Programs
& Events
Revels Kids: Make a Show
A 13 week educational course for ages 7 to 12. (Please inquire if outside stated age range)
Join us for the exciting return of Revels Kids. Over 13 weeks, this course will teach multiple traditional art forms from the worlds of music, dance and theater with our expert tutors who include Revels North Artistic Director and professional musician Alex Cumming, theater director and performing arts teacher Sharon Groblicki, traditional dance expert Alice Kaufman and experienced Revels performer and leader Kim Rheinlander. You will learn the fundamentals of putting a show together, how dance and music can elevate a narrative, how to harness your inner actor to tell great stories and how a captivating script can tie together the whole community of talent into one exciting theatrical piece exploring the turning of the seasons and the birth of a new year. At the end of the 13 week course there will be a chance to showcase some special performances on 13th and 14th December, more details coming soon.
Revels North has a 50 year history in the Upper Valley and is famed for its year round traditional arts programming and annual theater production, Midwinter/Christmas Revels, which has entertained generations of families across the Upper Valley at the Hopkins Center and more recently the Lebanon Opera House. With the Midwinter Revels taking a rest this year, this gives Revels Kids center stage both with a show and with the organization, so don’t miss this opportunity to participate in this year's very special Revels Kids course.
The course will run weekly on Tuesdays from 4pm to 5.30 pm beginning September 17th. The final session will be on the 10th December. All will take place at the newly renovated Revels North Center for Traditional Arts in Downtown Lebanon, NH (2 Mascoma Street Suite #3, Lebanon, NH, 03766).
For ages 7 to 12 (please inquire if outside the stated age range)
Tuition Fee is $175 per student. Family discounts along with full and partial scholarships available. Please reach out to our Executive Director Julia Hauteniemi for more details. (hautaniemi@revelsnorth.org)
Registration is open now! No auditions required.
Windborne in Concert - Sunday 29th Septmeber
Windborne are longtime friends of Revels North and we are honored to present them in concert at our brand-new Revels North Center for Traditional Arts, right across from Colburn Park in downtown Lebanon, NH.
Join us for a very special intimate concert with one of the country's best folk groups, Windborne. It will be a night of magical harmonies, stunning arrangements and community singing, taking place in the heart of Lebanon at the Revels North Center for Traditional Arts.
Sunday 29th September / Doors 3pm / Sliding Scale: $10-$50 / Limited space so booking ahead is recommended
Location: Revels North Center for Traditional Arts, 2 Mascoma Street Suite #3, Lebanon, NH
Windborne’s captivating show draws on the singers’ deep roots in traditions of vocal harmony, while the absolute uniqueness of their artistic approach brings old songs into the present. Known for the innovation of their arrangements, their harmonies are bold and anything but predictable.
With a 20-year background studying polyphonic music around the world, Lauren Breunig, Jeremy Carter-Gordon, Lynn Rowan, and Will Rowan share a vibrant energy onstage with a blending of voices that can only come from decades of friendship alongside dedicated practice. The ensemble shifts effortlessly between drastically different styles of music, drawing their audience along on a journey that spans continents and centuries, illuminating and expanding on the profound power and variation of the human voice. The singers educate as they entertain, sharing stories about their songs and explaining the context and characteristics of the styles in which they sing.
BBC Traveling Folk describes Windborne as “subverting expectations and redefining the genre… just absolutely phenomenal!” Audiences and critics lavish praise upon the singers not only for their technical mastery, but for the passion, engagement, and connection with each other and the audience that imbues each performance with a rare power.
But there’s another, crucial dimension to Windborne that guides and roots their artistry. They are adherents to folk music’s longtime alliance with social activism, labor and civil rights, and other movements that champion the oppressed, the poor, and the disenfranchised. Their latest project, Of Hard Times & Harmony, explores themes of social consciousness, singing in four languages and showcasing the depth of emotion their voices can evoke, as well as moments of true hilarity and wit.
The group is committed to bringing vocal traditions to a younger audience and over the past year has found surprisingly viral success on TikTok for such unlikely genres as Corsican polyphony or early 20th century labor anthems.
Windborne is proud to announce our newest project: a book & album of music for midwinter called To Warm the Winter Hearth and they are asking for your support to help bring it to life! With lush vocal harmony, guest musicians, and a full-color book to accompany the music, it’s our most impressive project so far and will arrive in time for the holidays.
English Village Carols
A six-week course led by English folk singer and musician Laurel Swift
There is a fantastic repertoire of carols that became separated from the church, maintained and kept alive by communities in pubs and on the street, most famously in Sheffield, and also in Derbyshire, Somerset, Dorset, Nottinghamshire, and in Glen Rock, York County, PA! You may recognise some of these carols from Nowell Sing We Clear, Revels North or Welcome Yule. Some carols will be familiar to English folk enthusiasts, and others are brand new or totally unusual!
The carols have catchy tunes, some are rowdy, some haunting and sombre. Many have fantastic fuguing entries and all are a joy to sing. Many have religious text, although this is largely a secular tradition. There will be familiar lyrics, obscure lyrics, and some lyrics that appear to have no festive content whatsoever. There is plenty of repetition for ease of joining in and gorgeous rich chords with space to add your own harmonies.
We will be teaching by ear (dots available) and memorising melody and bass lines, and even learning how to add your own harmonies in preparation for some village carol sings in local pubs in December. Please note this is not a choir, it is a learning group with the opportunity to anchor a fabulous community sing at which all are welcome!
There will be public carol sings at 3 pubs in Brattleboro, Greenfield and Lebanon, details to follow!
There is a choice of two locations to take part in this special course, thanks to our friends at the Brattleboro Music Center in Brattleboro, VT.
The course will be $125 for 6 classes, and there are scholarships available at both organizations.
Revels North Center for Traditional Arts
2 Mascoma Street Suite #3 • Lebanon, NH
Mondays - 7pm to 8.30pm
4, 11, 18, 25 November
2, 9 December
More information & registration:
RevelsNorth.org
603-558-7894
Brattleboro Music Center
72 Blanche Moyse Way • Brattleboro, VT
Sundays - 6pm to 7.30pm
3, 10, 17, 24 November
1, 8 December
More information & registration:
bmcvt.org
802-257-4523
Coming soon...
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Revels North at the Queechee Highland Games on Saturday 24th August
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Revels North at the New Worlds Festival on Sunday 1st September.
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Revels North at LebFest on Saturday 21st September.
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Grand Opening & Open House for the Revels North Center for Traditional Arts in Downtown Lebanon - September 21st, after LebFest
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Windborne in Concert on Sunday 29th September. Tickets on sale now!
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English Village Carols: 6 Week Course with Laurel Swift & Alex Cumming
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Family & Community Dances
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Pub Sings
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Dance Workshops
Watch this space for more information coming soon!
The Midwinter Revels History
The Midwinter Revels, a beloved Upper Valley tradition for the whole family since 1975, is presented annually by Revels North. We celebrate the holiday season and the turning of the year with singing, dancing, and traditions that span the centuries and the globe. Recent performances have featured the stories, music and traditions of the Northlands, Québec, Ireland, Appalachia, England, and Venice. After over forty years of performances at the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College, Revels North brought The Revels to historic Lebanon Opera House in 2019.
The Midwinter Revels would not be possible without the participation of dozens of children, teens, and adults who take on acting roles, join the chorus, and volunteer with costuming, makeup and hair styling. In typical years, auditions for The Midwinter Revels take place in early September, with rehearsals beginning later in September.
The Midwinter Revels will be taking a break in 2024 and will return to the Lebanon Opera House in December 2025 with a Scottish/Celtic show extravaganza.