The Vermont Fiddle Orchestra proudly presents its spring concert at the Barre Opera House on Saturday, April 8, at 7:00 p.m. Admission is by donation. The concert will feature guest artist fiddler Katie Trautz of Montpelier. Trautz brings swinging Cajun music from Louisiana to the orchestra’s program, which also includes traditional jigs, reels, waltzes, and other old-time tunes from Ireland, Sweden, Quebec, France’s Breton region, the Shetland Islands, Appalachia, and Vermont. Artistic Director Peter Macfarlane contributed a composition of his own, as well as two tunes by well-loved musician Pete Sutherland, who passed away in November 2022.
Katie Trautz is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who has toured the U.S. and internationally sharing traditional music and original folk songs. Her Cajun band is Pointe Noir, and she is also part of the old-time music band Last Chance. She co-founded and directed the Summit School of Traditional Music and Culture in Montpelier, created a book of traditional harmony tunes for kids, directed the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, and is now executive director of MontpelierAlive.
When he’s not arranging harmonies for some 30 fiddlers, several guitars, cellos, mandolins, flutes and pipes, a bass, and a banjo and corralling them all into a fine performing orchestra, artistic director Peter Macfarlane plays with the bands Atlantic Crossing and Frost and Fire, teaches fiddle, composes tunes, tutors biology and chemistry, and builds and paddles light-weight cedar-strip canoes.
The Vermont Fiddle Orchestra was founded in 2003 by fiddler Sarah Hotchkiss and will celebrate 20 years at its December 2023 concert. For more information, visit vermontfiddleorchestra.org.
