To Bethlehem with Kings

Capella Regalis men and boys choir has released videos of its recent concert "To Bethlehem with Kings". This concert featured Britten's Ceremony of Carols (with Lori Gemmell, harp) in the first half, and an assortment of carols with a trad band in the second half. I had a fabulous time playing with the trad band and seeing my pedal harp so expertly played by Lori in the Britten. The concert was hosted by Tom Allen, and was performed in Halifax and Lunenburg on Dec 19th and 20th.

The first half of the concert, Ceremony of Carols

The second half of the concert, carols with trad band and A Child's Christmas in Wales

Wassail!

The Manning Chapel Choir presented three sold out shows this year of their Wassail! Christmas concert - one in Bridgetown and two in Wolfville. As usual, the choir was outstanding and the atmosphere was both deeply thoughtful and festive. The same medieval Christmas crew I was part of the week before was brought on board for these concerts, and it was a great finale to that Medieval tour.

Bridgetown and Wolfville

Medieval Christmas with Jude Pelley and friends

I had an excellent time with Jude Pelley, Charlie Wilson, Anne-Marie Williot, and Heather Cameron on this beautiful tour of Nova Scotia. We presented a program of medieval carols and tunes through cozy venues in Broad Cove, West LaHave, Alma, Baxter's Harbour, Mill Village, and Bridgewater.

SuddenlyListen

On December 9th, Sarah Albu, Norm Adams and I presented a mixed program of improvised, folk, cabaret, lied, Britten, and drone music following an intensive few days of rehearsal. With a few costume, set, and lighting elements, we brought winter kelp forest to the Good Robot. Thanks to Norm and SuddenlyListen for making this possible!

Touchstone with Bev Lamb, CKDU 88.1

This morning I had the pleasure of joining Bev Lamb on his radio program Touchstone, on CKDU 88.1. We chatted a little and I played a some tunes in the studio. Bev has been hosting the program for 34 years straight, on Saturday mornings from 10am-12pm!

Archive recordings of today's broadcast can be found temporarily here: 11am-11:30am , 11:30am-12pm

New Hermitage Tour

Sunday night marked the end of a beautiful tour with New Hermitage. We performed in Chicoutimi, Ottawa, Montreal, LaHave, Fredericton, Wolfville, Halifax, and Sackville, in some great venues with many wonderful performers sharing the bill. Thanks to Andrew, India, and Ross for an amazing couple of weeks! ❤

Classical Recording of the Year!

New Hermitage was delighted to learn this week that we were awarded Music Nova Scotia's Classical Recording of the Year 2019 for the live concert recording "New Hermitage + Jeff Reilly"! It was a massive honour to be included in a category with Jennifer King and Derek Charke/Eugene Cormier. Thanks to Jeff Reilly, Music Nova Scotia, and the voters for this generous recognition.

Art Zone with Catherine Little

It was a treat to play again for Art Zone Gallery this past Friday! The gallery was celebrating the opening of a beautiful new location, above Humani-T cafe on Agricola. I was joined by the fabulous Catherine Little on cello!

Celtic Harmonies Festival 2019

A few weeks back, I had the pleasure of travelling to the eastern townships of Quebec to participate in the finale concert of the Celtic Harmonies Festival. Featuring 17 musicians from various traditional music backgrounds, the concert was a whirlwind of interesting collaborations!

photos by Sylvain Lair

Síle website launch!

I'm delighted to share some new audio, video, and photographs from Síle!

Check out our new website here:

https://www.siletrio.com/

Open Company at Art Bar

The Upstream Music Association has been running a series called "Open Company" over the past few weeks at Art Bar. This series features short concerts of improvised music by different musicians each week followed by an excellent open jam session. Last night I joined Devin Wesley and Lukas Pearse in the final iteration of the series for 2019. The power went out, but we had a great time playing in the dark for the first 40 mins!

VIA Rail Train trip

I am back in Halifax after a very enjoyable autumn train trip with VIA Rail Onboard Entertainment!

New Hermitage at Radstorm

It felt so good to be finally back with New Hermitage last night for a trio show at Radstorm in Halifax. We were joined by Caudex and Dang, and a beautiful audience. Looking forward to touring eastern Canada with the full New Hermitage quartet in November!

Nova Scotia Harp Festival 2019

Although I was unfortunately away for the first annual Nova Scotia Harp Festival, I was delighted to participate this year in its second iteration! The festival this year featured two days of workshops, an open house, and a lunchtime performance. Erin and I (Ragged Robin) played in the performance, and I was happy to teach a tune and talk a bit about my year away as part of the workshop offerings. It was exciting to see so many harpists there, including old friends, visitors to Nova Scotia, and new local harp players. Looking forward to seeing this festival continue to grow in years to come!

