Melissa Bragdon Caron, ARO Music Director/Saco Group Coach

Melissa co-directs the New England Fiddle Ensemble and is the music director of the ARO. She is a Maine-based fiddler known for playing and teaching many different styles of music. Classically trained, she received a degree in Music Education at the University of Maine and has experience teaching string programs and general music at various grade levels in the Maine public schools. Melissa is a member of the Portland-based bluegrass bands Jerks of Grass and Cumberland Crossing. She also performs often with the old-time group Sugar Hill Stringband and recently recorded an album, "Stuff That Works," with Fiddlers Three. Melissa teams up with Ellen Carlson to organize Fiddleheads Acoustic Jam Camp, a music camp for acoustic musicians held each September in New Hampshire. Melissa was greatly involved in the development of 317 Main Community Music Center in Yarmouth, Maine, where she taught fiddle and acoustic ensembles for twelve years. Melissa also offers welcoming jams in her community, teaches at her studio in Scarborough, Maine and enjoys spending time and playing music with her two sons, Daniel and Aidan.

melissabragdoncaron.com

Sam Lyons, Exeter Group

Sam is a violinist, conductor, and music educator hailing from the sunny state of Maine. Sam received his Bachelor's in Music Education from the University of Southern Maine. Currently, Sam works as the 6-12 orchestra director for the Timberlane Regional School District in Plaistow, New Hampshire. He is also the assistant conductor for the University of New Hampshire's Youth Symphony Orchestra program and the String Council Chair for New Hampshire Music Educator's Association (NHMEA). Over the past 10 years Sam has enjoyed teaching experiences in Maine, New Hampshire, North Carolina, England, and India. 

During the year Sam loves to play and teach various styles of music; he founded and leads the Timberlane Fiddler's, enjoys performing as a freelance violinist/fiddler, and is a member of Reverend Finster, an all-acoustic REM tribute band. When not playing music, you may find him hiking, reading, or in the pool. 

Emilie Carroll, Durham Group

Emilie is a musician and teacher from Simsbury, CT, currently living in Durham, NH. She began Suzuki violin at age five and now plays Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, and Classical music. Influenced by mentors like Jeanne Freeman, John Whelan, and Katie McNally, she qualified for and competed in the 2018 All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Ireland and co-founded The Carroll Sisters Trio (with sister Nora Carroll and multi-instrumentalist Sammy Wetstein). The band has performed hundreds of shows together since 2020 and released their second album, Radiance in August 2025.

Beyond performing, Emilie has taught private and group lessons in classical and traditional music styles through her private studio, the Connecticut Academy of Irish Music, Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, and New England Fiddle Ensemble. She also is a coach for the UNH Youth Symphony Orchestra. Emilie is currently studying Music, Education, and Anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, where she has published and presented undergraduate research on the history and evolution of New England Contra Dance. Emilie also co-founded the UNH Fiddle and Folk Club, where she teaches folk music to university students by ear and organizes performances for the group in the surrounding community. 

Madelyn Morrell, Portsmouth Group

Hailing from the “wilds of Maine”, Madelyn is a violinist, Irish traditional fiddle player, budding pedagogue, and emerging academic. After beginning violin at age five, she quickly gained a love for the diverse music cultures that surrounded her. Through performing in numerous orchestras, chamber ensembles, sessions, contra dances, and festivals at a young age, she was instilled with the value of music as an intergenerational and cross-cultural bridge. 

In her musical journey, Madelyn has explored the solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire of violin as well as the traditional music of cultures present in her region, specializing in Irish traditional music. Madelyn has studied with many internationally celebrated Irish fiddle players and is now a sought-after Suzuki violin and Irish fiddle teacher, maintaining a busy teaching schedule throughout New England. 

Madelyn has performed internationally as a finalist in the Fiddler of Oriel (2025), Fiddler of London (2024), and the Fleadh Ceoil (2023, fiddle slow airs). Madelyn is a certified teacher in the Suzuki violin method and holds the Irish traditional music teacher's certificate, Teastas i dTeagasc Ceolta Tíre, from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. She has recently extended her musical practice into scholarship with her M.A. dissertation titled “Investigating Ed Reavy’s Compositional Legacy Through Arts Practice Research and Musician Perspectives”.

B.M. in Performance (violin) from Gordon College; M.A. in Irish Music Studies, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.

Susie Stevens, Portsmouth Christian Academy School Partnership Program

Susie picked up the violin in 5th grade in the Ann Arbor, MI, public schools and hasn't put it down since. She started teaching violin lessons when living in West Asia, then gained momentum back in the States, offering group lessons and private lessons while helping to run numerous "barn" dances in churches and schools.  Susie received two summers of Suzuki teacher training at the Hartt School of Music in CT and took on the 3-8th grade strings program and private lessons at Portsmouth Christian Academy in 2010. She also performed amazing music in the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra under Maestro John Page for over a decade. Susie has offered fiddle jams at PCA for many years, but collaborating with Ellen, Melissa, and Paul to get Acoustic Roots started at PCA in 2022 has been one of the highlights of her musical career. Other great musical memories include playing in the pit for school musicals with her 5 kids on stage, performing in Austria at Christmastime in 2018, and co-leading a fiddle group to Ireland in 2023. Susie has a BFA in weaving and textiles (no joke) and an MA in art education, both helping to support her other "hat," K-5 art teacher at PCA. When she's not teaching, she's knitting, enjoying time with friends, catching up with all her kids and 4 grandbabies, or improvising on her fiddle on the worship team at church.