“We’re celebrating ‘home’ this year at Celtic Colours,” says Joella Foulds, Artistic Director of the Festival, now in its fourteenth year. “It will be so nice to welcome home Cape Breton artists like Natalie MacMaster and Bruce Guthro, who haven’t played at the Festival in a couple of years. It will also be nice to welcome back some artists who have spent considerable time in Cape Breton and feel at home on the Island, like Irish fiddler Liz Doherty and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser who are good friends of Celtic Colours.”
Other names who will be familiar to Celtic Colours’ audiences from years gone by include Scottish guitar whiz Tony McManus; Prince Edward Island singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant; Irish flute player and Gaelic singer Nuala Kennedy, Irish-American guitarist-singer-songwriter John Doyle; Donnell and Erin Leahy from the popular Canadian family band Leahy; Acadien group Vishten; and Cape Breton’s own rising stars, The Cottars.
Celtic Colours opens October 8 with a concert in Port Hawkesbury called “Home is Where the Heart Is” and closes October 16 with “Songs From Home” at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion in Sydney.
Among the 45 concerts this year are a couple of special projects that organizers are very excited about. Along with the usual shows dedicated to Cape Breton fiddlers, piping, guitar, piano, Gaelic song and dancing, there will be a show that presents new Gaelic songs written in collaboration with local Artist in Residence Lewis MacKinnon and established Gaelic composers from Cape Breton and Scotland; newly composed tunes written in collaboration with visiting Artists in Residence Chris Stout and Catriona McKay; and a collaboration of young songwriters and tunemakers, writing new compositions based on traditional repertoire. Concerts will also pay tribute to tradition bearers, celebrate the music of Brenda Stubbert, and see Festival favourites Beòlach reunited.
Popular performers Brendan Power, Seán McKeon, and Laoise Kelly will be returning from last year’s lineup. Artists new to the Festival this year include Terry Kelly, Old Man Leudecke, De Temps Antan, The Once, Madison Violet, Suedan, and Meantime. Although T with the Maggies is a new name this year, three of the four members of the group, comprised of the top Gaelic singers in Ireland, were here last year. And of course, no Celtic Colours would be complete with our very own favourites like J.P. Cormier, Mary Jane Lamond, Carl MacKenzie, Howie MacDonald, Brenda Stubbert, Doug MacPhee, Dave MacIsaac and Rita MacNeil.
As usual, Celtic Colours will present a full complement of Cultural Experience workshops in communities all around Cape Breton Island.
Tickets for Celtic Colours International Festival go on sale July 5, 2010. They can be purchased at the Festival Box Office, located at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion in Sydney, online, or by phone—567-3000 (local) or 1-888-355-7744 (toll free). For the complete lineup of Celtic Colours or to view video highlights from 2009 visit www.celtic-colours.com.
