Manotick, Benefit Concert for Syrian Refugees - Lyon Street Celtic Band - 25 March 2017

Canadian Connection Refugee Group presents

 The Lyon Street Celtic Band

The Lyon Street Celtic Band is a dynamic group of five musicians playing Irish, Scottish and Canadian music. They play fiddles, bodhran, tin whistle, accordions, and guitar.

Saturday, March 25th, 2017 

Tickets $15

Bar opens at 6:30 with Silent Auction (cash or cheque only) 

Concert at 7:30

Manotick United Church

Tickets sold at the door and in Manotick at

Paul’s Pharmacy  

Manotick Office Pro and

Manotick United Church

                    To make a donation or for information e-mail : dmccarthy@idl.ca

               or imacrae123@gmail.com

Money raised from this concert to benefit our

Syrian refugee family

Concert: "A Ship, an Isle, a Sickle Moon - Tales of Gloriana and the Spanish Main", 26 March 2017

Mary Muckle, a well known and highly respected local harper, usually in the Celtic style, presents "A Ship, an Isle, a Sickle Moon - Tales of Gloriana and the Spanish Main" within the St. Luke's concert series, March 26, 7.30 pm., St Luke's Anglican Church on Somerset. This is a concert of music from Renaissance England and Spain and of music inspired by extraordinary figures of that period.

The program features lute songs, court dances, English country dances and Spanish dances originating in the New World and the Canary Islands. Compositions refer to Elizabeth I, England’s mistress of the seas, to Sir Francis Drake, hero of the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada, to Grace O’Malley, the pirate queen of Galway (who challenged Elizabeth I), and to Irish noblewoman, Princess Sheila Na Geira Pike, an early settler of Carbonear, Newfoundland.

Mary Muckle, harp & harpsichord 

Julie Leduc, harp 

Doug Brierley, violin 

Loyda Lastra, flute 

Marilyn Jenkins, voice 

The Ottawa Youth Harp Ensemble. 

More information at Eventbrite. Admission is by donation.

Press Release Tara Lee, Guest of Irish Film Festival Ottawa 2017

Tara will be the guest at the Opening Night of the Irish Film Festival Ottawa on March 31st. The director Darren Thornton will also take part in a Q&A by Skype after the film.

Tara is an upcoming actress and singer songwriter from Ireland. Her most recent credits include the role of Hannah opposite Cobie Smulders in SONGBIRD, and the role of Daisy Drake in the third series of THE FALL starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dorman.

2016 Saw Tara play the lead role of Caitlin in Clydenank Film's film MOONDOG and Jess in Darren Thornton's film A DATE FOR MAD MARY which will open the Irish Film Festival on March 31st.

Tara also received an Bingham Ray New Talent Award nomination for her work on MOONDOOGS and A DATE FOR MAD MARY.

VERSeFest poetry festival - two Irish poets Saturday 25 March at 7pm

The VERSeFest poetry festival takes place in Ottawa 21-26 March 2017.

Ireland is participating again this year with two poets, Alan Gillis and Leanne O'Sullivan, on Saturday 25 March at 7pm, Knox, 227 Elgin Street, with the support of Culture Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland, Canada. 

http://versefest.ca/year/2017/schedule/?day=Mar25

Information on tickets is HERE.

St. Patrick's Week continues at The Gladstone - A Man of No Importance, 22-25 March 2017

A Man of No Importance

Music by Stephen Flaherty

Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens

Book by Terrence McNally

March 22-25 (preview March 21)

Tues-Sat 7:30 pm, Sat matinee 2:30 pm

A Man of No Importance tells the story of Alfie Byrne, an Oscar Wilde-loving bus driver in 1960's Dublin who directs an amateur group of thespians called the St. Imelda's Players. Filled with lilting Irish music and wry humour, it is a small, lovely musical that touches the heart and brings a smile to your face. This moving, elegant depiction of coming to terms with oneself reunites the award-winning team from Ragtime. The show will be a fundraiser for the Youville Centre, which motivates, educates and nurtures young mothers and their children to become self-sufficient, contributing members of society.

Why not make a night of it! indie women productions has teamed with Heart & Crown Preston Street to put a little more Irish in your March. Just show your ticket for A Man of No Importance at the Heart & Crown Preston Street location during the run of the show and they'll give you 15% off. 

A Man of No Importance runs March 22-25, 2017 with a preview on March 21. Tickets at thegladstone.ca, 613-233-4523 or at The Gladstone Box Office.

Adult: $38, Senior: $34, Student/Artist/Unwaged/Preview: $22

Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daly, Tuesday 14 March 2017

On Tuesday 14 March, the Ottawa Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (CCE) is presenting the world renown duo of Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daly. Either one of these musicians in their own right, would be worth any Irish music fan's concert going dollar, together they present the tradition of Irish traditional music at its highest standards of interpretation and performance.

Matt Cranitch
 “An exceptional musician and an authority on Irish fiddle-playing, Matt Cranitch has been a major force in Irish music since the early 1970s.” – The Rough Guide to Irish Music.

Author of The Irish Fiddle Book.

Jackie Daly
In 2005 Jackie Daly received the very prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil (the premier, annual, National Music Award, Ireland). The previous recipients of this award is a who's-who of the giants, the legends, of Irish traditional music in the last 50 years.

Broadcast just days before the Ottawa concert, TG4 (the Irish language broadcaster in Ireland) aired this short documentary on Jackie Daly. View Here  This is really worth watching!

If you are not familiar with these fine musicians, you owe it to yourself to read the short version (and perhaps the long) versions of their biographies presented on their webpage. Then you owe it to yourself to buy a ticket or two, and listen to these legendary gentlemen play you an evening of the finest Irish music to be played anywhere in Ottawa this coming March.

Purchase their music (CD Baby gets artists paid from more revenue sources than anyone else):
Rolling On (2014)
The Living Stream (2010)

See you there!!!

Carleton Goes Celtic! - Sunday 12 March 2017

(y'all gotta remind me of these things, I nearly missed posting this)

Concert: An Evening of Celtic Song, 12 March 2017

A concert by local musical artists Hibernia, will be presented Sunday March 12, between the hours 7:30 PM and 8:30 PM at St. Luke's Anglican Church, 760 Somerset St., Ottawa.

This will be an evening of Celtic Song in honour of St. Patrick;s Day, offered by Hibernia with special guest Ross Davison (Irish pipes, tin whistle).

Your blogger saw them last Christmas time, and it was a really enjoyable evening. Recommended!