The Celtic Fiddle Festival Band at Kings Place

The Celtic Fiddle Festival band celebrates the violin in all its globe-trotting variations. Fiddlers Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaître (Brittany, France) and Charlie McKerron (Scotland) showcase a fascinating juxtaposition of international and individual styles. With the able and agile accompaniment of Nicolas Quemener (Brittany, France) you have a perfect storm of the finest Celtic music your ears will ever encounter.

Kevin Burke is a world-renowned Irish fiddler whose formidable career includes the seminal Irish groups The Bothy Band and Patrick Street. Playing the fluid, highly-ornamented style of County Sligo, Kevin is a recipient of the NEA's National Heritage Award. Christian Lemaître honed his remarkable skills playing the hypnotic Breton melodies at festou-noz (night dances) throughout Brittany, the Celtic region of France. He is a founding member of the group Kornog. Scotland's Charlie McKerron, from the band Capercaillie, has won awards both as a player and as a composer. In a land famed for extraordinary fiddlers he is among the finest. Nicolas Quemener is a master open-tuning guitarist, who grew up in Angers, France and studied percussion in the National School of Music. He has been a part of many superb Celtic bands, including Arcady, and Kornog, and continues to play and record with many acclaimed Breton and Irish artists.

These traditional masters showcase their regional repertoires, and together conjure an unforgettable performance, playing with such relentless precision and fire, that the tunes transcend all cultural and geographical barriers. Not to be missed!

(photo Ben Costello)