17th Annual Arts Benefit Concert

Saturday, October 28, 7:00 pm

Location:
St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts
155 Emery Street
Berlin, NH

Tickets: $12.00 (adults) $8.00 (under 18)

On Saturday, October 28th, beginning at 7:00 pm, St. Kieran will hosting local jazz favorite, Berlin Jazz. In addition, the Material Girls of the Berlin Quilters Guild are currently exhibiting their works in the main hall. Come and check out the show and the exhibit, meet a few friends, have a cold beverage from our adult beverage bar, a hot beverage and/or a snack baked by our awesome team of volunteer bakers!

The jazz band, in existence since 1987, has amassed a library of over 200 selections. Among the selections for Saturday’s concert are All of Me, Stardust, My Funny Valentine, Sing, Sing, Sing and Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars. “We have such a great book of music, we could play for more than 10 hours non-stop” claims the group’s president, Monique Lavertu. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to select the play list for a 2-hour show: a great problem to have!”

Berlin Jazz has been blessed over the years to have many talented North Country musicians join the ensemble. The 18+ musicians that now fill their ranks donate their time each week for rehearsal and play for the love of music. Berlin Jazz Members include Steven Morrissette (Gorham), David Lebaron (Whitefield), Julie Schubert (Bethel, ME), and John McDowell (Randolph) in the trumpet section, David Glover (Whitefield), Bill Spencer (Littleton), Steven McCosh (Berlin) and Kenyon King (Chatham) in the trombone section, Bruce Kimball (Dummer), Monique Lavertu (Berlin), Faith Kimball, (Dummer), Leslie Morrissette (Gorham) and new to the group since its last appearance at St. Kieran, Brian Oberti in the saxophone section and Denise Doucette (Milan), David Arsenault (Gorham), Paul Laplante (Berlin) and Michael Martins (Littleton) round out the rhythm section.

Saturday, November 4, 4:30 - 7:00 pm

Location:
St. Kieran Center for the Arts
Berlin, NH

Tickets: $12 each

Come join us for a taste of homemade French cuisine on Saturday, November 4th. The dinner, which includes tourtieres, baked beans, chicken pie, coleslaw, dinner roll, a beverage and a number of sweet culinary delights, will be served in the community room of the arts center starting at 4:30 p.m. Wine will be available for purchase with proper identification. Tickets for the dinner will be $12.00 per plate and are currently available at the arts center office and on line at www.stkieranarts.org via the performing art series link. Tickets at the door will be $15.00. Seating for the dinner will be in half hour increments. Please indicate which seating you would prefer when purchasing your tickets.

Limited seating on the half hour:
Group 1: 4:30 to 5:00
Group 2: 5:00 to 5:30
Group 3: 5:30 to 6:00
Group 4: 6:00 to 6:30

Sunday, November 5, 2:00 pm

Location:
St. Kieran Center for the Arts
Berlin, NH

Tickets: $16.00 (adults) and 12.00 (under 18)

New to the arts center is the highly acclaimed quintet, Le Vent du Nord. The group’s vast repertoire draws from both traditional sources and original compositions, while enhancing its hard-driving soulful music (rooted in the Celtic diaspora) with a broad range of global influences.

Featuring button accordion, bouzouki, guitar and fiddle, the band’s sound is defined by the hurdy-gurdy, which adds an earthy, rough-hewn flavor to even the most buoyant dance tunes.” — Boston Herald

Since its inception in August 2002, Le Vent du Nord has enjoyed meteoric success, performing well over 1,600 concerts over 5 continents and racking up several prestigious awards, including a Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros, two Junos (Canada’s Grammys), a Félix at ADISQ, a Canadian Folk Music Award, and “Artist of the Year” at the North American Folk Alliance Annual Gala.

The group exhibits great finesse and flexibility, appearing regularly on Canadian, American, French, and UK television and radio, and participating in a wide variety of special musical projects. They’ve collaborated and performed with a diverse range of artists including: Harry Manx, Väsen, Dervish, The Chieftains, Breton musical pioneer Yann-Fañch Kemener, Québecois roots legend and master storyteller Michel Faubert, the Scottish folk band Breabach, singer Julie Fowlis, and the trans-Mediterranean ensemble Constantinople.

Not content with standard approaches to tradition, Le Vent du Nord has also created a symphonic concert that, according to Voir Montreal, “puts all traditional folk naysayers to shame.”

On stage these 5 friends creating intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.

Sponsored by The Madelaine G. von Weber Trust and Vaillancourt & Woodward Insurance, Inc.

Saturday, November 11, 7:00 pm

Location:
St. Kieran Community Center for the Arts
155 Emery Street
Berlin, NH

Tickets: $12.00 (adults) $10.00 (under 18)

Benjamin Sears & Bradford Conner have been performing together since 1989. They are among those rare performers who combine entertaining performances with outstanding historical research and who can claim Irving Berlin and George & Ira Gershwin premieres. In 1997 they made music history with Oh Kay, Oh George, a first-time concert pairing of songs and music by romantic and musical colleagues Kay Swift and George Gershwin, featuring many rarely heard Swift songs along with premieres of two unpublished George & Ira Gershwin songs. Their reputation as Gershwin performers was honored by the selection of their recordings to be part of the Interactive Kiosk at the new George & Ira Gershwin Room at the Library of Congress.

Sears and Conner are the first cabaret act to be featured at Boston's Emerson Majestic Theatre, and at Boston's Wang Centre for the Performing Arts they revived a show-biz tradition by presenting a pre-show concert of Irving Berlin songs for a showing of Berlin's classic film, White Christmas. Other appearances include the Mabel Mercer Foundation Cabaret Convention (Town Hall, New York City), Don't Tell Mama (New York), The Gardenia (Los Angeles), the International Fringe Festival (Orlando, Florida), Cabaret at Windows (Washington, DC), the Chicago Public Library (Chicago, IL), Scullers Jazz Club (Boston), the Upstairs at the Pudding Cabaret Series (Cambridge, MA), Club Cabaret (Boston), Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, Massachusetts), Mechanics Hall (Worcester, MA), and at colleges, concert series, and other venues throughout the Northeast.

Sears and Conner are Producing Directors of American Classics and are founding members of the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists (BACA), an organization promoting awareness and performance of cabaret in the Boston area. They are known for their research in the music and lyrics of Tin Pan Alley, Broadway and Hollywood. In 1996 they rediscovered a long-lost Irving Berlin song from 1916, "Santa Claus: A Syncopated Christmas Song," which they subsequently gave its modern premiere and first recording.