UPCOMING CELTIC SOCIETY CONCERTS
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| more info | For more information, call 831-224-3819 or email fiddlejamjp@gmail.com
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We welcome back to St. Mary's stage the incomparable master of the Scottish fiddle, Alasdair Fraser and his world-class musical partner, Cellist Natalie Haas. This is a special opportunity to hear this innovative duo in our lovely intimate setting. The concert will be preceded by the short film, “The Groove Is Not Trivial,” a powerful documentary on the healing power of music, featuring Alasdair’s exploration of Scottish and other traditional music styles in search of “The Groove.” What does it all mean? Come explore how Alasdair and Natalie have led so many to find their musical "voices." Extraordinary! Doors open at 2:30 p.m., 50 minute film starts at 3:00 p.m., with concert to follow after a brief intermission. Wine bar and refreshments will be available. Ticket price includes film and concert. Kudos to filmmaker Tommie Smith for creating this beautiful film, first featured at the Marin Film Festival, and currently showing at venues worldwide.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://www.alasdairandnatalie.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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Tony McManus is the leading celtic guitarist worldwide and has just been listed as one of the 50 transcendental guitarists of all time by Guitar Player Magazine. While Tony is known as a soloist his frequent collaborations with diverse musicians have always been a significant part of his work.
Julia Toaspern is a multi-talented musician from Berlin who combines classical training on violin and voice with a wide interest in genres such as jazz, baroque and traditional music. She has released two albums of original songs and has performed in both classical and singer/songwriter modes on both sides of the Atlantic. On top of all this her skills as a guitarist are prodigious and make and exciting fit with Tony’s work.
Their twin guitar treatment of traditional music is unique and each supports the other in exploring the harmonic possibilities of these old, and not so old, tunes. Each of the pair both flatpicks and fingerpicks at the highest level but always at the service of the tune rather than a display of technique. Her violin can effortlessly morph into a fiddle as she weaves from Italian madrigal to Scottish reel. Julia’s songs go to the heart of love and loss, hope and survival and are inflected with musical input from a wide and eclectic experience of musical life. Tony’s and Julia’s arrangements are rooted in deep musicality and heartfelt expression.
Having met over a conversation in Berlin about JS Bach, together they play and sing music that speaks to them and hopefully through them to a wider audience.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://www.tonymcmanus.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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Every Christmas for the past 20 years, William Coulter (lecturer in guitar and UCSC alumnus) has performed with and acted as Music Director for Tomáseen Foley’s “A Celtic Christmas.” Featuring Irish music, dance, song, and storytelling, "A Celtic Christmas” has packed concert halls across the U.S., bringing an authentic remembrance of a way of life that is, alas, no longer with us. The show brings an unforgettable staging of a December night in a remote Irish farmhouse in the 1940s or 50s—in the days before the motor car, the television, and the telephone.
The spirit of Christmas dances to life when neighbors gather at each others' homes to grace the wintry night with traditional Irish Christmas carols. They raise the rafters with the joy of their music, knock sparks off the flagstone floor with traditional dances, and, most of all, fill the night with the laughter of their stories.
Tomáseen Foley’s "A Celtic Christmas" brings a wholesome, cultural, family feast direct from the rich table of communal life in the west of Ireland. Featuring William Coulter (guitar and music direction), Tomáseen Foley (native Irish storyteller), Brian Bigley (uilleann pipes, Irish flute, dance), Eimear Arkins (fiddle and Irish song), Bríd O’Donnell (accordion), Alyssa Reichert and Marcus Donnelley (Irish dance).
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://tomaseenfoley.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-224-3819 or email fiddlejamjp@gmail.com
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This show will leave you feeling in the spirit! By popular demand, Molly's Revenge returns to St. Mary's beautiful Victorian sanctuary, which will be aglow in the light of the season. In this perfect setting, the lilting vocals of special guest Amelia Hogan will blend with the superb talent of Stuart Mason, John Weed and David Brewer, as they ring in the holiday with a decidedly Celtic "take" on old favorites. The angelic Turco Dancers, will take flight and will bring some dazzling Christmas magic to the evening, too. An annual event not to miss! Tickets make a great gift for family and friends.
