Alchemy October 20th Midday Concert
Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI) offers its next Midday Concert @ 1:00 on October 20th with the Alchemy Band.
Alchemy plays high- energy Celtic reels, breathtakingly beautiful waltzes, gritty French groove tunes, elegant English country dance melodies from the 1700’s, and exciting originals. The music occupies a beautiful space, somewhere between chamber music and folk music, with complex textures and rich arrangements alongside the raw energy of multi-cultural influences.
Rachel Bell is an accordion player based in Brattleboro, Vermont. This performer, tunesmith, and teacher’s playing spans an enormous range of emotion, from nuanced and sensitive to exhilarating and powerful, pushing the boundaries of what is expected from an accordion. Rachel draws her inspiration from Celtic, French, English, and Québécois traditions, creating scores of innovative tunes while deeply respecting traditional melodies. She thrives on collaborative musical work, especially with her bands Eloise & Co., Peregrine Road, Alchemy, and Old World Charm School.
In demand throughout North America and abroad for concerts, contra dances, French BalFolk dances, English country dances, workshops, and festivals, Rachel is a musical adventurer at heart.
Karen Axelrod’s piano playing combines expressiveness, energy, lyricism and power. She is equally at home with styles ranging from traditional folk melodies to passionate tangos to old world French musette waltzes to 17th century English Country dance tunes and much more. She left behind classical music over 40 years ago, and has happily settled into her musical home…somewhere between folk, classical and improvisation. Her playing is soulful yet touched with humor and whimsy.
When she is not playing concerts, Karen is one of the busiest and most sought after traditional dance musicians. Her elegant and rich piano playing and her colorful, gorgeous accordion playing are enlivened by her off-beat humor. Karen plays with a number of bands for traditional dance events as well as concerts. Her bands include Alchemy, Peregrine Road, Foxfire and 3rd String Trio.
Based in Brattleboro, VT, Karen tours extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, playing at dances, festivals, concerts, camps, private parties and other events.
Equally at home on fiddle and viola, Eric Martin is a dance musician who brings joy and soulful expression to many folk dance idioms. Through the freedom and improvisation inherent in traditional music, Eric enjoys the opportunity to break away from his Classical background while playing for English country dances, contra dances, festivals, balls, camps, and concerts throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe with Alchemy, Axelrod-Martin duo, and Coincidance. Eric holds performance degrees from Ithaca College and University of Limerick, Ireland and lives and works at Gould Farm, a therapeutic farming community, in the Berkshires.