Category Archives: Celtic & Folk Music

Playing Celtic Music, Celtic Music for Harpists, Celtic culture, also folk music in general

A Festival of Irish Music with Acacia Lyra

Posted on by
Reply

March 10th 2009: A Festival of Irish Music with Acacia Lyra (harp and voice duo)

The Irish Society of the National Capital Region, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann, Ottawa Branch, and The Gaelic Hour CHIN 97.9fm presents A FESTIVAL OF IRISH MUSIC. This concert, which launches Irish Week in Ottawa, will feature ACACIA LYRA, harp and voice duo with Janine Dudding and Susan Sweeney Hermon. Also performing are the Cohmhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann Traditional Musicians, the Sarah Shea Irish Dancers and the Ottawa Celtic Choir.

Library and Archives Canada Auditorium,
395 Wellington St., Ottawa.
7:30 pm, Doors open at 6.30 pm.
Tickets $17.50, www.ticketweb.ca
The Ottawa Folklore Centre, 613-730-288

Info courtesy of the OntarioHarps list.

Cynthia Cathcart on Wire Harp: New Claret Duet

Posted on by
Reply

This piece can be found on Cynthia’s CD ‘Alchemy of a Rose’ (which I highly recommend). Not only is Cynthia an extremely accomplished wire harp player, she has also put out several excellent method & repertoire books for wire harp.  You can visit her website at cynthiacathcart.net

February Tune of the Month: Portsmouth

Posted on by
2

Portsmouth is a popular English Country Dance tune. This version is in G major. Goes well with Knole Park and All in a Garden Green. To hear a midi version of this tune, click here.

The HarpBlog Tune of the Month is courtesy of Chubby Sparrow Music . For a printable version, right click on the picture and choose “save target as”, or pop over to the Chubby Sparrow Free Music page for more detailed printing instructions (note: if you just left click and try to print directly from the browser, it probably won’t print at the right size).

Jan. 31st: St. Brigid’s Day Concert in Ottawa

Posted on by
Reply

Jan. 31 ’09 concert, Ottawa, ON: In celebration of St. Brigid’s Day, Ellen MacIsaac (voice) and Mary Muckle (harp and voice) are giving a concert of Irish, Scottish and Welsh songs and harp music at St. Luke’s Anglican Church, 760 Somerset Street W., January 31/09, 8 pm. Guest performers include The Celtic Choir, Cantorian Cerdd Dant ( Welsh penillion singers) and harpists Kelly Aminian and Julie Leduc. Tickets, available at the Ottawa Folklore Centre or at the door, are $15 general and $10 seniors and students. For more info call 613-825-1379 or email mucklerice@rogers.com.

Upcoming December Concerts in the GTA and Peterborough

Posted on by
Reply

Nov. 28 ’08 – ACACIA LYRA, an Ottawa harp and voice duo with Susan Sweeney Hermon and Janine Dudding, are pleased to be performing once again at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre 4th Stage, with guest musicians on flutes, fiddle, pipes, bodhran and bass. This versatile duo, who sing in many languages, accompanying themselves on Celtic harp and guitar, will present a “Hint of Winter”, with Yuletide and other traditional songs from Scandinavia, the Scottish Hebrides, Brittany, Ireland and Spain. National Arts Centre Fourth Stage, Friday November 28, 8pm. Tickets $16.00, available through www.ticketmaster.ca or 613-755-1111, the NAC Box Office: 613-947-7000 and the Ottawa Folklore Centre: 613-720-2887. Further Information: www.acacialyra.com, and www.nac-cna.ca

Dec. 4 & 14 – Hurly Burly presents “In Sweetest Harmony”, a concert of Medieval & Renaissance holiday music, Peterborough, ON., a concert of Medieval & Renaissance holiday music, Peterborough, ON.On Thurs., Dec. 4th we’ll be giving a shortened concert free of charge, starting at 8:00 p.m. in the Lady Eaton College dining hall at Trent University. Sunday Dec. 14th at 2:30 p.m. is our full-length seasonal concert at St. John’s Anglican church in the Guild Hall. For more information please visit our website: www.celticharper.com/hurlyburly

Thursday, December 11 – Friday, December 12: In from the Cold Christmas Concert: The Youth Emergency Shelter (YES) presents In from the Cold 8 p.m., at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre (336 George St., Peterborough). This year’s lineup features: Carried Away, renowned Peterborough folk/vocal group; Enrique Roy Claveer (aka. Curtis Driedger) with Namonia Phelps; The Convivio Chorus, an innovative choir directed by Susan Newman; Michael Ketemer – fingerstyle guitar virtuoso; Tanah Haney, Celtic Harpist and The Mandolin Society of Peterborough. Collectively these acts present an enchanting mix of Christmas music which you won’t find at any other Christmas concert. Tickets are $10 and are available at Titles Bookstore (379 George St., Peterborough). All ticket proceeds go to the Youth Emergency Shelter. For more information call (705) 748-2126. (Details courtesy of the Quid Novis website)

Vincenzo Zitello in concert: playing two harps at once

Posted on by
Reply

Update February 2009: Found a version of this concert on YouTube, so I was able to embed it below. Enjoy!

Playing two harps at once is quite a feat; but doing it well is even more impressive. You can learn more about Vincenzo Zitello by visiting his website: http://www.vincenzozitello.it

Heartland Harps & Ann Haymann’s “Planxty Cruit”

Posted on by
1

No, this isn’t an endorsement of Heartland Harps (although I would love to have one of my own, if space and finances weren’t so tight). It is, however, a lovely rendition of Planxty Cruit on wire harp performed by Ann Haymann. And they are very pretty harps. Maybe it will inspire you to come up with some Celtic decorations of your own!

The Tune of the Month is back…

Posted on by
Reply

Happy Spring everyone! While the official first day of spring is usually on the 21st, it’s on the 20th this year because we’re in a leap year. I can still see lots of snow from my study window here in chilly Ontario (lots and lots of snow), but hopefully warmer weather is on its way.

To help us all get into the spring spirit, The March Tune of the Month is up on the Chubby Sparrow Music free music page. This month’s tune is a lively slip jig in E minor called “The Butterfly”.