Matching Orange

The traditional music world contains two types of musicians: the ones that stick to the good old ways (“Trad to the bone”) and the ones that push the limits. Matching Orange is the rare group that walks this line to perfection. Distinguished by their high energy playing and brightly colored music folders, the sound they create is interesting and unique while maintaining a familiar feeling of age-oldness. The result is an alluring complexity. Wherever these three musicians travel, they are gre...

The traditional music world contains two types of musicians: the ones that stick to the good old ways (“Trad to the bone”) and the ones that push the limits. Matching Orange is the rare group that walks this line to perfection. Distinguished by their high energy playing and brightly colored music folders, the sound they create is interesting and unique while maintaining a familiar feeling of age-oldness. The result is an alluring complexity. Wherever these three musicians travel, they are greeted with acclaim. Whether playing for the contra dances they cut their teeth on, jamming at a local pub, or bringing the house down at a formal concert, audiences are always excited to hear such a refreshing approach to traditional fiddle music. Featuring Eric McDonald (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Eric Eid-Reiner (piano), and Brendan Carey Block (fiddle), the band creates a swirling level of intensity, sometimes gritty, sometimes pure, and always engaging. Matching Orange players take full advantage of diverse musical backgrounds, with extensive training in folk, classical, jazz, and other traditions. BRENDAN CAREY BLOCK has been performing on the fiddle since he was 10 years old. For five summers he received scholarships from the New Hampshire Highland Games and the Saint Andrews Society of New Hampshire enabling him to travel to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to immerse himself in Cape Breton music. In 2001, he became the US National Junior Scottish Fiddle Champion, and he is a three time New England champion. He has been a member of the renowned Glengarry Bhoys and currently performs with the Boston based Annalivia and his own duo project with Flynn Cohen. In May of 2009, Brendan was selected by the New Hampshire Council of the Arts to represent the state at the Library of Congress and The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington DC. The concert series was put on by the American Folklife center. They produce eight concerts a year, each performer representing a different state. Brendan was one of the youngest performers selected. Brendan has performed with countless notable artists, including Natalie MacMaster, Jerry Holland, The Battlefield Band, John Whelan, Alasdair Fraser, Cherish the Ladies, Brenda Stubbert, Gaelic Storm and Jay Ungar. ERIC MCDONALD picked up the mandolin when he was 17, learning from Sean Staples and Joe Walsh. In Spring of 2009, he discovered the DADGAD guitar tuning, and has been cutting his teeth at sessions and camps ever since. He was a founding member of Jaded Mandolin, a teen string band that became a local phenomenon in the Boston area. He plays regularly with Ari & Mia Friedman and tours with The Dave Rowe Trio. As a mandolin accompanist, Eric has performed with songwriters including Raymond Gonzalez, Chris O’Brien and Thea Hopkins. Currently, he is working on a new duo project guitarist Rebecca Wudarski. He can also be seen playing for contra dances with his band Scoot! and fiddler Edward Howe. For the past two years, he has instructed mandolin at Maine Fiddle Camp in Montville, alongside Glen Loper and David Surrette. In 2008, he served as music directorfor The Actors' Shakespeare Project’s production of "The Tempest." The Wall Street Journal said “Eric McDonald performs his incidental music in full view of the audience, rattling a thunder sheet and tootling on a slide whistle with the flair of an old-time radio sound-effects man.” He is currently a student at Berklee College of Music, where he studies with John McGann and Eugiene Friesen. ERIC EID-REINER began playing fiddle when he was very small, proceeding to win multiple youth fiddle contests. At seven, he discovered the piano and didn't look back. Now, he performs throughout New England with numerous groups, including the Reiner Family Band, and the Rachel Cole Band. He grew up listening to fiddle music and attending camps from Vermont to Cape Breton. In late 2007, Eric was invited to perform with Ashley Macisaac, Tony Demarco and John Doyle. Next, in early 2009, he appeared on Brian O’Donovan’s “Celtic Sojourn: A Boston Session,” where he performed with fiddler Oisin Mc Auley, The band The Hay Brigade and other performers. Eric has two CDs under his own name. His first CD, “Grand Tour: Traditional Music on Piano” received great praise from Dirty Linen Magazine and Celtic Beat, and his just-released CD marks a new frontier in creative growth. On “On a Meadowlark Night: Dance Music from New England, Ireland, Scotland, Québec, and Cape Breton,” Eric plays with friends and family including fiddlers Andy Reiner, Dave Reiner, and Kimberley Fraser, hammered dulcimer player Ken Kolodner, flutist Anna Grosslein, clarinetist Billy Novick, and bassist Will Lydgate.