Irish Massachusetts

Seamus Connolly , All-Ireland fiddle champion and director of the Gaelic Roots program at Boston College,  is teaming with Irish dancer Kieran Jordan to present an Irish Dance and Ceili on Monday, February 3, 2014.   The event takes place at Gasson Hall , on Boston College's campus in Chestnut Hill, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and is free to the public.  Here are directions . You can follow Gaelic Roots on Facebook .  Find year round details on Irish music in greater Boston by visiting IrishBoston.org . For visitor information go to MassVacation.com and BostonUSA.com .  

Two excellent Irish traditional musicians - Willie and Siobhan Kelly - are performing a concert at the Chatham Fiddle Company in Chatham, Cape Cod, on Saturday, January 25, 2015, from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m.  Suggested donation is $20.00 Prior to the concert, the duo conducts a music workshop, with Willie on the fiddle and Siobhan on the wooden flute.  The workshop begins at 1:30 and the cost is $30.00.  For information on the workshop or concert, please call 508 348-1885 . Located at 875 Main Street in Chatham, the Chatham Fiddle Company is run by stringed instrument maker and fiddler Rose Clancy .  Chatham Fiddle offers instruments for sale and for rent, gives music lessons on fiddle, banjo and mandolin, and presents a series of house concerts throughout the year, featuring traditional musicians from Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the United States. Find year round details on Irish music, dance and cultural activities in Massachusetts and the New England state...

Check out the profile of new Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in the current issue of Irish America Magazine, written by Michael Quinlin , founder of the Boston Irish Tourism Association . Walsh is part of a lineage of Boston mayors with Irish descent , dating back to Huge O'Brien in 1885.  Find more about Boston's Irish history at IrishHeritageTrail.com .

Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade  Boston Irish Tourism Association has released its 2014 schedule of S t. Patrick's Day parades in Massachusetts . This year the parade season begins on March 8 with the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, and ends with the Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade on Sunday, March 23, 2014. BITA also lists details on parades in Manchester, NH, Quebec City, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Here is a schedule of Irish cultural activities in Massachusetts and the New England in March 2014 states.  Check back for updates. Find year round information on the Irish community in Massachusetts by visiting IrishMassachusetts.com .

Paddy Keenan , a master of the Irish uilleann pipes, is performing at the Gaelic Roots Music and Dance program at Boston College on Thursday, January 23, 2014.  The concert takes place at Walsh Hall from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and is free to the public. Other artists performing this semester are Irish dancer Kieran Jordan, fiddler Sheila Falls, flutist Mark Roberts, and the band Mist Covered Mountains.   Created and directed by master fiddler Seamus Connolly , Gaelic Roots is a program of music and dance instruction at Boston College , as well as lectures, concerts and special events that focus on traditional music from Ireland as well as Scotland, Canada's Maritimes, and the American Appalichia.  You follow Gaelic Roots on Facebook . Find year round information on Irish cultural events in Massachusetts by visiting IrishMassachusetts.com.

Irish pub band Tin Can Hooley is performing at the Boyne Irish Pub on Western Avenue in Allston on Saturday, January 18 from 8:00 p.m. to Midnight.  Admission is $5. Described as a ceilidh band that sings, Tin Can Hooley covers a wide range of Celtic-inspired music, from jigs and reels to the Pogues.  The band has performed at major festivals in the region, including the annual Irish Festival at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton and the Boston Irish Festival in Dorchester's Adams Village. Find year round details on Irish music in Massachusetts by visiting IrishMassachusetts.com .  

Clayton March and Rose Clancy  The Chatham Squire in Chatham, Cape Cod, is hosting Irish tunes on Sunday, January 12, 2014 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  The music features fiddlers Rose Clancy, Clayton March and Greg Johnson, and bodhran player Peig Donoghue. Rose Clancy is proprietor of the Chatham Fiddle Company , and a maker of fine stringed instruments. Located at 487 Main Street in downtown Chatham, the Squire is a family restaurant that has been serving Cape Cod residents and visitors since 1968. Find year round details on Irish cultural activities in Massachusetts and the New England region by visiting IrishMassachusetts.com . 

Bridget Fitzgerald The 11th annual Boston's Celtic Music Festival is continuing all day today with an exciting line-up of excellent music, song and dance. It takes place in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Saturday includes DayFest , a series of performances throughout the day that features Irish sean nos singer Bridget Fitzgerald ,  duo Matt and Shannon Heaton , uilleann piper Joey Arbarta , singer/guitarist Liz Simmons , multi-instrumentalist Lindsay Adler and many others.   The performances take place at Passim and The First Parish Church.  Here is the DayFest schedule .  The BCMFest Nightcap is  a grand finale concert and dance featuring music from Ireland, Cape Breton, Scotland and America.  It takes place at the First Parish Church.   Here is a list of all the performers at this year's Boston's Celtic Music Festival .  Here is the festival press release . Find year round details on Irish cultural activities in Massach...

Today's inauguration of Martin J. Walsh as the new Mayor of Boston included a wonderful offering of music that appealed to the 5,000+ attendees at Conte Forum at Boston College. World renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma was the special guest, and he performed a moving rendition of the Irish song, Danny Boy, before moving into chamber music by George Crumb and J. S. Bach.  Irish tenor Ronan Tynan capped the ceremony with a stirring rendition of God Bless America, the same version he sang in October at the Boston Red Sox victory parade through the streets of Boston.  Starting off the musical portion of the inauguration ceremony was the Boston Fire Gaelic Pipe and Drum Band , which performed during the presentation of colors.  And musical interludes were offered by students at the Boston Arts Academy and the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School .  During the mayoral campaign, Walsh made a commitment to enriching culture and the arts in the City of Boston. ...

Congratulations to Martin Joseph Walsh , who was sworn into office on Monday, January 6, 2014 at Conte Forum at Boston College .  Over 5,000 people attended the ceremony, including Walsh's mother Mary, his brother Johnny, and longtime girlfriend Lorrie Higgins and her daughter Loren. Dignitaries included Governor Deval Patrick , US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey , and former Boston Mayor and US Ambassador Ray Flynn . Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley gave the opening prayer, and Boston College President William P. Leahy gave the opening welcome.  Reverend Dr. Ray Hammond gave the final benediction. Massachusetts Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland conducted the swearing in ceremony. Among the musical highlights was a stirring rendition of Danny Boy by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma , and an equally stirring rendition of God Bless America by legendary Irish tenor Ronan Tynan . Walsh is Boston's 48th mayor and takes his office on the fifth floor of Bos...