CARTHAGE — Maine fiddler Frank Ferrel, considered to be one of the leading North American fiddlers performing today, will take the stage at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Ferrel, performing with Maritime keyboard-style pianist Janine Muise Randall, will also appear at Unity College Center for the Performing Arts in Unity on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Ferrel is widely regarded as a composer. The classic Cape Breton jig, “Spin-N-Glo,” is one of his compositions.

He picked up the fiddle at age 8, influenced first by his grandfather, a traditional musician and native of Ohio and West Virginia. His father’s family originally came from the Longford area of Ireland via Maritime Canada.

Ferrel rekindled his interest in traditional fiddling under the influence of local Irish, French-Acadian and Canadian Maritimes fiddlers while stationed at the old Charlestown Navel Shipyard in Boston in the 1960s. Those were the days when Kerry fiddler Paddy Cronin played at the old Greenville Tap in Dudley Square, while up and down Dudley Street, Cape Breton Irish and French Acadian maritime music drifted out of dance hall windows.

Over the years, Ferrel has appeared on the nationally broadcast American radio series, ” A Prairie Home Companion,” and is included on its anthology recording, “PHC Tourists.” He has performed on numerous occasions with the legendary Celtic group The Boys of the Lough.

The Library of Congress chose Ferrel’s major label CD release, “Yankee Dreams,” for inclusion in its Select List of 25 Recordings of American Folk Music. Most recently, he has performed with Irish-American accordion player Joe Derrane, and he is music director of the National Public Radio series, “Says You.”

Ferrel has published two collections of fiddle music for international music publisher MelBay and is putting the finishing touches on a third collection. He has also produced recordings of traditional music for major folk labels and has made a number of recordings, both as a solo artist and as a studio musician.

Randall is founder of the Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music in Cape Breton and is well known as one of the leading proponents of Cape Breton-style piano in America. She resides in the Boston area.

Curtain is 7 p.m. at Skye, 7:30 p.m. in Unity. There will be jam sessions one hour prior to the concerts, presented by New England Celtic Arts. Skye Theater is at 2 Highland Drive in Carthage; UCCPA is at 42 Depot St., Unity. Tickets are $15 at the door. Call Skye Theatre at 562-4445 or UCCPA at 948-7469.

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