Our Saturday concert opens with É.T.É, a trio from Québec who’ll amaze you with their dynamic, modern take on Québécois trad. With influences from jazz, progressive rock, and classical music, violinist Élisabeth Moquin, bouzouki player Thierry Clouette, and cellist Élisabeth Giroux build their own trad universe through original compositions and fresh, inventive arrangements of tunes you’ll recognize from the Québécois and Acadian repertoire.

Joining them on stage is ReJigged veteran Yaëlle Azoulay, an extraordinary dancer from Québec who takes the music of the gigue and effortlessly alchemizes it into physical movement.

Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” dancer and musician Nic Gareiss returns with a gem of a one‑man show. And rounding out the night, JUNO nominees Inn Echo will enthral us with their undeniable chemistry and electrifying musicianship.

Our Saturday concert opens with É.T.É, a trio from Québec who’ll amaze you with their dynamic, modern take on Québécois trad. With influences from jazz, progressive rock, and classical music, violinist Élisabeth Moquin, bouzouki player Thierry Clouette, and cellist Élisabeth Giroux build their own trad universe through original compositions and fresh, inventive arrangements of tunes you’ll recognize from the Québécois and Acadian repertoire.

Joining them on stage is ReJigged veteran Yaëlle Azoulay, an extraordinary dancer from Québec who takes the music of the gigue and effortlessly alchemizes it into physical movement.

Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” dancer and musician Nic Gareiss returns with a gem of a one‑man show. And rounding out the night, JUNO nominees Inn Echo will enthral us with their undeniable chemistry and electrifying musicianship.

É.T.É

The fruitful meetingof three young musicians with vibrant artistic journeys, É.T.É propose a dynamic and contemporary vision of Québécois trad music. With influences from jazz, progressive rock, and classical music, violinist Élisabeth Moquin, bouzouki player Thierry Clouette, and cellist Élisabeth Giroux create their own trad universe with original compositions and unique arrangements of Québécois and Acadian repertoire. Their rich vocal harmonies, their groove, their ease at their instruments and their electrifying simpatico onstage transforms the ordinary kitchen party into an unforgettable show! Following the release of their first album Le boire des minuits in 2017, É.T.É won the “Emerging” prize from Grands prix Desjardins de la culture de Lanaudière in 2017; “Discovery of the Year” from OPUS 2017-2018; the “People’s Choice” prize from Cabaret festif in 2018; the Linda Lemay award from Festival international de la chanson de Granby 2019; and a “Lucien” from GAMIQ (Québec Independent Music Awards) in 2020. Their second album, Les quatre roses, was nominated at both OPUS and ADISQ in 2020. The group has toured extensively throughout Canada, the USA, Scotland, Belgium and Australia. Their most recent album, Sur ces eaux, was released in November 2022.

Yaëlle Azoulay

Yaëlle Azoulay is a dancer and choreographer specializing in Québécois step dance and percussive dance. In addition to performing and creating, she shares her dynamic pedagogical approach by teaching step dance across Canada and Europe. For over 20 years, she has also been honing the art of “calling” – leading people in traditional social dances and various participatory settings. www.yaelle.ca

Nic Gareiss

One of Dance Magazine’s 25 to Watch, Nic Gareiss (he/they) grew up at folk festivals learning Appalachian, Irish, English, and Canadian step dance surrounded by fiddlers, cloggers, and folk singers in what some folks call Michigan. This mix of traditional movement, music, and song has become the heart of Nic’s creative work as a contemporary folk performer. Hailed by the New York Times for “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance,” Gareiss has been called “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald. In 2020 Nic received the Michigan Heritage Award, the region’s highest distinction bestowed on traditional artists. Holding a MA in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick, Nic’s thesis was the first piece of scholarship to query the experience of fellow LGBTQ+ Irish step dancers. He has performed in seventeen countries including at composer Steve Reich’s 75th birthday celebration at the Cork Opera House, as well as at London’s Barbican Centre, Paris’ Salle Gaveau, the Munich Philharmonic, Jacob’s Pillow, and Fall For Dance North, which presented Nic’s collaboration with dancer Caleb Teicher at rural farms, parks, and vineyards. More recently, Nic’s visual album with banjoist Allison de Groot made NPR’s yearly list of best roots music. Entitled The Thrill, it serves as an ongoing mutual aid project for Appalachian flood relief and can be experienced on Bandcamp. www.nicgareiss.com / @NicGareissLFI

Inn Echo

After 6 remarkable years as a band, touring 3 continents and garnering Music PEI awards and JUNO, ECMA and CFMA nominations, Inn Echo already have much to reflect upon. Fiddler Karson McKeown has often said, “We keep having to come up with new goals because we keep reaching them!” Needless to say, they are beyond grateful for the journey that has taken them from their home base on Prince Edward Island to places like Australia’s Woodford Folk Festival and Scotland’s Shetland Folk Festival, the type of journeys that inspired the title of their 2023 album Hemispheres. But it’s the future that excites them most, not just for new tours and territories to explore but for how their sound continues to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what three trad instrumentalists can achieve.

Their 2023 release, Hemispheres, is a tribute to the places they’ve toured, carrying a piece of PEI with them. Produced by Jake Charron and Donnie Richard, the album has the island at heart. But the tracks invoke a range of images: an Acadian kitchen party on Breton Tune, the night sky in Queensland on Jupiter and Mars, or Tuli’s childhood home on Vancouver Island on Big Blue. Most of the tracks contain original compositions, their contributions to the continuing craft of tune writing. When they borrow from the tradition, they weave it seamlessly into their style, like with Dot MacKinnon’s by Kevin Chaisson, a PEI classic which brings a climactic finish to the track If Only. Pull up a chair, but keep your dancing shoes on, Inn Echo have stories to share and the tunes to match them.

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