This year the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers will take their music to the province of Ontario during the dates of May 18-24. Scheduled for this tour are a number of musical performances such as at Commissioner’s Park and the ByWard Market in Ottawa and then on to the Town of Renfrew; an area known for fiddle music.
The group always likes to include time to take in cultural attractions during their tours, especially for the younger fiddlers in the group. This trip is no exception and so they’ve scheduled a tour of the Parliament Buildings of our Nation’s Capital and a performance at Parliament Hill.
Always a non-profit group, the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers use proceeds from performances and merchandise to help special projects that the group likes to support such as Safe Grad and ArtsCan Circle, an organization dedicated to helping at risk Native youths. The Sussex Avenue Fiddlers also volunteer their time to play at various fundraisers for causes such as Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimers, Colitis and most recently for disaster relief in earthquake ravaged Haiti. They also enjoy playing at church services and for those in hospitals and nursing homes.
If the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers are playing in your area be sure not miss them. It is always a fun filled, toe-tapping event. On stage you will enjoy fiddling, step-dancing, singing, yodelling and a lot of good clean humour.
January 2009 Fiddles in Concert & CD Release!
If you tend to get the winter blues and you would like to hear some toe-tapping music then reserve Saturday, January 31, 2009 (snow date - February 1) for an evening with Ivan and Vivian Hicks and the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers at the Riverview Arts Centre (Riverview High School), 400 Whitepine Road, Riverview, NB. Showtime is 7:30 PM.
This program will feature plenty of fiddling from the group as well as individual presentations from members of the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers, which will include step-dancing, vocals, harmonica playing and much more.
The Sussex Avenue Fiddlers was formed in 1978 under the direction of Ivan Hicks and is just completing 30 years as a community-based group that has entertained throughout Eastern Canada and in many of the American States. In the Fall of 1998, the group did an American tour where they did a performance at the Wild Horse Saloon, Nashville, TN, opened a show for Barbara Fairchild at her theatre in Branson, MI and did a concert with Doc Williams in PA. In 2008, the group did a 17-day 30th Anniversary tour south of the border where the fiddlers and other guests performed in Virginia, Nashville, in Memphis at Graceland, and at various locations in Louisiana.
Since it is a community-based group of some 50 fiddlers, the members mainly come from the tri-community (Moncton, Riverview, Dieppe). However, there are members from Nauwigewauk, St. Paul, Sussex and Sackville. The fiddlers enjoy entertaining seniors, taking part in benefit programs and providing music for church related activities as well as breakfasts for associations and foundations, such as MS, Alzheimer’s and Crohn’s & Colitis.
In 2009, besides performing on the 20th Anniversary Super Fiddle Show (their 20th appearance), on May 9th at RAC, the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers will be traveling to Quebec on the long weekend in May to perform in concert and have some jam sessions with musicians from the Valleyfield area.
Sussex Avenue Fiddlers did a 30th Anniversary concert at RAC on October 20, 2007 featuring the various talents from within the group. This show was so well received that a double CD set of that evening’s performance is being produced and hopefully will have its debut launch at the January 31st concert. This will be the group’s second album.
Tickets for this concert are now on sale and would make a great way to beat those winter blues. The prices are $13 advance and $15 at the door. Tickets are available through members of the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers, Sobeys and Jean Coutu in Riverview, Ford’s Apothecary, St. George St., Moncton and Ivan Hicks (386-2996). All seats are reserved and you would be advised to get them early. Proceeds go towards Sussex Avenue Fiddlers special projects.
February 2008 US Tour 2008 - Blog
Continuing with their celebration of their 30th Anniversary Year, the group has embarked on their US Tour.
If you would like to read about their adventures along the way, please visit their blog/diary. Details will be continually added as they are made available. CLICK HERE to go to read their blog.
July 2007 Celebrating 30 Years of Music
This Fall, the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers, under the direction of Ivan and Vivian Hicks, will be starting their 30th Anniversary season. The group was formed in the late 1970’s in the Hicks’ music room of their Sussex Avenue home in Riverview. It began with a half dozen adult students who met for practice on Wednesday evenings and went out into the community to entertain seniors, do benefits, play for various organizations and church events.
Now numbering nearly 50 members, the group is made up of folks from their pre-teens to their 80’s. Of the more than twelve fiddle groups now existing in New Brunswick, the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers was one of the first to have been formed.
As one of the special planned events leading into their 30th season, the group will be taking their Maritime music on a showcase tour in 2008 through the Eastern United States to Louisiana. This 17 day journey from late February to mid-March will see them play many venues, sharing their Eastern Canadian style of music with audiences in places such as Bristol, VA, Nashville, TN and Lafayette, LA. While in Nashville, the fiddlers will have the opportunity to visit the famous RCA Studio B and record something of their own. Throughout the tour, they will also have various radio and television appearances, including one at the Lincoln Theatre on the “Songs of the Mountain” program that airs on PBS.
With a main destination of Louisiana, they hope to make this trip a cultural exchange as they meet Cajun musicians and fans. This is especially exciting for the many members of Sussex Avenue Fiddlers who are of an Acadian ancestry. For the three younger members of the group that will join the adults on this adventure, they hope to make this a learning experience both musically and culturally.
One special anniversary event that has already taken place was a concert titled, "An Evening With Ivan & Vivian Hicks and The Sussex Avenue Fiddlers". It took place on Saturday, October 20, 2007, and highlighted the many talents within the group. This program was presented at the newly renovated Riverview Arts Centre, Riverview High School, 400 Whitepine Road.
September 2005 Janelle Dupuis is off to Japan for her second visit to perform there. Her first time was for the 2005 World's Fair in Aichi, Japan back in April. Her music was appreciated so much that she's going back for nearly two weeks from Sept. 30 - Oct. 11.
During this visit she will play at various locations including Osaka, The Wild Blueberry Week, Tokyo and the Canadian Embassy.
August 2005
A big congratulations to Terri Surette! She was chosen to represent New Brunswick at the 2005 National Music Festival in Kamloops BC. That places her in the top nine in the country! She was selected for the Kamloops competiton after becoming the 2005 NB Senior Violin Champion(she also won in 2004).
July 2005 Samantha Robichaud was selected as the 2005 recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin. She received the violin from Mark O'Connor at the 2005 San Diego Strings Conference in California. Jonathan Cooper of Maine created the violin in honour of the journalist and fiddler who sadly had his life taken at the hands of terrorists in 2002. The special violin is awarded in Daniel's memory each year to a fiddler that displays the qualities that Daniel possessed.
July 2005 The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra was off to Parma, Italy this month. There they took part in workshops, performed at the Niccolo Paganini Auditorium and recorded a new album at the Teatro Regio.
A great way to follow up their 2003 performance at Carnegie Hall!
May 2005 The Sussex Avenue Fiddlers took part in a concert at the Capitol Theatre to help raise funds for the NB Youth Orchestra's July trip to Italy. Young fiddlers Janelle Dupuis, Samantha Robichaud and Terri Surette are all members of the orchestra. Terri is the orchestra's associate concert mistress.
April 2005
One of our younger fiddlers, Janelle Dupuis has the honour of being chosen to play at the 2005 World's Fair in Aichi, Japan! She's among other Canadian artists such as Alanis Morisette and Corneille and international artists such as Sarah Brightman.
Way to go Janelle!
