Indoor Celtic Festival in Cambridge Friday and Saturday

If not yet on your radar, place the 10th annual BCMFest, which will be produced at three venues in Harvard Square this Friday and Saturday, dead center.

Like notloB Parlour Concerts*, BCMFest is an all-volunteer effort (in fact they are still seeking volunteers - contact them though their website and get free admission).

There will be a very strong notloB alumni presence, including.....
Katie McNally and Eric McDonald
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes
Molly Pinto Madigan
Laura Cortese
Matt Heaton
Flynn Cohen and The Deadstring Ensemble
Sean Smith
Cliff McGann
Hanneke Cassel

About BCMFest BCMFest (Boston’s Celtic Music Fest) showcases Greater Boston’s best musicians, singers, and dancers from Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton, and other Celtic traditions. BCMFest hosts an annual weekend-long festival in January that features more than 100 performers. All of the profits from BCMFest are used to fund the next festival. Throughout the year, BCMFest organizes the Celtic Music Cruise, Boston Urban Ceilidh, and monthly Celtic Music Monday Sessions at Club Passim, which spotlight local Celtic musicians and singers. Laura Cortese, Shannon Heaton, Leanne McNally, Rachel Reeds, and Sean Smith head the BCMFest committee. Please contact themwith any questions about the festival. The mission of BCMFest is To produce locally-based Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton music and dance in an upbeat and friendly environment. To bolster appreciation for traditional Celtic music and dance among youth and the Greater Boston community. To support a living, changing tradition by encouraging cross-genre collaborations and innovations among dancers and musicians of all generations. To produce a variety of collaborative projects and performances for the Greater Boston community.

Follow BCMFest on facebook and get BCMFest       news year-round on the BCMFest blog.

The 10th annual BCMFest will be held January 11-12, 2013.

Advance tickets available now! Click here for full lineup, schedule and ticket links.

History:

BCMFest was born after Laura Cortese (Scottish fiddle) and Shannon Heaton (Irish flute) realized that recently they had seen many great, traditional Celtic music acts playing it the area; they thought it would be exciting if more of the Boston-area trad players worked with local folk music venues like Club Passim, the Burren, Johnny D’s, and the Canadian American Club. Soon after their talk, Laura and Shannon began planning a weekend-long showcase of local traditional talent—a Boston Celtic Music Fest to celebrate the rich, diverse pool of traditional music and dance in the Boston area.

The festival has become a hub for generating ideas, energy, and community support for local, traditional Celtic music and dance performers. In 2011, BCMFest became an official program of Passim. Today, in addition to the annual festival in January, audiences and artists can enjoy monthly concerts at Club Passim that feature a broad selection of Boston-based Celtic music and dance acts.

As BCMFest enters its tenth year, the festival is stronger than ever, and its vision is more refined. By presenting touring professionals, tradition-bearers, and young performers, the festival offers a variety of music not found anywhere else. The list of performers and fans involved in the festival continues to grow, a sign that BCMFest is a vital addition to the Boston music community.

*Upcoming notloB and related concerts:

01/18/13	Loring-Greenough House	Katie McNally & Eric McDonald
02/18/13	Watertown private residence	Brittany Haas, Lily Henley and Kellen Zakula
02/23/13	Loring-Greenough House	Fellswater
03/05/13	Johnny D's	Richard Wood & Gordon Belsher
03/09/13	Loring-Greenough House	Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Catherine Bowness w/ George Clements

p.s. I will be managing the BCMFest's sanctuary stage, stop by to say 'hello.'

Flynn Cohen and the Deadstring Ensemble

notloB Folk Concerts

  

presents.....

Flynn Cohen and the Deadstring Ensemble

Thursday, October 20, 8pm Loring-Greenough House 12 South Street Jamaica Plain, MA More info at the notloB website Guitarist/composer Flynn Cohen leads his own band of string geniuses performing original multi-genre acoustic music. Primarily instrumental, they combine influences ranging from Irish traditional music, old-time appalachian, bluegrass, folk-rock, and early music. The band consists of some of the finest and most experienced acoustic plucked-string players in America. FLYNN COHEN – guitar/mandolin/vocals Acoustic Guitarist Flynn Cohen has performed all over the world with many notable acts in traditional and contemporary acoustic music. He can be seen on concert and festival stages with the neo-trad folk band Annalivia, legendary Irish Accordion player John Whelan, fellow trad guitar player Matt Heaton, modern bluegrass band Tony Watt & Southeast Expressway, and his own group of acoustic string wizards, TheDeadstring Ensemble. Flynn has also performed with HALALI, The Sevens, Aoife Clancy, Cathie Ryan, Lawrence Nugent, Skip Healy, Joe Derrane and Frank Farrell, John McGann, Matt Glaser, Adrienne Young, Jake & Taylor Armerding, Gail Davies, Gilly Martin, Malibu Storm, Bruce MacGregor, Lissa Schneckenburger, Laura Cortese, Mark Simos, Women of Ireland, The Vancouver Symphony, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, Revels, and Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, among others. He studied Music at Dartington College of Arts in Devon, England and at Mills College in Oakland, California and now teaches in the Music Dept at Keene State College in New Hampshire, as well as The Music Emporium in Lexington, Massachusetts. JOHN McGANN – guitar/mandolin John McGann is a Professor of Strings at Berklee College of Music, 1985 National Mandolin Champion, and has a long resumé of international tours and recordings with Celtic Fiddle Festival, The Wayfaring Strangers, The Boston Edge and many others. Complete bio: http://www.johnmcgann.com/bio.html MATT HEATON – guitar/bouzouki Though he studied classical guitar at Northwestern University (MMus) and Italy, played rock in Chicago, and tango in Denver, it is Boston’s vibrant Irish music scene where he has made his musical home. What began as an obsession with an unlabeled cassette tape (which later turned out to be “The Planxty Collection”) and a courtship with a young Irish flute player named Shannon, has led to a vibrant Irish music performance career. In addition to his duo work with wife Shannon, he is highly sought after as accompanist, and has performed with traditional luminaries Aoife Clancy, Robbie O’Connell, Emily Smith, and the Boys of the Lough. DANNY NOVECK – guitar/fiddle  Danny has worked as both a fiddler and guitar accompanist with such trad music luminaries as Liz Carroll, John Williams, Tony DMarco, and John Whelan. He has a PhD in Anthropology that took him Mexico to study the fiddle music of the Tarahumara Indians. Danny teaches at the Boston branch of Comhaltas music school and is the composer of the well-known session tune "Sligo Creek". Thursday, October 20 8pm Loring-Greenough House 12 South Street Jamaica Plain Suggested donation $14 + $1 preservation fee More information about the series: https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic/ To reserve: notlobreservations at gmail dot com