The Grange Hall Cultural Center and the Vermont Music Center to present traditional Irish acoustic music by acclaimed and international performers, veteran storytellers sharing Irish lore and popular tales, award winning step-dancing, open music sessions, and a whole lot of “Great Craic!” (Gaelic for "Good times!”). All proceeds go to the Grange Hall Cultural Center Renovation Fund.

Irish Kitchen Ceili, an intimate Irish concert in the Downstairs Gallery

Doors open @ 4pm, music begins @ 5pm.

Featuring music by Benedict Koehler and Hilari Farrington, Dominique Dodge, and the Knotwork band (Annabel Moynihan, Michael Moynihan, Don Schnaber and John Murray).

With Irish storytelling by Ethan Bowen of Bald Mountain Theater and step-dancing by Waterbury’s own Celtic Company.

**This concert will be followed by and Open Irish Music Session for audience members to join in with their instruments, voice, or continue to listen and enjoy this unique style of ensemble music.

Concerts are $15 at the door or at www.sevendaystickets.com

Workshops are individually priced with discounts for multi-class enrollment.

For more information and registration, go to www.grangehallcc.com or email [email protected] or call 802-244-4168.

BIOS:

Annabel Moynihan (Musical Artistic Director of the GHCC Irish Arts Festival) is the founder of The Vermont Music Center in Waterbury, Vermont, serving students from all over central Vermont.She started playing the violin when she was five years old and now performs all over the world in various bands and groups. Knotwork, her band in attendance at the GHCC Irish Arts Festival, plays in the Irish Traditional and is composed of Michael Moynihan, Don Schnaber, John Murray, and herself.

Benedict Koehler and Hilari Farrington are multi-instrumentalists renowned across the U.S. and Canada as teachers and performers of Irish traditional music. Founders of the Vermont School of Irish Traditional Music, this couple has helped to create and promote a thriving Irish music community in the state and hold regular traditional Irish music sessions at Baggitos in Montpelier, Vermont.

Dominique Dodge is a harper and singer who grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and now divides her time between Vermont and Cape Breton. She has a passion for melody-driven dance music and responsive, rhythmic accompaniment, as well as for songs, airs, and 18^th century harp tunes. Her sound is firmly grounded in the traditional music and song of Cape Breton, Scotland, and Ireland. A former Fulbright Scholar and a 2012 graduate of the University of Limerick with an MA in Irish Music Performance, Dominique also holds a BA Honours in Scottish Music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow. Dominique is a dedicated learner of Scottish Gaelic, a profound influence on her music which continues to shape her sense of rhythm and phrasing. She has extensive experience in traditional arts education and maintains a busy and vibrant teaching practice. She has been performing, recording, and teaching traditional music on both sides of the Atlantic for over a decade.

Ethan Bowen is an accomplished professional actor formerly based in New York City and later in Washington DC (Woolly Mammoth Theater Company), now living in Rochester, Vermont with his family and founding Bald Mountain Theater in 2015. With Bald Mountain Theater he has made it their mission to bring great classic stories to life for all ages, especially delving into the ancient characteristic stories to share the hearts of different cultures with audiences of all ages.

Celtic Company is a performance troupe of Irish, Scottish, & Cape Breton Step-dancers who perform high-energy traditional and contemporary dances to lively music.Founded in 2011 by Heather Morris and a core group of dancers, Celtic Company has been sharing its love of Celtic dance across the northeastern United Sates.The group rehearses weekly at Green Mountain Performing Arts, in Waterbury.