Medieval Christmas in West Dublin

On Friday night, I had the beautiful experience of playing with Pennybrook at the West Dublin Community Hall. I was impressed to see how many members of the community came out on such a stormy evening! It was a very cozy candlelit concert, with boughs and mulled wine. To learn more about Pennybrook, you can watch some of their videos here: http://www.pennybrook.ca/videos.htm

AGNS Holiday Event

Tonight at the AGNS I played some festive music for the members' holiday gathering! 

CBC session with Reeny Smith

Earlier this fall, I had the chance to play with Reeny Smith, her phenomenal band, and the Blue Engine String Quartet in CBC's new studio 60. Reeny performed a flawless hour-long concert for the studio audience, most of which is up on Youtube now! For more information on Reeny, visit her website: www.iamreeny.com Here are videos of two songs I was part of:

Dream

Why Me

Celtic Christmas Tour

I'm halfway through a small tour of Nova Scotia with the Celtic Christmas Show! The show features Irish dancers, Scottish Dancers, Acadian Dancers, Sean Nos Dancers and Pipe Bands. It's a huge cast and great tunes all around. It's been a very fun weekend being part of the house band, led by the amazing Shannon Quinn. One show left!

Wassail at Manning Chapel

Good fun last night with the amazing Manning Chapel Choir and Pennybrook. It was the first festive concert of the season! 

Burnwater: Alchemy

Many years in the making, Burnwater:Alchemy was finally premiered this past weekend in Shelburne, NS! I was part of the creative team as a set and lighting designer, not a harpist, but the show is an amazing example of the kind of interdisciplinary work that I'm most excited about. It combines elements of dance, percussion, blacksmithing, poetry, visual art, photography, and theatre!

Here are some links to articles and promotion for the show:

https://www.localxpress.ca/local-arts-and-life/burnwater-alchemy-encourages-audience-transformation-465842

http://www.thedancecurrent.com/video/burnwater-alchemy

http://hearhereproductions.ca/

photo by Michelle Doucette

the Burnwater team 

Ragged Robin on The Outer Edge

Erin and I had an excellent afternoon chatting with Andrew Jackson on CKDU's The Outer Edge earlier this week, discussing our new album and answering his thoughtful questions. The interview is up on the show's online archives in two parts - Part one, and Part two.

Votive Dance

Votive Dance hosted a season kick-off party at Noble Bar last night, in which I joined the amazing co-founder and artistic director Kathleen Doherty for a short improvised performance. This rapidly growing new dance company has a lot of exciting things planned for this year! Follow them on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/VotiveDance, and be sure to catch at least one of their performances this season!

Autism Nova Scotia Dinner

This year, Autism Nova Scotia hosted their annual fundraising dinner in the train station down on Hollis St. It was surreal to see the space transformed! Paige Morrissey opened the evening with some beautiful folk songs and I played during dinner. You can check out Autism Nova Scotia and all of their great work here: http://www.autismnovascotia.ca/

the train station/dining hall

AGNS event

On Thursday night I had fun playing some classical standards in the folk art section of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for a private evening event. Here is the harp and a piece by David Askevold titled "What is Church?"

Armbrae Academy Dinner

Yesterday evening I was installed in this spooky underwater environment, playing some watery sounds for an Armbrae Academy Dinner event.

Musikon Concert at St Mary's Art Gallery

Last night's Musikon concert featured four Canadian compositions on themes relating to the art of Rachel Beach. Jack Chen, Sue Sayle, and I played a trio by Kelly-Marie Murphy, Lines of Movement, and I also joined Sue, Barbara Pritchard and D'Arcy Gray for the premiere of a new work by Fiona Ryan, Up from the Earth. It was very cool to be playing such exciting new repertoire surrounded by colourful sculpture! 

Deep in the Tangled Wood

Erin and I are very happy to share with you our debut album "Deep in the Tangled Wood"! It is the culmination of two intensive and exciting years of playing together, and includes some of our favourite tune sets, a waltz by Sean Dempsey, an original song by Erin, some lesser-known O'Carolan tunes, and others. It is available here: 
https://raggedrobinmusic.bandcamp.com/releases. 
You can also pick one up at the Maritime Conservatory, at Cafe Cempoal, or at our belated CD release party which will be happening early in the new year...stay tuned!

Fiddle, bodhran, and harp at Pier 21

Colin, Mark, and I played some tunes this week at Pier 21 for the RCMP Veterans cruise reception. They were a lively crowd and also were also entertained by a pipe band and dancers as part of the event.

Port Days at the Cunard Centre

Yesterday was my third time playing for the annual event Port Days. Here is my little stage surrounded by trains and cranes and cars.. and delicious desserts.

Lot Six Wedding

This afternoon, I played a cozy candlelit wedding at Lot Six on Argyle St. in Halifax. It was a neat space with a huge sky-light and lots of plants and old-timey lightbulbs.

Term begins at the Conservatory

So pleased to have this new cozy teaching studio at the Conservatory!

Art Zone Exhibit

Last night I had the pleasure of playing at the Art Zone Gallery's Annual Member Artist Show! For more information on Art Zone Gallery and the member artists visit artzoneweb.com.

Eurythmy by the Sea

This week I spent a few days in Seaforth and Dartmouth playing for a 4-day workshop titled Eurythmy-by-the-sea. It was an intimate international gathering of Eurythmists and Eurythmy-enthusiasts culminating in a powerful public performance on Saturday.

