2025 Faculty
Jump to section: Fiddle | Guitar | Dance | Piano | Flute | Community Singing | Bodhran | Bouzouki | Harp | Mandolin
Fiddle
Mari Black
Multistyle violinist & champion fiddler Mari Black’s virtuosic fiddling, sparkling stage presence, and commitment to bringing people together through music have made her a favorite with audiences across the country and around the world. A master of diverse musical styles and winner of several major international competitions, Mari sweeps her audiences away on a spirited musical adventure featuring dance music from around the globe: Celtic, American, & Canadian fiddling, jazz, klezmer, and more!
Anastasia DesRoches
Anastasia DesRoches is a highly accomplished musician, dancer, and educator, deeply rooted in the rich cultural traditions of Prince Edward Island. With a passion for preserving and sharing the Acadian heritage, Anastasia has become a respected figure in the world of traditional music and dance. Her expertise spans the fiddle, where she has captivated audiences with her dynamic performances, as well as Acadian step dancing, which she has taught to students of all ages. Whether on stage or in the classroom, Anastasia DesRoches continues to be a vibrant ambassador of Acadian culture, celebrating its traditions while fostering its future.
Pascal Gemme
Pascal Gemme is a leading light in Quebec’s traditional music scene. Known as much for his original compositions as his fine interpretation of traditional tunes, Pascal is the fiddler, singer and arranger of the band, Genticorum, whose CDs have met with critical acclaim in several countries.
Devon Léger
Devon Léger is a second generation fiddler who has spent many years studying the wild traditions of Acadian fiddling. He specializes in the Acadian fiddling of New Brunswick, his father’s home province, and in the playing of Acadian fiddlers like André à Toto Savoie, Eloi LeBlanc, and Vilbon le Violoneux. He’s learned from archives, field recordings, and has tracked down elder fiddlers across Canada to learn from directly. He’s currently working on tracing the roots of the instrumental tunes from Western France, through the Acadian provinces, and down ultimately to Louisiana’s Cajun communities. He primarily performs in his family band, La Famille Léger with his father, Louis, and his wife, Dejah.
Erynn Marshall
Erynn Marshall is an old-time fiddler who lives in Hillsville, Virginia and is known internationally for her traditional music. She learned the nuances of Appalachian old-time fiddling from visiting elder, southern fiddlers and through her love of archival recordings. Erynn was the first woman to win 1st place fiddle at Clifftop (The Appalachian Stringband Festival) among other awards and is featured in the 2023 exhibit, “Women of Old-Time Music,” at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum (Bristol, VA). Erynn and husband Carl Jones have toured and taught at music camps across North America, Europe, China and Australia. Erynn has numerous recordings, is featured in five films, three books, and is coordinator for Swannanoa Old-Time & Dance Week (NC).
Caitlin Warbelow
Caitlin Warbelow hails from a family of entrepreneurs and bush pilots in Alaska, and most recently served as the violinist/fiddler in the original Broadway cast of the Tony Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated musical, Come From Away. She is on the faculty at Manhattan’s Irish Arts Center, is the artistic coordinator for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival’s Celtic program, and maintains a large private teaching studio in Manhattan. When not on Broadway, Caitlin performs and tours as a solo artist, with numerous ensembles, and as a symphony soloist. She founded the new trad ensemble Warbelow Range with Kyle Sanna, Alan Murray, and Dan Lowery and co-produced their first self-titled album. Caitlin is the co-founder of Tune Supply.
Guitar
Isa Burke
Isa Burke is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and producer. Raised in a musical family in Maine, Isa soon found her way to Boston, where she studied fiddle and songwriting at Berklee College of Music and dove headfirst into the area’s thriving music scene. In 2014 she co-founded the indie-folk band Lula Wiles, which released three albums on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings and toured internationally until 2021. Isa has spent recent years building a reputation as a versatile and in-demand collaborator. She was a member of Aoife O’Donovan’s touring band (earning a nomination for Instrumentalist of the Year at the 2023 Americana Music Awards), and recently became the newest touring member of indie band the Mountain Goats. Isa is also an experienced and devoted music educator, and a longtime fiddle camper.
