musicians will bring an exciting and diverse program of music to Maine.  Their concert features traditional call and response singing, energetic reels that will have folks dancing in their seats, and evocative arrangements full of lovely harmonies.

A program of Vermont Folklife, the Touring Group and the Trad Band nurture youth involvement in traditional music and dance, providing opportunities to learn from tradition bearers, to build connections with artists and communities from Vermont and beyond, and to perform traditional repertoire.  Band members include fiddlers Fiona Stowell, Emma Taylor McCallum, and Lux Tierney; Emmett Stowell on banjo, guitar & keyboard; and harpist Eleanor Freebern and cellist Fenton Cooper-Roberts.  Sugar in the Pan is especially excited to share their Québecois program with Maine communities, many of which have deep Franco-American roots.

Multi-instrumentalist and Bates College student Grace Martin and fiddler Owen Kennedy, two Touring Group alumni, are joining Sugar in the Pan for their Maine Tour.  Winthrop-native Owen Kennedy has performed extensively in Maine, including the Maine Celtic Celebration, the Maine Highland Games, Oasis of Music concerts in Lewiston, and events in Searsport, Winthrop, Farmington, Bangor and beyond. He has performed with the Pineland Fiddlers, the Maine Folque Co-op, as well as with Ben Foss, Ethan Tischler, and Seán Heely.  Owen was the 2021 Young Stars of Maine Prizewinner and the inaugural winner of the “Glenn Jenks Future in Music Prize” from Bay Chamber Music School. He is excited to be back at the Rockport Opera House with Sugar in the Pan!

Sugar in the Pan band members have performed at the New World Festival, the Young Tradition Festival in Vermont, toured Cape Breton in 2023, and have entertained at various retirement communities and schools in Vermont.  They will be stopping in Maine between multiple Vermont performances and their June tour in Québec. To learn more about this group please visit: www.vtfolklife.org/touring-group.

The Lewiston Public Library is located downtown at 200 Lisbon Street at the corner of Pine Street. More information on Thursday’s concert is available by contacting the Lewiston Public Library at 513-3135 or LPLReference@lewistonmaine.gov.