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Midsummer Revels Logo

June 21 & 22 at 3 pm

at the

DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park
Outdoor Amphitheatre

Lincoln, Massachusetts

Artistic director

Patrick Swanson

Music director

George Emlen

With:

Québecois musicians
Benoît Bourque & Gaston Bernard
Benoît Bourque & Gaston Bernard

Cape Breton fiddler
Joe Cormier

The Revels Chorus

Maypole Rituals

Improvisational Step Dancing

Revels Celebrates the Solstice with a
French Canadian Midsummer Revels
at the DeCordova Museum Amphitheatre
in Lincoln, Massachusetts, June 21 & 22, 1997.

The1997 Midsummer Revels returned to the glorious outdoor amphitheatre of the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts for two special performances celebrating the summer solstice. Performances were held Saturday and Sunday, June 21st and 22nd at 3pm.

This year's Midsummer Revels traveled North, into Eastern Canada and the Maritimes for a special French Canadian program featuring lively and traditional music, rituals, step dancing and folk tales. Largely influenced by French and British territorial settlers, French Canadian culture is enormously rich and vital. Sharing their music, songs and stories will be a pair of exceptional Québecois musicians, Benoît Bourque and Gaston Bernard who were joined onstage by Cape Breton fiddler and local favorite Joe Cormier. Besides being a top-notch accordion player, musician-dancer Benoît Bourque is widely acknowledged as one of the world's finest improvisational percussive dancers and a master of "kitchen music" (using bones and spoons for instruments!). His partner, Gaston Bernard plays a number of instruments with equal aplomb including fiddle, mandolin and guitar. As a duo they have played at numerous international festivals, investing their energies in reinvigorating the music and dance of their heritage.

Set at the turn of the century during "Les Feux de Saint Jean" (The Fires of St. John), a Midsummer feast involving maypoles and bonfires, this French Canadian Revels also featured the 50-member Revels Chorus of adults and children and plenty of audience participation, a Revels hallmark.

Performances were held June 21st & 22nd at 3pm, sorry if you missed the show!.

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Sheldon Brown's Québec Page

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A look at the 1996 Midsummer Revels

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Back Sheldon Brown's Unofficial Revels Index Page

Official Revels, Inc. Site
The 2005 Christmas Revels
The 2000 Christmas Revels 2001 Spring Revels
The 1999 Christmas Revels 2000 Spring Revels
The 1998 Christmas Revels 1999 Sea Revels
The 1997 Christmas Revels 1998 Sea Revels
The 1996 Christmas Revels 1997 Midsummer Revels
The 1995 Christmas Revels 1996 Midsummer Revels

midsummer97 Since March 17, 1996

Updated Tuesday, January 23, 2001
url http://sheldonbrown.com/org/revels/midsummer96.html