Dan Faiella
Dan Faiella is a guitarist specializing in traditional Celtic music. Trained as an accompanist through years of playing for New England contra dances and for Irish fiddlers, he has performed at venues and festivals around the country with numerous traditional music groups, as well as in a duo with his sister and longtime musical collaborator, fiddler and singer Liz Faiella. In his solo playing, Dan’s fingerstyle arrangements of traditional songs and tunes draw extensively on techniques and ornamentation from traditional idioms beyond those directly related to the guitar, such as Celtic harp-playing, sean-nós singing, and uilleann piping. Over many years of playing solo and collaboratively, he has developed an ability to adapt and synthesize these sounds into the context of the unique arrangement capabilities of the guitar.
Yann Falquet
From Montreal, QC, now living in Brattleboro, VT, Yann Falquet is among the most creative folk singer and acoustic guitarists in today’s Québécois and celtic music scenes.
In 2000, Yann co-founded Genticorum, a Québec-based traditional music trio with Pascal Gemme and Nicholas Williams. Since then, he has traveled the world sharing the group’s songs. Over the years, he has collaborated with Seamus Egan Project, Hanneke Cassel, Keith Murphy, Maeve Gilgrist, Nic Gareiss, The McDades, and has shared the stage with Olov Johanson (Väsen), Liz Carroll, Bruce Molsky, Cillian Vallely & Kevin Crawford (Lunasa) among many others.
Piano
Jake Charron
Jake Charron has been busy the past 10 years writing music and touring the world with Juno award-winning band The East Pointers. When he is not on the road, he is in the studio, producing and recording music with some of the finest musicians on the scene. As a multi-instrumentalist and collaborator, Jake has released critically acclaimed duo albums with Grammy-nominated fiddle player Liz Carroll, and Canada’s award winning fiddler Shane Cook. Jake is a co-founder of SpaceCamp Studios in Charlottetown, and has been recording and producing new music for The East Pointers (PE), Kinley (PE), Inn Echo (PE), Trials of Cato (UK), Waymzy (ON), Trad Attack (Estonia), and his newly formed group “6 Hearts”, a project featuring members of The East Pointers and Vishten.
Susan MacLean
Susan MacLean resides in the Sydney area of Cape Breton and comes from a deeply rooted musical background. She has taught Cape Breton style piano accompaniment annually since the mid 90’s at St. Ann’s Gaelic College – Colaisde na Gàidhlig. She has recorded thirty online instructional videos with the Gaelic College. She is a board member of the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association, plays fiddle and composes music. Susan is also a founding committee member of the Treasures of Youth (Stóras na h-Òigridh) committee set up by the Nova Scotia Highland Village Museum. Susan’s enthusiasm for Cape Breton style piano comes from influences within her own extended family including her late grandfather Michael Anthony MacLean, late uncles Carl and Hector MacKenzie, cousins the Barra MacNeils, as well as great aunt Theresa Morrison and great uncle Joe W. MacLean.
Dance
Kevin Doyle
Kevin Doyle is the recipient of a National Heritage Fellowship in Irish Dance from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest honor bestowed on a traditional artist in the US. Born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Doyle learned his first jigs and reels at the early age of eight from his Roscommon born mother. With more than 50 years of dance under his feet, the tradition has taken him from an Obama White House performance to the prestigious Willie Clancy Summer School in County Clare, Ireland. He was a featured presenter and teacher at the school in 2015 and 2018, a rare encore for an American artist. A magical blend of historic national styles, including American tap, Kevin is a dynamic performer, choreographer, teacher, and producer of Roscommon Soles’ Irish Parlor Performing Arts Series.
