Young Mainers are fiddling their way to Scotland

MANCHESTER — The Pineland Fiddlers, led by Maine master fiddler Ellen Gawler, will travel to Scotland in July for the musical adventure of a lifetime. The heart of their trip will be 10 days in the Shetland Islands, famous for wool, sheep dogs and fiddling.

Twelve hours by ferry north of the Scottish mainland, the Shetlands are nearly as close to the Arctic Circle as they are to Edinburgh. Which means more daylight for fiddling and an intensive, experiential immersion into Shetland musical traditions.
Ages six to 18, the Pineland Fiddlers will attend the Shetland Folk Frenzy, a festival week of workshops, sessions, concerts, and master classes. These talented young musicians are also booked for several concerts to share tunes from Maine and the Maritimes with traditional music fans across the ocean. After departing the islands, they will travel to Edinburgh to participate in the local music scene there.
You may have heard the Pineland Fiddlers sharing tunes this fall and winter throughout central Maine or at dances in Bowdoinham and Hallowell. Coming up this month: a concert in Winthrop at the Winthrop United Methodist Church at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 10; a St. Patrick’s Day appearance at Maine Craft Distilling in Portland from 11 a.m. to 2p.m.; a dance, spaghetti supper, and concert at the Vassalboro Grange at 6 p.m. Friday, March 29; and at the Pineland Suzuki School Benefit Concert on Sunday, March 24, at the Messalonskee Performing Arts Center. For more information about these events, go to www.pinelandsuzuki.org/pinelandfiddlers or follow them on Facebook www.facebook.com/PinelandSuzukiSchool.

PHOTO: Students, from left, Mary Philbrick, Silas Edwards, Victoria Hahn; Cora Welling, Allison Philbrick, Nori Edwards, Caleb Edwards, and Amelie Hahn; Owen Kennedy, Beck Welling, Lily Scease-Drouin, Elijah Huttman, Camila Ciembroniewicz, and Ellen Gawler. (Christina Kennedy photo)