Hear incredible local musical talent with the Upstairs on Main music series! Enjoy the intimate, lounge-like atmosphere on the third floor of the hall. Grab a beer at the bar, sit with friends and enjoy the show! Dancing is encouraged!
In anticipation of St. Patrick’s Day come celebrate with Cape Ann’s own Michael O’Leary and friends Bob & Jen Strom and Cindy McIntire for a spirited concert and céili session! For the first half of the evening, Michael and his stellar bandmates will play a set of traditional Irish songs and tunes. For the second half, they will open it up to others to sit in with them in an informal Irish céili. So bring your fiddles, flutes, bouzoukis, guitars, whistles and pipes and join us for the ‘ceol agus craic’ – Irish for ‘music and fun’! Some dancing could break out too!
Michael O’Leary (vocals, bodhran) is a singer of traditional and contemporary Irish, Scottish, English and American songs and ballads. Originally a landlubber from the Midwest, he has soaked up songs and the sea air of Cape Ann for the past thirty plus years. He has performed at the Rockport Celtic Festival, Boston Celtic Music Fest, Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival and other festivals and venues in the greater Boston area. He has co-hosted Celtic music sessions on Cape Ann since 2008 and hosts Celtic music sunset sails on schooner Ardelle out of Gloucester in the summer months.
Bob & Jen Strom (guitar, fiddle, vocals) play regularly at north-of-Boston sessions, Irish pubs and local festivals. Though Jen began as mainly a contra-dance fiddler, she is now a serious Irish fiddler as well as a singer of traditional songs from Ireland, Scotland and England, and American ballads and contemporary folk songs, backed by Bob’s tasteful guitar work. Bob’s books ‘Old Salem in Ballad and Song’ and ‘Old Salem at Sea in Ballad and Song’ and an accompanying CD can be purchased there as well. They are longtime residents of Salem, MA. Website
Cindy McIntire (flute, whistle) learned to play the flute in grade school in Lynn. After many years away from it, she attended a concert with Irish flute player Seamus Tansey. That began a journey into traditional Irish flute playing, which has been a life changing experience. She has studied with Shannon Heaton and explored others‘ styles of playing as well. She also does Irish set dancing in a group led by Eileen Dugal. She was a founding member of the ensemble, O’Carolan Etcetera and currently enjoys playing regularly with Jen and Bob Strom at sessions around the area.
Carol McIntyre (harp) performs on Celtic harp in many musical settings around the North Shore, including orchestras, ensembles, church services and public and private events. She received her BA in Music from Stanford University, where she studied Classical music on the pedal harp. Since then she has been drawn more to folk and Celtic music, which she plays on the lever harp. She has been a member of the New England Irish Harp Orchestra, a teacher at the Comhaltas Irish Music School in Boston, and a past winner of the Scottish Harp competition at the New Hamphsire Highland Games. She teaches private harp lessons at her home studio in Ipswich, MA. Website
Tickets: $18 seated | $8 standing
