Arts and Entertainment
If you grew up in the County Tipperary town of Cloughjordan, like Boston-area resident Martin Butler did, you couldn’t help but know about Thomas MacDonagh.
Poet, playwright, educator, MacDonagh is a compelling figure in Irish history, a co-leader of the... Read more
Right on the heels of the release of their eagerly anticipated new album, Legacy, Volume Two, Celtic Thunder will kick off a 75 city tour of the US and Canada this summer. Known for their theatrical performances of traditional music, the five member... Read more
by Kiera Murray
BIR Correspondent
People join the Boston Irish dance scene for a variety of reasons, maybe to embrace their Irish heritage, learn about Irish culture, engage in challenging physical activity, or perform and compete all over the world. For... Read more
By SEAN SMITH
Special to the BIR
If you look at the combined resumes of fiddle-guitar duo Nollaig Casey and Arty McGlynn, it’s nearly impossible not to be impressed.
Casey has played violin with the RTE Symphony Orchestra and fiddled for two of Ireland’s... Read more
By SEAN SMITH
Special to the BIR
In addition to Summer BCMFest [see story below], here are some other Irish/Celtic-related music events taking place in Boston this month:
• The Burren Backroom series will present the legendary Sliabh Luachra duo of Matt... Read more
By R. J. DONOVAN
Special to the BIR
We face choices every day. Which flight to take, which job to accept, which person to date? You try to make an informed decision, but the question quietly lingers: What if you had chosen differently? How might your... Read more
By KIERA MURRAY
BIR Correspondent
The June sun was beginning to set over the Andover Bookstore courtyard casting a golden light on the evening. The fire pit crackled, and the tune “Cockles and Mussels” floated through the warm air as Andover resident and... Read more
Yes, yes, Kevin Crawford says he and his Lúnasa band mates are well aware that their 20th anniversary is coming up in the next year, and they will most assuredly do something to mark the milestone.
“We’ve only really just started putting out feelers,”... Read more
Broadway’s Ciarán Sheehan will be in town from June 9 to June 19 to kick off Reagle Music Theatre’s 48th summer season with Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Carousel.” The classic musical tells the challenging love story of Julie Jordan, an innocent New... Read more
Currently on their 20th Anniversary North American tour, the cast of Riverdance has been performing nonstop for months. By the end, they will have performed in 75 cities, often in multiple shows per day.
Which leaves the question: What do the dancers do... Read more
It has gone by different names over the years, but the Irish Cultural Centre of New England’s annual festival – now known as Irish Fest Boston – is set to celebrate its silver anniversary on June 4 and 5 at the ICC campus in Canton with a line-up that... Read more
When the time came to work on their first recording, the members of New England Irish trio Fódhla literally had to meet each other halfway.
That’s how it is when one-third of your band lives in Greater Boston and the other two-thirds in Portland, Maine... Read more
Visits by some legendary Celtic fiddlers – Scotland’s Alasdair Fraser and Ireland’s Kevin Burke and Nollaig Casey – highlight Irish/Celtic events taking place in the Greater Boston area this month.
• Alasdair Fraser will perform with his longtime... Read more
It’s a pretty familiar rite of passage: You’re within sight of age 30, or maybe a little past it, and the label “young adult” no longer seems applicable; somewhere along the way, for better or worse, you’ve become a full-fledged grown-up. Then the death... Read more
It seems like only yesterday the international Irish singing and dancing phenomenon “ Riverdance” first blazed to life. Since opening in Dublin in 1995, the production has dazzled more than 25 million theatergoers across six continents. The milestone... Read more
The Actors’ Shakespeare Project is closing out its season with the masterful comedy of manners, “The School for Scandal.” From the pen of Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan (adapted by Steven Barkhimer), the play weaves a witty tapestry examining... Read more
Bob Bradshaw: “I think I’ve gotten out of my own way more when it comes to putting a song together.”The Bob Bradshaw story just keeps getting better, and his music’s doing pretty well, too.
Bradshaw, a singer-songwriter from Cork, began his musical career... Read more
Here’s a look at some of the Irish/Celtic music and dance happenings around the Greater Boston area this month:
• The Burren Backroom series will feature The Truckley Howl, a trio of local fiddler/guitarist Nathan Gourley with concertina player Mairead... Read more
Cat and the Moon members (L-R) Elias Alexander, Eamon Sefton, Charles Berthoud, Ricky Mier and Kathleen Parks met while studying at the Berklee College of Music.The band’s name is taken from the title of a William Butler Yeats poem. Its co-founder is a... Read more
The three-night series Rebellion premieres on SundanceTV on April 24. The cast includes, from left: May Lacy, Elizabeth Butler, Jimmy Mahon and Frances O’Flaherty. Image courtesy SundanceTV
A history-from-the-top-down approach focuses on the leaders and... Read more