Kieran Jordan
Kieran Jordan is an Irish dance performer, teacher, and choreographer based in Boston. Her lyrical and expressive style draws from her background in contemporary dance, somatic movement practices, and more than 40 years of immersion in traditional Irish music and dance. Regarded as “one of America’s premier dancers and instructors” (Irish Echo), she is known especially for her creative contributions in sean-nós and old-style step dancing. In Boston, she has fostered a vibrant non-competitive dance community through her company, Kieran Jordan Dance, which has been active in the region for more than two decades.
Winner of two Massachusetts Artist Fellowships, Kieran holds an M.A. from the University of Limerick, a B.A. from Boston College, and the TCRG certification for teaching Irish dance. She has taught on the Irish Studies faculty at Boston College, and at festivals including the Willie Clancy Summer School, Catskills Irish Arts Week, Augusta Heritage Center, and more.
Marie-Soleil Pilette
Marie-Soleil Pilette has been working in traditional Quebec dance for over 25 years. Choreographer, stepdancer, and caller, she calls traditional Quebec dance evenings in Canada and the United States. She is an active member of the Danse Trad Waterville committee, and the Danse Trad Sherbrooke collective, which organize traditional Quebec dances in Eastern Townships, Quebec. Graduated in contemporary dance from UQAM and founder of the SANS TEMPS danse company, she played a leading role in the revival of Quebec stepdancing on stage in the 2000s. She has also performed and taught stepdancing and Quebec traditional dance in different places in North America and Europe, notably with the group Rapetipetam alongside Pierre Chartrand, but also as a guest dancer with various music groups. Marie-Soleil has helped train several dancers and choreographers who are active in dance today. She is a dynamic and valued instructor.
Sophie Wellington
Sophie is a Boston-based musician who draws inspiration from old time fiddling, percussive dance, flatpicking guitar and jazz improvisation. Raised in Staunton, VA by concert pianist Lynne Mackey and old time musician and dance caller Bill Wellington, her childhood was steeped in the confluence of music and movement. Community events and organizations such as contra dances, choirs, music festivals and camps kindled her expressive curiosity and inspired her to pursue music professionally. In 2021, after graduating from Berklee College of Music, she recorded and released her debut solo record Roving Jewel. This collection of fiddle tunes, banjo/flatfooting duets, and vocal jazz standards demonstrates her broad relationship to sound and feel. Sophie’s performances bring her sense of rhythm, harmony, and melody together in an engaging conversation for listener and player alike.
Flute
Nicole Rabata
Multi-genre flutist Nicole Rabata has appeared with critical acclaim on international stages in the United States, Europe and Asia. Notable highlights include the International Flute Festival of Lund and the Magic Flute Festival in Sweden; Portland Chamber Music Festival; White Mountain Bach Festival; Festival Interceltique du Lorient in France; Hebridean Festival in Scotland; World of Music and Dance Festival in the UK; Acadia Festival of Traditional Music and Arts; and two artist residencies in Kalimpong, India. She has been on the artist faculty at the Interharmony International Music Festivals in Sulzbach-Rozenberg, Germany, Arcidosso and Acqui Terme in Italy.
Nicholas Williams
Nicholas Williams is a multi-instrumentalist (flutes, accordion, piano), and singer, whose love of musical traditions has taken him on deep dives into Québécois, Irish, Scottish, and Scandinavian music. He is passionate about musical creativity, innovation and exploration, as well as the incredible power of traditional arts to bring people together through music, song, and dance. He plays with Yann Falquet and Pascal Gemme in the Québécois trio Genticourm, as well as with Laura Risk and Rachel Aucoin in the group Traverse, and with the Alex Kehler & Nicholas Williams duo.
Community Singing
Armand Aromin
In chronological order, Armand Aromin is a queer Filipino American musician, percussive dancer, singer, and violin maker now enmortgaged in Riverside, RI with his partner, Benedict Gagliardi. First taking up Irish fiddle and tin whistle in his early teens, then swiftly followed by uilleann pipes, and 5-string banjo, and, ukulele and, and… Armand had no other intention to learn anything else until two things happened: pre-diagnosed ADHD (hindsight is 20/20), and Benedict Gagliardi. From him, he was introduced to the multi-hyphenated world of community singing, and on account of a stiff neck he hasn’t looked back since. Today, Armand and Benedict can be found hosting pub sings in Providence; running workshops on social singing, harmony, lilting, and working to empower anyone who wants to sing.
