Hope Hoffman & Kittlish

Original New England-style fiddle music

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Hope Hoffman & Kittlish present
An Evening of New Maine Fiddle Music

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Composer and fiddler Hope Hoffman presents
Infinite Winter Squash: A musical journal of Maine's farm-fresh foods and good company.

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Concert of original and traditional fiddle music and songs

featuring tunes from Hope Hoffman's debut album "Infinite Winter Squash: New Maine Fiddle Music"

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Hope Hoffman and her band, Kittlish, present Hope's original New England-style fiddle tunes, along with the stories and traditional music which inspired their creation.

Hope's debut album "Infinite Winter Squash: New Maine Fiddle Music," is influenced by Maine dance music (which draws on Scots-Irish, French & Scandinavian traditions), early music, and her imaginative and narrative approach to composing.

Her often-humorous stories behind the tunes highlight the everyday adventures of farmers and neighbors, enjoying, grappling with or musing over farm foods and extreme weather. Concerts also feature Hope's acclaimed a cappella renditions of British Isles ballads.

The CD is available for purchase at concerts, online at CDbaby.com, and through Free Grange™ music retailers (www.freegrange.org).

Upcoming concerts are listed at www.hopehoffman.org/calendar.htm.

Hope Hoffman is known for her warm and personable performances from Presque Isle to Manhattan, and performs regularly at downtown festivals, restaurants, weddings, and community gatherings. She has a lifetime of experience as a writer, actress and dancer and has worked as a professional musician in New England for several years.

In addition to composing, she gives concerts, fiddles in various combinations for contra dances, and plays solo fiddle for barn dances. She also leads sessions for children's museums and festivals featuring live music, creative movement and folk dance.

"Kittlish" is a Scottish word meaning "lively, jumpy; ticklish."

The trio Kittlish has performed concerts in the Rockland, Portland and Boston areas including shows at Johnny D's club, One Longfellow Square (former Center for Cultural Exchange), and the Bates College lakeside concert series.

Hope's musical style, on fiddle, viola and voice, is noted for its evocative beauty and rough-and-tumble playfulness.

Guitarist Larry Burkett of Portland, Maine accompanies many traditional fiddle players including the group Fiddleiscious and occasionally the Don Roy Trio and Lucien Mathieu.

Hugh McGinness of Rockland, Maine has been performing music for over 50 years, and currently plays cittern (a ten-stringed instrument in the mandolin family), cross-tuned guitar and, if we're lucky, jaw harp. Hugh also is one third of the Irish trio Feckless, with George Fowler on fiddle and Susanne Ward on pipes.

CONTACT:
Hope Hoffman
(207)332-3459
P.O. Box 171, Bowdoinham, ME 04008
me at hopehoffman dot org

www.hopehoffman.org

(Photos, audio samples and sheet music are at http://www.hopehoffman.org/kittlishpress)

Copies of the CD available on request.

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