Milton Community Concerts
at First Parish
Tunes and Tosses: An Afternoon with Virtuoso Musician and Juggler Stuart Ryerse (and friends)
Sunday, March 19th at 3pm
On Sunday, March 19 at 3:00 Milton Community Concerts presents Stuart Ryerse in a concert titled “Tunes and Tosses: An Afternoon with Virtuoso Musician and Juggler Stuart Ryerse (and friends)”. This concert will take place at First Parish of Milton, 535 Canton Avenue.
Stuart Ryerse is a highly-skilled multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, singer, and juggler. On this program he will be performing a wide variety of music, including Celtic, folk, and classical. He will be playing piano, recorder, mandolin, and guitar as well as singing. He will be joined on this program by multi-instrumentalists Caroline Dressler and Giulia Haible, as well as pianist Timothy Steele.
As a juggler Stuart has utilized his love of music to create a type of artistic juggling that not only entertains, but also parallels music by having themes, variations, textures, and development through time. He is able to juggle up to seven balls or six clubs at a time.
Stuart has performed concerts and shows throughout the country that include piano music, original folk songs, comedy, and juggling. He has also performed with the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Recorder Orchestra, Renaissonics, and a variety of ensembles at the New England Conservatory, where he recently earned a degree in Contemporary Improvisation.
Tickets for this concert are $20 general, $10 senior, and free for 18 and under.
This concert series is supported by a generous grant from the Milton Cultural Council (a part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council) and a Massachusetts Cultural Sector Recovery Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Artist Headshots and Bios
Stuart Ryerse is a musician and juggler based in the Boston area. He plays piano, recorder, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, marimba, and harpsichord, in addition to singing, composing, and songwriting. He performs solo variety shows in addition to performing with his bands Heartwood Junction, Lampyridae, and Running Out of Tuesdays. Stuart has also performed with the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Recorder Orchestra, Renaissonics, and a variety of New England Conservatory ensembles, including the Middle Eastern, Jewish Music, Interdisciplinary, Songwriters’, and American Roots Ensembles. He was co-music director for two musicals at Shippensberg University, and has been the accompanist for many others. He has given many solo private concerts and shows that include piano music, original folk songs, comedy, and juggling.
Stuart is an avid juggler, and can juggle seven balls or six clubs. As a juggler he is most interested in creating artistic juggling that parallels music by having themes, variations, textures, and development through time.
Giulia Haible is currently a senior at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, as part of the Contemporary Musical Arts department. She studies privately with Mike Block and Carla Kihlstedt. Giulia began playing piano when she was 7 years old and picked up the cello when she was 9. After studying exclusively classical music for several years, she was introduced to Boston’s local Celtic scene by her friend Caroline Dressler, and began attending fiddle camps and jam sessions shortly after. To date, Giulia has played at several venues in the Boston area including Symphony Hall, Club Passim, The Burren, and The Bebop. In addition to Lampyridæ, she is also a member of the Scottish Fish, a Boston based fiddle-style.
Caroline Dressler has studied both classical and traditional styles of violin since the age of five. She is the 2016 National Junior Scottish Fiddle Champion, and won the New England Championship title in both 2014 and 2015. Through Scottish fiddling, Caroline has performed with several ensembles including the Young Tradition Touring Group, with whom she toured in England and Scotland in 2014, and the Scottish Fish, a Boston-based fiddle quintet, which has been featured on NPR and in American Girl Magazine. Caroline has also collaborated frequently with cellist/pianist Giulia Haible; Giulia and Caroline are winners of the 2018 Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition, and performed at Symphony Hall in June, 2018, accompanied by Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Orchestra.
Most recently, Giulia and Caroline have partnered with multi-instrumentalist Stuart Ryerse to form Lampyridae, an original-works fiddle trio. Lampyridae performs original music inspired by the Celtic and Western Classical traditions; their debut album, produced by Celtic folk singer Keith Murphy, will be released in late 2023.
Caroline attended Arlington High School (MA) and was the concertmaster of the AHS Honors Orchestra, with whom she toured Italy in 2015 and 2018. Also while in high school, Caroline was selected to demonstrate jazz violin technique to teachers at the National Association for Music Educators Conference in Nashville, TN (2015). After a rewarding year in the joint program between Tufts University and New England Conservatory, Caroline transferred to Brown University where she has since studied evolutionary biology and music.