Molly's Revenge is a dynamic, acoustic Celtic band known for its unique and infectious enthusiasm. The classic combination of bagpipes, whistle, and fiddle, with a backdrop of guitar, mandola, and bodhran guarantees an enjoyable experience for all fans of Scottish and Irish music. Molly's Revenge has performed at many of the top folk festivals and performing arts events in the USA, and prestigious events in Scotland, Australia and China. Their arrangements of traditional Celtic jigs and reels bring these dance tunes up to date with a driving, hard-edged accent that always leaves audiences shouting for more.
"Revered in California as one of its most energetic, exciting and innovative bands." --Shay Black, of the legendary Black family.
"They bring to the music a vital and joyous creativity that excites even the hardest of hearts." --John Doyle, founding member of Solas.
"The instruments are traditional... but the wild passion they exhibit is thoroughly modern." --Metro Santa Cruz (CA).
"There is an engaging freshness and yet an impressive maturity in their playing." --Mick Moloney, National Heritage Award recipient.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://mollysrevenge.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email reservations@haworths.org
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A review of Jim's album "Live In Perth" in Folkworlds
Scotland’s first and foremost singer/songwriter Jim Malcolm is presented on this album at his very best – in a solo concert in front of a home audience. Jim’s songs come best to life when performed to an audience, so this is a wonderful follow on from his previous live album “Live in Glenfarg” – I can’t quite believe that this was released already 12 years ago.
The new album features many of his greatest songs, including his version of Brian McNeill’s “Lads of the Fair”, the traditional songs “Jolly Beggar” and “Lochaber no more”, and his very own songs “The train from Perth to Lochearn”, “First Cold Day” and “Corrievrechan”. There is also the usual fair dose of good humour, and I enjoyed listening to his storytelling of the amusing story “The Pickpockets” or a somewhat political comedy song about a member of the gentry cleaning out his moat – featuring many frogs.
Having been on the road for 30 years, Jim’s new album sees him in superb voice, backed by his guitar and characterful harmonica playing. This is wonderful and classy entertainment of the old style – a singer presenting great songs with good stories to a live audience.
© Michael Moll
For more info, sights and sounds, visit https://www.jimmalcolm.com |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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Winner of 'Best Group' in both the Live Ireland awards and the Tradition In Review awards, The Outside Track are one of the top Celtic acts in the world. They were 'Best Live Act' nominees in the MG Alba Scots Traditional Music Awards, and won the German Radio Critics Prize, for their album Flash Company. Live Ireland called them, 'Among the top bands in the world - stunning on every cut!'.
The Outside Track’s marriage of Celtic music, song and dance has been rapturously received around the world. Hailing from Scotland, Ireland, and Cape Breton, its five members are united by a love of traditional music and a commitment to creating new music on this as a foundation. They blend fiddle, accordion, harp, guitar, flute, whistle, step-dance and vocals with breathtaking vitality. Their blend of boundless energy and unmistakable joie de vivre has won them a large following around the globe.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit https://www.theoutsidetrack.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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Named for an ancient Celtic harvest festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh, patron of the arts, Lúnasa is indeed a gathering of some of the top musical talents in Ireland. Its members have helped form the backbone of some of the greatest Irish groups of the decade.
Bassist Trevor Hutchinson was a key member of The Waterboys, and later he, with guitarist Donogh Hennessy, would form the dynamic rhythm section of The Sharon Shannon Band; Ed Boyd (Flook, Michael McGoldrick Band) has recently replaced Hennessy; Fiddler Sean Smyth is an All-Ireland champion who has played with Donal Lunny’s Coolfin; Kevin Crawford, considered to be among the finest flutists in Ireland played with the acclaimed traditional group Moving Cloud; and, piper Cillian Vallely of the famous Vallely artistic clan has performed with Riverdance and recently recorded with Bruce Springsteen. Folk Roots magazine has rightly termed them an “Irish music dream team.”
