Arts and Entertainment
By Sean Smith
BostonIrish Contributor
The passing of Brian O’Donovan last fall has been felt keenly by the Celtic music community in the Boston area and elsewhere – a community he had no small part in fostering.
O’Donovan died on Oct. 6 of glioblastoma;... Read more
From spirited comedies to award-winning dramas and Broadway legends, here’s a sampling of what will be brightening Boston stages in the coming weeks.
“Thirst”Through March 17, Lyric Stage Company
In Ronan Noone’s latest... Read more
Eugene O’Neill’s classic drama “Long Day's Journey Into Night” follows one devastating day in the life of the Tyrone family. Set in 1912 in the family’s Connecticut summer home, the highly autobiographical Pulitzer Prize-winning play reveals a family... Read more
On the heels of the successful “Postcards From Ireland,” Celtic Woman will carry on its legacy of uplifting performances packed with breath-taking harmonies and instrumental virtuosity. The group today announced it will bring an all-new live show to... Read more
February might seem like the paradigmatic calm before the storm of March and its St. Patrick’s Day-related festivities, but there’s a fair amount of Irish/Celtic music in Boston and vicinity during the shortest month.
•The phrase “pure dead brilliant” is... Read more
Cillian Vallely and David Doocey, “The Yew & the Orchard” • Vallely and Worcester native Doocey share some significant attributes, notably the strong presence of traditional music in the family: In fact, both have siblings who, like themselves, are... Read more
By R. J. DonovanSpecial to Boston Irish
The Here Comes Everybody Players, in collaboration with Tir Na Productions, will present the world premiere of “Bumbled,” a new comedy by Colin Hamell and Bernard McMullan that is directed by Carmel O’Reilly and... Read more
If it seems like a long time since Matt and Shannon Heaton last released an album, well, it is: not since 2014, when the local Irish music duo came out with “Tell You in Earnest.”
But on Wed., Jan. 24, the Heatons will formally launch their sixth... Read more
With 2023 over, ahead of us lies a new set of 12 months during which we can anticipate many fine Irish/Celtic music events in the Greater Boston area. Here’s a look at January:
•The 21st Boston Celtic Music Fest (BCMFest), which takes place Jan. 11-14, is... Read more
Boston-area fiddler, banjo player and vocalist Maura Shawn Scanlin says there is a very basic unifying theme to her recently released debut solo album: gratitude.
“My biggest inspiration for the recording,” she explains, “was that I have a whole bunch of... Read more
A performance by the award-winning, highly acclaimed Quebecois band Le Vent du Nord highlights the 21st annual Boston Celtic Music Fest (BCMFest), which takes place January 11 to14 with events at Harvard Square’s Club Passim as well as the Crystal... Read more
With the smell of fresh evergreen in the air, holiday entertainment abounds throughout the city. The choices below offer something for everyone.
A Very Darren Christmas
Dec. 7, Emerson Colonial
It’s beginning to look a lot like CHRISSMAS. Emmy and... Read more
Not surprisingly, holiday-themed events are plentiful this month in the local Irish/Celtic music scene. But here’s one non-conforming concert that deserves notice: Natick-based fiddler Leland Martin will celebrate the official release of his album “... Read more
It wasn’t actually planned that way, but last month in the space of a week, Boston College’s Gaelic Roots series hosted two of the most celebrated Irish fiddle players of the past five decades. On Nov. 2, Frankie Gavin and accompanist Catherine McHugh... Read more
It has been several years since Dubliner Paul Byrom performed in the US during the holiday season; he’s usually appearing in popular Christmas “pantos” (a form of comedic musical takes on popular children’s stories) at the prestigious Helix Theatre in... Read more
The Kane Sisters, “In Memory of Paddy Fahey” • Perhaps writers should be subject to some kind of formal reprimand for using the phrase “words fail me” – if they do, then why are we here anyway? – but it’s awfully tempting to do so regarding the newest... Read more
We’ve all heard of William Shakespeare, playwright, poet and actor. The Bard of Avon. But have you heard of Henry Condell and John Heminges? Probably not. Yet history tells us that without the last two, we might never have heard of the first.
When... Read more
•The high-quality, well-loved and equally well-attended slate of concerts that Brian O’Donovan organized, nourished, and emceed for so many years at the Burren Backroom will now live on there in his name. And the Brian O’Donovan Legacy Series will get off... Read more
The tributes have been constant and numerous since Brian O’Donovan died earlier this month, as well they should be. He did so much to make Boston a fertile environment for folk and acoustic music, Irish/Celtic in particular, through his WGBH “Celtic... Read more
“Lizzie Borden took an ax And gave her mother 40 whacksAnd when she saw what she had done,She gave her father 41.”
So goes the macabre children’s ditty referencing the horrific Fall River family murders possibly carried out by Lizzie Borden in 1892.... Read more