Ben Gagliardi
Benedict Gagliardi is a Rhode Island-based singer and musician whose style is the product of the eclectic folk-scape of New England. With his partner, Armand Aromin, he fosters an active social singing community in central RI where he organizes pub sings and advocates for adaptive change and reinterpretation of traditional material via intentional folk processing. An adept and inventive Anglo concertina player, Benedict instigates playful energy within the groove of any tune. He occasionally writes songs (usually about bugs) but more often exhumes and reanimates old songs and tunes pertaining to an array of thematic interests. Together with Armand Aromin and Flannery Brown he performs as The Vox Hunters. In non-musical life, he manages a natural history collection at The Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at Rhode Island School of Design.
Bodhran
Cara Wildman
Cara Wildman is a highly sought after bodhrán player at the cutting edge of the instrument’s modern development. She credits a large part of her musicality to growing up playing western swing with her father and going two-stepping with her parents in her hometown of Dorchester, Texas. She has toured with Joanie Madden, Oisin Mac Diarmada’s Irish Christmas in America, Máiréad Nesbitt’s Celtic Spells, was a founding member of Irish band The Consequences, and more. Cara was the 2021 All-Ireland Fleadh Fest champion and holds two degrees in music education from Texas Christian University, and a Masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland.
Cara teaches regularly in the festival circuit and has taught at the Gulf Coast Cruinniú, Catskills Irish Arts Week, The Gaelic College, The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, among others.
Bouzouki
Frances Cunningham
Irish bouzouki player, Frances Cunningham, is a native of Southeast Texas but has lived in Nashville since 2001, where she has integrated herself into the recording studio community. She has recorded with musicians from Rhonda Vincent to Kevin Burke and 1,000 songwriters in between. She played for five years on the Grand Ole Opry with the Mike Snider String Band, but Irish music is her first love. She currently sings, composes, step dances, and plays with the Piper Jones Band, touring full time nation-wide. Frances also teaches boouzouki and tenor banjo workshops around the country, showing people creative ways to use chords and rhythms.
Adam Hendey
Adam Hendey is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer living in Boston, Massachusetts. Known for his sense and skill as a sought-after accompanist, Adam has collaborated and performed with many of traditional music’s brightest stars, including Éilís Kennedy, Elias Alexander, Mari Black, Iona Fyfe, Eliot Grasso, Maura Shawn Scanlin, and Alasdair Fraser. Adam is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied Traditional Music as a Master’s student, and the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, where he graduated summa cum laude with Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Philosophy.
Harp
Màiri Chaimbeul
Màiri Chaimbeul is a JUNO-nominated harp player and composer from the Isle of Skye in Scotland. A native Gaelic speaker, Màiri is known for their versatile sound, rooted in language and tradition, combined with a distinctive improvising voice and expressive rhythmic approach. Currently based in rural Nova Scotia, after almost a decade in Boston MA, Màiri tours regularly throughout North America, the UK, and Europe. Màiri can be heard regularly in duo with leading US/Scottish fiddler Jenna Moynihan, CFMA-winning prog-trad group Aerialists, and the ECMA-nominated improvised-music group Quilting. Màiri was Berklee College of Music’s lever harp and Celtic music professor from 2018-2021, and maintains a small online private teaching studio as well as regularly teaching at short courses and camps internationally.
Mandolin
Noah Fishman
Noah Fishman is a performer, composer, and educator. Rooted in Maine, Noah ventures to make bold, playful statements by bending lines between folk, chamber, and jazz. At home on a number of stringed instruments including mandolin, bass, and guitar, Noah is known for his instrumental creativity, spirited performances, and fluid improvisation.
The Acadia Festival of Traditional Music & Dance is governed by Friends of the Acadia Trad Festival, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) Maine nonprofit corporation. Website art by Anabelle Keimach and Annelise Papinsick.