Arts and Entertainment
Clannad, the Donegal family band that improbably became a worldwide pop music sensation, is calling it quits after more than 50 years, and will bid adieu to Boston on Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. at the Wilbur Theatre [thewilbur.com].
Sadly, Clannad’s “In a... Read more
All well and good when you have an artistic inspiration that seems fascinating in concept and explanation. But can you make it come alive in a way that actually is fascinating?
If you’re Jackie O’Riley and Rebecca McGowan, two Boston-area Irish dance... Read more
It’s a brilliant summer Sunday afternoon, and inside The Cottage Bar in Weymouth a singular moment of anticipation is taking place. Around a large rectangular table in a corner of the restaurant, there are 15 fiddles tucked under youthful chins; 15 bows,... Read more
Art is the magic mirror you make to reflect your invisible dreams in visible pictures. You use a glass mirror to see your face: you use works of art to see your soul.
– George Bernard Shaw
This month I am going to steer clear of the major issues of the... Read more
*[UPDATE: The Frankie Gavin-Catherine McHugh shows have once again been postponed, and are being rescheduled for a later date.]
After having to cancel their planned American tour earlier this summer, fiddler nonpareil Frankie Gavin and pianist Catherine... Read more
The fourth album from the Dublin quartet of self-described “folk miscreants” finds them continuing to meet expectations by defying them.
Starting out as Lynched, an experimental psychedelic folk-punk duo of brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch, the band took... Read more
When Jack Mullen steps onstage as Scuttle, The Seagull, in “The Little Mermaid” at Reagle Music Theatre, he’ll bring with him more professional experience than the average 21-year-old might offer.
The Millis native began his professional stage career... Read more
The quartet Reverie Road seems a curious, even improbable combination: three pillars of Irish traditional music — Winifred Horan, John Williams, and Katie Grennan — and Indian-born Utsav Lal, dubbed the “raga pianist” and known for his unique blending of... Read more
A look at upcoming Irish/Celtic events in Greater Boston:
One of the most compelling figures to emerge in the 1970s Irish music scene, concertina player Noel Hill, will be at the Burren for a 4 p.m. show on Aug. 13. At a time when the Irish folk revival... Read more
John Doyle & Mick McAuley • Their membership in Solas overlapped for roughly two years, but clearly that wasn’t enough of a collaborative opportunity for these two – among the most accomplished, high-profile Irish musicians of their generation –... Read more
Joe Gibney is the lead singer for The Jeremiahs, which will perform on July 16 in the Burren Backroom series. Formed almost 10 years ago, The Jeremiahs are among the vanguard of Dublin-based acts that have put a new gloss on the blending of... Read more
The annual Summer BCMFest on Sun., July 2, and concerts by The Jeremiahs and the Kane Sisters highlight upcoming Irish/Celtic events in Greater Boston.
Club Passim’s Summer BCMFest is a daylong affair that starts at 10 a.m. with its live music brunch,... Read more
No shortage of excellent new instrumental albums over the past several months – which I promise we’ll get to, eventually – but for now here are a couple of quite striking all-vocal releases that have leapt to the fore.
• Sandra Joyce: “Since You and I... Read more
Understand: It’s not as if Massachusetts native Natalya Kay pined and prepared for years to be the fiddler for Gaelic Storm.
The 27-year-old Kay, who grew up in Lowell and spent time in Boston before moving to Nashville, joined the popular Celtic rock... Read more
A full day and evening of Celtic music is in store at the annual Summer BCMFest, which takes place July 2 at Club Passim in Harvard Square.
This year’s festival includes free outdoor concerts and participatory ceilidh outside Passim in Palmer Street, and... Read more
Readers of Boston Irish Magazine and bostonirish.com are well-versed in the work of Sean Smith, whose finely wrought writings and reviews of the work of performers in the Celtic arts of music and dance, in particular local and regional standouts, have... Read more
This past February, the movie “Till” was screened at the White House for President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and their guests. Among the team that brought the powerful true story of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, to the president’s... Read more
During my long and rich teaching career (1984-2019) at UMass Boston, I had the rare good fortune of being able to offer, multiple times—both as a graduate seminar and as an undergraduate senior seminar—a course centered on Irish Nobel Laureate Seamus... Read more
Courtney O’Connor has a solid history in the Boston theater community as a director, educator and arts administrator. Having directed several shows at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston over the years, she joined the full-time staff at Lyric in 2018 and... Read more
Here's R.J.Donovan's preview of what's on in Boston's theatrical world for the summer of 2023
“Jagged Little Pill”, “Clue”, “Rooted”, “Oklahoma!”
“The Normal Heart”, “Evita”, “A Man of No Importance”,
“The Lehman Trilogy”, “Oppenheimer”
Editor's Note: The... Read more