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://www.lunasa.ie/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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Described by Irish Music Magazine as “a full bodied pipe and whistle extravaganza”, Réalta carry on the Bothy Band tradition of taking tunes by the scruff of the neck and firing excitement through them like hot flames!
Hailing from the Ulster city of Belfast, this award winning multi-instrumentalist group present an enchanting programme of dance music interspersed with the occasional story, air and song. While Conor Lamb and Aaron O’Hagan pursue the melody on uilleann pipes and whistles, guitarist and vocalist Deirdre Galway explores the harmony and rhythms within the tunes. All-Ireland champions Dermot Mulholland and Dermot Moynagh complete the line-up with dynamic accompaniments on double bass, bouzouki, banjo, voice and bodhrán, making this one of the most exciting acts on the Irish music scene today.
The release of their second album, Clear Skies, has brought Réalta widespread critical acclaim, with the Irish Music Magazine summing things up by writing "Réalta have grown bigger, bolder and braver and this is one of the best CDs to have come out of Ireland this year". A performance by Réalta is joyous, energetic, foot-stomping, unforgettable and unmissable.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit https://www.realtamusic.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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There are many reasons to be excited about new Glasgow-based five-piece Ímar – not least a line-up featuring current and former members of Mànran, RURA, Talisk, Barrule, Cara, Mabon and The Lowground, whose collectively crammed trophy-cabinet includes a BBC Young Folk Award and several All-Britain/All-Ireland titles. By far the best and biggest reason, however, is how excited the band are themselves.
“As soon as we all sat down to play together properly, it just worked,” says bodhrán player Adam Brown (RURA), originally from Suffolk. “We were a bit stunned, to be honest; all looking round at everyone else, thinking, ‘Is it just me, or was that really good?’”
“It’s definitely more of a pure-drop trad sound than most of the other bands we’re involved in,” adds Cork-born uilleann piper, flautist and whistle player Ryan Murphy (Mànran), “but I think that’s partly why it feels so natural. We’re going back to the music we started out playing – which is ultimately the reason why we’re all here as musicians.”
Ímar’s formation also embodies a more personal reconnection with its members’ formative years, dating back long before their recent camaraderie around Glasgow’s justly celebrated session scene. All five of them – also including fiddler Tomás Callister and bouzouki ace Adam Rhodes (Barrule/Mabon), both from the Isle of Man, plus Glasgow native Mohsen Amini (Talisk) on concertina – originally met as teenagers through Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the Irish traditional music network that tutors budding players throughout the British Isles and beyond, and stages the annual schedule of Fleadh competitions.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit https://www.imarband.com/ |
| more info | For more information, call 831-464-9778 or email concertdirector@celticsociety.org
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While they do occasionally break into a jig or a reel, Väsen's music is rooted in the centuries old traditional folklore of Sweden. Be sure to listen to their music and watch their videos at www.vasen.se/video and you will see what an enjoyable evening you will have in store.
Three musicians with a singular sound, a playful yet accomplished interplay that seems to defy the laws of physics, an intensity with a great sense of humor, and modernity rooted in tradition. Väsen, a Swedish acoustic trio, now in its 27th year of touring together.
The parts: a five-string viola of sophisticated symphonic taste, an adventurous 12-string guitar, and a nyckelharpa (a “keyed fiddle”) deeply rooted in the traditions of Swedish folk music. All three are instrumental virtuosos in their own right, and together they form a unique supernatural being. To experience Väsen is to witness ensemble playing at its finest.
The band's origins are deeply rooted in the forests and rich earth of the Swedish countryside, in the centuries-old tradition of the folk music of Uppland. It's a tradition spiced with consummate playing skills. But this is more than just a traditional sound.
There's a playfulness to their music, a joyousness, and a delight in making exciting new arrangements of centuries-old tunes, and new originals inspired by the tradition. Rock, jazz, traditional, and classical influences weave together, making a music that's beautiful but never cloying. You always hear the inspiration and improvisation of the moment. And we can promise that you’ll never know what will happen next.
For more info, sights and sounds, visit http://www.vasen.se |
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If you or a friend would be interested in hosting house concerts in the Santa Cruz area, please send an email to concertdirector@celticsociety.org.
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