Summer in Lisdoonvarna

Earlier this summer I spent a beautiful two months working at the Rathbaun Hotel in Lisdoonvarna, Ireland. I was part of the house band, Ceolan, which played in the hotel every night of the summer from 7:30-11:30pm. I really enjoyed the opportunity to explore west Clare and play with some fabulous fellow musicians!

Art Bar with The Swallowtails

I played a lovely little show last night at Art Bar in Halifax, sharing the bill with the fabulous Swallowtails! 

setting up in the beautiful venue

Final MA Performances!

Last week my MA program at the University of Limerick finished up with a series of final solo performances from my class. It was such a treat to hear everyone's playing and to be involved in a few others aside from my own. I've learned so much this year with the guidance of amazing tutors and classmates, and can't wait to continue building on the ideas I've gained during the program. Thanks again to Arts Nova Scotia, The Conservatory, the Charitable Irish Society, and Mark Cardiff for their wonderful support, making this year abroad possible for me!

The performances were all live-streamed and continue to be available on YouTube through the Irish World Academy Channel.

CISHI 2019

We just wrapped up an excellent week of harping at the Canadian International Summer Harp Institute in Caroline, Alberta. I was delighted to be invited back for a second year of teaching and performing with a fantastic group of students and fellow faculty!

Gianetta Baril, Judy Loman, Julia Kay Jamieson, and myself following the faculty concert

teaching a workshop

the entire fabulous group

An Chúirt Chruitireachta in Termonfechin

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending An Chúirt Chruitireachta Annual International Harp Festival, organized by Cairde Na Cruite! My attendance was made possible by Ionad na Cruite, a harp research cluster based at the Irish World Academy. Ionad na Cruite was established in 2013 and aims to stimulate scholarship, performance and advanced research on all harp types with a special focus on the harp in Ireland. Many thanks to Ionad na Cruite for this generous support! The festival included daily tutorials and performances, and included a record breaking mass harp ensemble of more than 150 harps.

Second Semester Video Project

This semester I had the opportunity to make a few music videos using the university's cameras, audio gear, and editing software with support from the in-house video and audio team. The first two below are solo harp recordings of repertoire I've been working on over the last few months, and the third video is of a song arranged by Síle.
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Lissenhall Feis Cheoil

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing many fantastic young musicians as an adjudicator at the Lissenhall Feis Cheoil. This event was a fundraiser in support of the wonderful Cuisle Harp ensemble. Check out the Cuisle Harp ensemble on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/cuisleharpensemble

Final Performance Week at UL, Semester Two

From April 23rd to 26th, the masters students at the Irish World Academy had their final performances of the semester. I was very happy to perform with two songwriters, my trad ensemble, and three fellow trad MA students, in addition to my own solo trad MA performance. I was also involved in a premiere of an arrangement of Song of the Chanter for 12-piece traditional instrument ensemble by Ernesto Gongora. Some of the performances were very beautifully recorded and posted to YouTube. Check them out below! I've listed the performances I was involved in but all the MA performances in music and dance were fantastic and it's well worth checking out the Irish World Academy channel to see some of the rest of them too: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkORaD2EZDVXJ_9SHmjURMA 

solo performance, starting 23:10

with Olivia Budd at 0:30 and 10:10, and with Ernesto Gongora at 40:00

with Lizzy Hewitt and Rebecca McCarthy Kent at 34:10

with Cathy O'Toole and Neven Sebille Kernaudour at 1:00

Lunctime Concert at Glór

Yesterday I joined Olivia Barrett (fiddle), Lizzy Hewitt (vocals), and Neven Sebille Kernadour (pipes, whistle, guitar) play a lunchtime concert at Glór in Ennis, County Clare. We played some traditional songs and tunes for a small but friendly audience!

OBEY Convention XI

Despite New Hermitage being scattered across the globe, a new release went out on Monday! It is a live recording of our performance at OBEY Convention back in May. It is available to listen to and to order (cassette format) on bandcamp and should be coming to Spotify soon!

Celtic Connections on Campus

This week, myself and two fellow students from the Irish World Academy traveled to Glasgow, Scotland to perform a short set as part of the lunchtime concert series Celtic Connections on Campus. Lizzy Hewitt (vocals), Olivia Budd (fiddle and vocals), and I formed a new band for the occasion - Síle! The performance was broadcast on Celtic Music Radio. Thanks to the Irish World Academy and Celtic Connections on Campus for making this trip to Scotland possible!

Síle's debut 

Lizzy, Ellen, and Olivia