Celtic Tea Room, Cape Breton

Erin and I had a blast last night playing a concert at St. Ann's Bay United Church in Cape Breton. The Celtic Tea Room Ceilidhs are a fantastic series of intimate concerts run by David Papazian in support of the church throughout the summer. Check out the lineup for the rest of the summer here: Celtic Tea Room Ceilidhs. 

the view up towards Cape Smokey this morning

Creative Music Workshop + Boxwood Festival

Just wrapped up a couple of weeks of workshops at the Creative Music Workshop in Halifax (part of the Jazz Festival) and Boxwood Festival in Lunenburg. I brought the cross-strung harp to CMW and had the chance to explore improvising in a smaller ensemble with dancers, singers, poets, and musicians. At Boxwood, I was part of the Irish harp class with Michelle Mulcahy and enjoyed especially learning about dadgad guitar, and playing in the sessions with new visiting musicians and old friends.

the multi-disciplinary ensemble at CMW

late-night bandstand session in Lunenburg

Recording Session with Naming the Twins

Yesterday I traveled down to the south shore to add harp to four tracks of Naming the Twins' upcoming album. The session was with Harbourtone Productions, at their beautiful studio in Shelburne. I had so much fun in the studio. Really looking forward to hearing the whole album!

Tuesday Night Tunes

Erin and I really enjoyed playing at Tuesday Night Tunes yesterday evening! Tuesday Night Tunes is a free outdoor concert series that takes place throughout the summer, hosted by the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Ragged Robin's first performance was for Tuesday Night Tunes last summer, and it was exciting to see how much we've changed since then.

Traffic Light Trio at Classics by the Bay

Jack, Sue, and I played a trio concert this afternoon for Classics by the Bay, a weekend-long music festival in Parrsboro on the Bay of Fundy. Barnes, Bax, Mozetich, Dubois, and Debussy were on the program.

Back with Via Rail

Ragged Robin was once again on the train this month for some performances between Halifax and Montreal! Thanks to Via Rail for continuing to run this awesome program, and to our new friend Dirk for the photograph in the station.

Ragged Robin at Abercorn Studio

Erin and I spent 4 days in Sutton, Quebec this week working on a recording project with Dany Bouchard of Abercorn Studio. Here we are after finishing mixing! Stay tuned for album updates...

Final student recital

This year, the final recital was a house concert generously hosted by my parents. There were lots of great solo performances from the students and an awesome guest appearance by the Conservatory trad ensemble. It was a very fun year working with them all, and I'm looking forward to moving everyone over to the Conservatory in September!

Cookie Concert

Erin and I had a very enjoyable afternoon playing a Cookie Concert in Lunenburg today! A beautiful venue and the friendliest audience. Many thanks to Musique Royale for having us.

Star Wars with HSSO

12 years later, I'm back with the Halifax Schools' Symphony Orchestra, the first orchestra I ever played with! I'm joining them for Star Wars music tonight at the All-City-Music end of year concert.

Violin, cello, and harp at the Lillian Piercey Hall

Gillian Smith, Hilary Brown, and I put on a concert of trios and duos by Ibert, Tedeschi, Saint-Saëns, and Gliere this past Sunday in the Lillian Piercey Hall at the Conservatory. It was so great to work with those two and I hope it happens again soon! Thanks to Mark Cardiff for the photograph.

New home at the Conservatory

I'm very happy to be joining the Conservatory faculty this fall!
maritimeconservatory.com/Music/Department/category/guitar-harp-department

Relaxation CD

Today I experienced the most sleep-inducing recording session imaginable for a new music therapy relaxation CD for Capital Health. 

Holst's The Planets

I'm getting ready for concerts this weekend with Symphony Nova Scotia. We're playing Holst's The Planets, with two harps! 

Dinner Party at the Maritime Museum

Got to set up in this corner spot between two sailboats for a dinner party at the Maritime Museum last night!

East Coast Music Awards

Back from a fun few days in Sydney with Jenn Grant and her band. Jenn picked up the award for Solo Album of the Year for Compostela!

Josh Dunn Poetry Reading

Enjoyed playing at the Company House tonight for Josh Dunn's evening of reading from his new book of poems "Pictures and Words"!

Student Recital at Acadia

The beautiful setting for the combined piano and harp recital yesterday at Acadia, the Garden Room at the KC Irving Centre: 

Conundrum Website

Jack created a web presence for Conundrum Duo today! We're still finalizing the website and have lots to add, but check it out here: conundrumduo.ca  We can also be found on facebook now: conundrum on facebook. We're looking forward to playing more together in 2016!

Maritime folk songs

Nelle, Tim, and I had a great morning playing some maritime folk songs for the students at the Forsyth Centre. The audience was a mix of people from all over the world who study English together in Dartmouth, and it was a really nice event!

St. Patrick's Day

Lots of loud singing and silly hats at Finbar's Irish pub in Dartmouth today! Dusty Keleher, Benn Ross, and I were playing for the afternoon crowd. 

 

Canadian classics at Cafe Cempoal

My dear friends Nelle and Tim and I played a little show yesterday at Cafe Cempoal. It was our first show together, and it featured some fun new folksy arrangements of classic Canadian songs. Band name tbd.