About Us
Nova is a neo-trad trio hailing from New England featuring Kathleen Fownes on fiddle, Everest Witman on guitar and mandolin, and Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin on accordion and piano. Nova draws from both traditional repertoire and original compositions to create high energy music for concerts and dancing.
Nova first made a name for themselves on the New England contra dance scene. Since their inception in 2014, they have played for events across the United States and Canada and in 2015, they released their debut album, Little Sky.
Inspired by time spent abroad in countries such as Ireland, Scotland, France, and the Netherlands, the trio has incorporated the sound of contemporary European folk music into their repertoire. This European connection has made Nova a driving force in the emerging bal folk scene in the United States. In 2019, they released their second album Chasing the Sunset. Recorded at Studio Trad in Belgium, the album is a culmination of Nova’s original dance-oriented, driving sound and these new influences.
During a pandemic-induced hiatus, the band members took a few years to work on individual projects, but now Nova is back on the scene playing for festivals, contra dances, and bal folk events.
Kathleen Fownes
Fiddler Kathleen Fownes plays with a fire and versatility that shows her deep passion for the music. Beginning as a child, Kathleen studied both folk and classical playing. Her lyrical playing, coupled with her fearless improvisation, create a powerful and dynamic musical range which makes her one of the most sought after young fiddlers on the scene. Besides playing in Nova, Kathleen also plays in a duo, with her father Jim Fownes, called Light Reaction.
Visit Light Reaction Website.
Everest Witman
Everest Witman’s guitar playing is energetic and full of life. He found the traditional music scene in in his early teens growing up in Brattleboro, VT and quickly fell in love with music and dancing. Everest plays in the DADGAD tuning and draws from a variety of musical traditions, especially Irish and Scottish, to create a versatile and satisfying backup guitar style. Everest lives in Montréal, QC, Canada and also works as an audio engineer.
Have Everest mix or master your music
Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin
Guillaume Sparrow-Pepin draws on jazz, classical, traditional, and world music to play with an expressive and dynamic style melding the worlds of accompaniment and melody. Originally a singer and pianist, he picked up the accordion in 2012 and, under the tutelage of Jeremiah McLane, found his way to the folk music scene. He studied computer science and music at the University of Vermont and is currently a software developer at Green River in Brattleboro, VT.