Join us for the David Surette Mandolin Festival kick-off concert! Featuring performances by Carlo Aonzo, Sharon Gilchrist, Neil Pearlman, Will Patton, and special guest Susie Burke. Don't miss this stellar lineup of musicians who, between them, cover many musical styles. All well versed in tradition, these talented players also bring tradition into new places.
As some of you know, Carlo Aonzo experienced last minute visa problems which kept him from joining us from his home in Italy for the 2024 festival. We are so happy to tell you that Carlo will be joining us in 2025!
Carlo's illustrious career began with learning from his father in his native Savona. He is now is a world-renowned player and teacher of traditional Italian classical mandolin repertoire, but his interests and skills span across many genres. Carlo’s deep interest in outreach activities focused on his instrument is witnessed by his countless collaborations with mandolin orchestras and chamber orchestras around the world, as well as collaborations with a great number of fellow musicians including Beppe Gambetta and David Grisman. He is also regularly invited to judge mandolin contests, give lectures, and teach workshops in many countries. In the last few years he has toured Japan, USA, Panama, Australia, India, Switzerland, France, Norway and Germany. He has been awarded both the first prize at the Concorso Internazionale “Pitzianti” in Venice, and first prize at the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Contest in Winfield, Kansas! In 2006 he founded the International Italian Mandolin Accademia in Genoa Nervi, where David Surette taught in both 2018 and 2019.
We are pleased to welcome into our mando family Nashville mandolin player Sharon Gilchrist! Our festival founder David had hoped to hire Sharon for a number of years, and we're thrilled that our schedules have finally meshed.
Sharon Gilchrist began touring the national bluegrass circuit in her home state of Texas before earning a BA in Mandolin Performance at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. For two decades, Sharon has performed with many of the groundbreaking legends in bluegrass and new acoustic music including The Peter Rowan and Tony Rice Quartet, Scott Nygaard and John Reischman in The Harmonic Tone Revealers, Darol Anger, Tony Trischka, The CA Bluegrass Reunion Band, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands, Uncle Earl and many others. She is also a respected and influential music educator offering private mandolin instruction, online mandolin courses at http://www.pegheadnation.com, and teaching at music camps internationally. In 2024, Sharon joined the John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project as a featured artist and co-producer on their Vol 2. album, which will be released in early 2025. Sharon currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Last year, with just days before the festival, Maine's Neil Pearlman filled in for Carlo with fabulous mandolin and piano playing. We asked him to come back for 2025 and are glad he said yes!
Multi-instrumentalist, producer, step dancer and host of the TradCafe podcast, Neil Pearlman is a vital and distinctive voice in contemporary folk music. While he is best known for his groundbreaking approach to the piano in Celtic music, Neil is also a fantastic mandolinist, as anyone who attended the 2024 mandolin festival can attest. Neil's playing is continually evolving and spontaneous without losing its roots in the traditional piano styles of Atlantic Canada, New England and Scotland. He has appeared internationally at major festivals such as the Newport Folk Festival, Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Celtic Colours in Cape Breton and the Orkney Folk Festival and has recorded or performed with luminaries of traditional folk music including Natalie MacMaster, Darol Anger, Seamus Egan and Alasdair Fraser. Neil plays with the wonderful Maine-based quartet the Pine Tree Flyers, in addition to his solo work and other collaborations. His medley of Scottish tunes was a memorable concert moment in 2024.
And last but not least, it will be great to welcome back after a long absence our Vermont friend, Will Patton. Will has taught at the mandolin festival several times over the years, always to rave reviews.
Will plays everything from Brazilian choro music to bluegrass to the Beatles. He has been playing music since the age of 6, starting on piano and taking up guitar at age 12. Mandolin and bass soon followed, and he’s been leading bands since he was thirteen. He studied at Middlebury College in Vermont and discovered a deep connection with the rural landscape there, but his travels have taken him to Rio, Paris and the Caribbean as well as all over the U.S. and Canada. During the last twenty years he has been visiting and playing in Paris, and has been recording and collaborating with legendary manouche guitarist Ninine Garcia. He also has a passion for Brazilian music, exploring the music known as choro with his band Estrela do Norte, and in the last 5 years he has been performing with the Vermont Mandolin Trio featuring Matt Flinner and Jamie Masefield.
Susie Burke played, toured and recorded with her husband David Surette for nearly 35 years. David always had Susie back him up and sing a few songs at Mando fest, and Susie is happy to be carrying on the festival with her daughters and CCMS. She will be joined in the concert by her and David’s daughter, singer Julianna Burke.
This event sold out early last year, so don't wait to buy your tickets!
$25 advance | $28 day of | $15 student
*fees not included ($2 facility fee per ticket + cc processing fees)