Bluebird Performance Lands in Rowley

ROWLEY – The Bluebird Performance Venue has found a comfortable nest at the First Congregational Church, bringing this month an eclectic group of musicians playing seldom heard instruments, vocalists and poets for a second concert at the church.
“I’ve never met more welcoming people,” said Bluebird co-creator Lynne Deschenes. “We are thrilled.”
For its August 26 concert, Deschenes and co-creator Alyce Underhill are featuring a former pianist for the Boston Ballet, a classical guitarist originally from Rowley, an internationally known cellist and two poets, including one from Ipswich.
Bluebird wants “to celebrate other instruments (than those usually played at open mic nights) and expose people to diverse music/instruments,” Deschenes wrote in a text.
The performers are “curated” before they are “invited” to perform, Deschenes said. Thus, those who attend the Bluebird concerts can expect to be entertained by high-quality, if little-known performers.
“We are particular, but not snobbish,” Deschenes said.
Bluebird, named for a flock of the birds that hung out around Underhill’s back porch, was created in the spring of 2022 by Deschenes, an acupuncturist, and Underhill, an artist and musician, to showcase musicians and writers in a coffeehouse environment.
Their first venue was in a second-floor space in Georgetown, where they staged nine concerts. They relocated a few months ago to the Byfield Community Center, which is handicapped accessible and has a stage for the performers.
But they are most excited about being at the Rowley church, which Deschenes described as “like walking into someone’s cozy living room.”
The church is pleased to have Bluebird Concerts in its sanctuary for the next three months. Church moderator Nancy Schmidt said the mission of the church is to be a voice of hope. When Bluebird approached the church because of its historic sanctuary, the church saw it as another way to offer “a voice of hope.”
The partnership between the church and Bluebird is “a perfect marriage,” Schmidt said, for Bluebird, the church and the Rowley community that has nothing else like this concert series.
The town readily approved the permits Bluebird and the church needed, Schmidt said.
Refreshments include coffee, tea and snacks, but no alcoholic drinks. “We are respectful of the church environment,” she said.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. The admission is $10, and the church has plenty of parking and is handicapped accessible. The church’s thrift shop will be open from 5 to 6:30 p.m. “Come a little early and take a look around! You never know what you’ll find!” the Facebook announcement said.
The concerts are underwritten in part by the Georgetown and Newbury/Byfield cultural councils. Bluebird is soliciting other sponsors.
At the first performance at the church, 50 people filled the Parish Hall. For the next three months, the concerts will move to the sanctuary, which Deschenes described as having very comfortable seating.
Deschenes promises the concert on Aug. 26 will have an amazing variety.
Rebecca Harrold, pianist, composer and vocalist, first played for Bluebird a year ago. Besides being the principal pianist for the Boston Ballet for 20 years, she was also a staff pianist with the Berklee College of Music and the Boston Conservatory Dance departments. Based in Arkansas, Harrold will release an album, The Tree of Life, produced with Will Ackerman, in September.
Leahy Ardon, an Israeli-American, multi-disciplinary artist and educator, will perform with Scott Ouellette, a self-taught classical, solo guitarist who studied at Berklee. Ardon, who earned her degree from Berklee and a master’s degree from Harvard School of Education, has played with and performed for artists such as Lionel Ritchie, Lucinda Williams and Sarah McLachlan.
She has also written and directed several plays for children and adults, most recently receiving a “Best of Fest” Award for her one-woman play, Conflict Zone, at the Whitefire Theater Solofest in LA.
Ouellette, who began playing the guitar at age 7 and taught himself to read music, performed on the The Palladium in New York by age 16.
Mary Beth Hines is an award-winning poet, an alumna of the Colrain Manuscript Conference and a Pushcart nominee in poetry and fiction. Her debut poetry collection, Winter at a Summer House,” has been a Kelsay Books best-seller since its publication in November 2021.
Sarah Vickery facilitates the Ipswich Poetry Group and hosts the coffee shop Zumi’s Open Mic. A fundraiser by day, Vickery is active in the artistic communities in Boston and the North Shore.