Fiddle “Fire Cracker” to play at Skye

REGION -- New England Celtic Arts will present PEI fiddle sensation Cynthia MacLeod with Jon Matthews at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center in South Carthage on Wednesday and at Unity College Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday.

Curtain is at 7 p.m. at Skye and 7:30 p.m. in Unity. There is a pre-show jam session one hour prior to curtain at all both venues. Audience members are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam with the artists for a few minutes.

From her home base on Prince Edward Island, Canada, fiddling sensation Cynthia MacLeod has built an international reputation that has taken her around the world. It's a reputation founded in raw talent, nurtured by boundless energy, and polished to a gleaming finish by a rigorous touring schedule. Audiences far and wide have thrilled as this tiny dynamo takes the stage for whirlwind performances that garner spring-loaded standing ovations everywhere she performs.

Just as remarkable is the acceptance and respect accorded Cynthia by her peers. In a part of the world known for dazzlingly talented fiddlers, fellow musicians have awarded her more than a dozen PEI Music awards, including multiple awards as Roots/Traditional Artist of the Year and Instrumental Artist of the Year. Audiences have also twice chosen her as Entertainer of the Year.

She has also produced three critically acclaimed (and top-selling) CDs. Head over Heels (2002) won her instant credibility with a hard-bitten music industry and was named Album of the Year. Her second CD Crackerjack, (2004), built on her growing reputation as a precise,

lively interpreter of traditional fiddle music. Hot Off The Floor(2007) combined that traditional sound with newer compositions and cemented Cynthia's place among the very best in East Coast fiddle music.

Cynthia's grace and charm with an audience is unchanged whether she is performing at home at her perpetually standing-room-only ceilidhs in Brackley Beach, PEI, or taking the stage in front of thousands at the World Expo in Aichi, Japan.

Her fans know what to expect from Cynthia soft spoken down-home charm followed by a high energy, electrifying show with fun, fiddle, and step dancing and often all three at the same time!

Few people on the Prince Edward Island music scene could claim to be any busier than Jon Matthews. A native Cape Bretoner who moved to P.E.I. in 2002, Matthews has carved out a full time career in music by wearing a number of different hats: singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer and broadcaster. He wears each of them very comfortably.

Onstage, you just never know what role he’ll be playing: front-man, guitarist, bassist, drummer/percussionist, or background vocalist. That versatility has kept Matthews constantly in demand and on the move. As a multi-instrumentalist, he has worked with a long list of collaborators, most notably Cynthia MacLeod, The Celtic Ladies, and Colette Cheverie, performing in concert halls and festivals in Canada and the U.S. and at major events like the East Coast Music Awards and Ontario Council of Folk Festivals conference.

Skye Theater is located three miles West of East Dixfield village at 2 Highland Dr. off Winter Hill Road and Rt. 2 in South Carthage. UCCPA is at 42 Depot St. in Unity. For

reservations at the theater you wish to attend, call Skye Theatre at 562-4445, or UCCPA at 948-7469. Tickets are $15 at Skye and Unity.