Rockport Music

Exploring Celtic Roots & Branches

Maeve Gilchrist & Brian O’Donovan, co-artistic directors

Rockport Music and co-artistic directors–WGBH host Brian O’Donovan and harpist Maeve Gilchrist–return with a Celtic Festival that explores traditional and contemporary music from around the Celtic world. Exploring Celtic Roots and Branches features a wide, and quite extraordinary variety, of new and familiar musicians, singers, dancers and storytellers.

Thursday, September 14 :: 7:30 PM
FESTIVAL CLUB: RAKISH

The fantastic duo Rakish with violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn bring an evening of Irish and American folk tunes! Grab a drink at the bar and settle in for this folk-club style concert, hosted by Maeve Gilchrist to kickstart the festival in style! Location: Third Floor Reception Hall

Friday, September 15 :: 7 PM
QUEBEC TO NEWFOUNDLAND

Maeve Gilchrist & Brian O’Donovan, co-artistic directors
Genticorum (Quebec)
Matthew Byrne (Newfoundland)
Kimberley Fraser & Troy MacGillivray (Nova Scotia)
Allison De Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Éilís Kennedy (Ireland)

A celebration of the Celtic and French diaspora in Eastern Canada and it’s connected musical traditions. Bringing together some of the brightest lights in the Cape Breton, Quebec and Newfoundland Music scene, this evening celebrates the melting pot of traditions that make up the unique and diverse musical traditions of Eastern Canada. French settler culture, the Irish fishing industry, Mass migration from Scotland and of course, the indigenous music of the first nations in Canada will feature in this foot stomping evening of music!

Friday, September 15 :: 9:30 PM
FESTIVAL CLUB: CEILIDH

Boston-based Scottish fiddler Katie McNally, Shetland fiddler Kevin Henderson and local guitar-whiz Conor Hearn team up for an exhilarating evening of fiddle music and dance. Grab a drink at the bar and settle in for this informal session-style evening full of tunes, connection and a few surprise cameos! Don’t forget your dancing shoes! Location: Third Floor Reception Hall

Saturday, September 16 :: 11 AM
SALON SESSION WITH MAEVE GILCHRIST

An up-close look at the artistry, history and process of some of our artists with interactive discussion and a mini-performance. Featuring traditional Irish singer Eilis Kennedy, Newfoundland singer and multi-instrumentalist Mathew Byrne and Internationally-acclaimed Old Time duo, Tatiana Hargreaves and Alison De Groot. Location: SLPC Third Floor

Saturday, September 16 :: 1 PM
“PUB” SING
with David Coffin

Come and join us for our first ever FREE Rockport Celtic Festival pub-less, Pub Sing! led by our very own local Sea Shanty star, David Coffin, this event will bring together music-lovers from all kinds of backgrounds to raise the rafters and sing together as the spirit of the Rockport Festival leaves the theater and resonates through the town!
Free, no reservations required.

Location: Spiran Hall, Rockport

Saturday, September 16 :: 7:30 PM
GLOBAL STRINGS!

Tatiana Hargreaves, fiddle & Allison De Groot, banjo
Yasmin Williams, guitar
Maeve Gilchrist , harp
Seamus Egan, multi-instrumentalist
Kyle Sanna, guitar
Lena Jonsson, fiddle

This evening features an all-star cast of some of the most innovative string voices across the globe. Featuring Maeve Gilchrist on the Celtic Harp, the groundbreaking guitarist Yasmin Williams and innovative Old-time duo Tatiana Hargreaves and Allison De Groot will have the audience reimagining what acoustic string music means as we take our respective time-old traditions and reframe them in a contemporary light. This is simply going to be a party that you’re not going to want to miss!

Sunday, September 17 :: 12 PM
WORDS & MUSIC: THE CELTIC SPIRIT

Maeve Gilchrist , harp
David Coffin, vocals
Éilís Kennedy, vocals
Seamus Egan, multi-instrumentalist
Kyle Sanna, guitar
Lena Jonsson, fiddle

A meditative Sunday hour with poetry, prose and music. A spiritual celebration of the spoken word. Some of the poetry and prose of our great writers complemented by music sometimes underscoring, sometimes introducing, sometimes following, the spoken piece itself. A contemplative hour in the beautiful theater with a backdrop of the harbor. Maeve and Brian will host and be joined by a selection of participants in the Festival weekend.

Sunday, September 17 :: 5 PM
LETTERS FROM THE SEA

Eilis Kennedy, vocals
David Coffin, vocals
Kyle Sanna, guitar
Maeve Gilchrist, harp
Seamus Egan, multi-instrumentalist
Lena Jonnson, fiddle
Genticorum

Features the stunning voice of Irish singer Eilis Kennedy from Dingle, Ireland. In 2020, Kennedy, inspired by a series of letters written by Whaling fisherman that she found in the New Bedford Whaling Museum, wrote So Ends this day, an album of songs inspired by the sea and the men and women who make their lives around it. Kennedy will bring these letters and songs to life with an all-star cast of musicians from both sides of the Atlantic including readings by David Coffin, Brian O Donovan, Kyle Sanna, Maeve Gilchrist and many more.

‘A wife left behind, a wife on board, an adventurous young man, a brave and wise captain, an ill- fated voyage, a drowning, a rescue, an elegy and a song of hope in times of despair’

Thank you to our Rockport Celtic Festival Corporate Partners!