Like the opening concert, this will be a smorgasbord and celebration of the weekend that just was, but with a focus on SONGS and STORIES OF THE SEA as we celebrate our new festival home in the culturally rich setting of Cape Ann. This will be a concert full of sounds and songs and even stories of the sea; from a local sea shanty through the lore of Selkies to an audiovisual poem bringing to life the fragile ecosystem of a coral reef.  The roots and branches of Celtic music have been extensively inspired by the bounty, mystery, drama and tragedy stemming from the Atlantic Ocean. O’Donovan hosts a concert that is varied and celebratory, ending in something that might just begin a tradition. 

Lineup
Hosted by Maeve Gilchrist and Brian O’Donovan with
Murphy Beds (Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O’Leary); Dana Lyn (fiddle, guitar) and Kyle Sanna (guitar); Mick McAuley (accordion, guitar, whistle), John Doyle (guitar, vox) and Oisin McAuley (fiddle); Bruce Molsky (fiddle) & Allison de Groot (banjo); The Seamus Egan Project with Moira Smiley and more…

About the Rockport Celtic Festival

Exploring Celtic Roots & Branches

Brian O’Donovan & Maeve Gilchrist, artistic directors

For over three decades, Brian O’Donovan has been hosting A Celtic Sojourn on WGBH, a program exploring traditional and contemporary music from around the Celtic world. He’s also well known for his live concert series A Christmas Celtic Sojourn, as well as many other presentations around New England.  In partnership with Rockport Music and working in close collaboration with fellow Artistic Director, Edinburgh-born harpist/composer Maeve Gilchrist, Brian is proud to present the first annual Rockport Celtic Festival- Exploring Celtic Roots and Branches. Featuring a wide and quite extraordinary variety of new and familiar musicians, singers, dancers, and storytellers, the weekend will focus on the genre’s broad and vibrant range with a strong emphasis on crossover and collaborative work between musicians from different genres including classical, jazz, and American Traditional. This will be a dynamic and interactive weekend featuring mainstage concerts, workshops, intimate salon-style sessions in our third floor space, and much more.

In addition to Maeve and Brian, the Festival will feature: Mick McAuley and John Doyle (both early members of the groundbreaking band Solas), Oisin McAuley (Danú), Bruce Molsky & Allison de Groot (fiddle, banjo, voice and regarded as one of the top Appalachian duos playing today), Palaver Strings (full 13 piece chamber orchestra), composers Dana Lyn and Kyle Sanna, The Seamus Egan Project with Moira Smiley, fiddler Jenna Moynihan and harpist, Mairi Chaimbeul, singers Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer (The Murphy Beds), dancer Kevin Doyle, and more. 

This will be a gathering rarely, if ever, seen before.