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
19 December 2016
13 December 2016
12 December 2016
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!
7 December 2016
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!
21 November 2016
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:
photo by Michelle Doucette
the Burnwater team
11 November 2016
Ragged Robin on The Outer Edge
6 November 2016
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!
5 November 2016
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
29 October 2016
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?"
23 October 2016
Armbrae Academy Dinner
Yesterday evening I was installed in this spooky underwater environment, playing some watery sounds for an Armbrae Academy Dinner event.
17 October 2016
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!
12 October 2016
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!
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!
26 September 2016
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.
15 September 2016
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.
10 September 2016
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.
9 September 2016
4 September 2016
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.
22 August 2016
3 August 2016
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
31 July 2016
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.
30 June 2016
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!
29 June 2016
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.
25 June 2016
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.
19 June 2016
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.
15 June 2016
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...
5 June 2016
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!
4 June 2016
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.
3 June 2016
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.
17 May 2016
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.
11 May 2016
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
maritimeconservatory.com/Music/Department/category/guitar-harp-department
6 May 2016
Relaxation CD
Today I experienced the most sleep-inducing recording session imaginable for a new music therapy relaxation CD for Capital Health.
30 April 2016
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!
16 April 2016
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!
11 April 2016
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"!
8 April 2016
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:
31 March 2016
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!
24 March 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!
18 March 2016
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.
6 March 2016
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.
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