The Modlin Center presents Boys of the Lough: Legends of Celtic Music
February 16, 2007
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day magic with the Modlin Center as the Boys of the Lough bring the warmth and vitality of traditional Celtic music to Richmond on Saturday, March 17 at 7:30 pm in Camp Concert Hall.
The Boys have established a reputation for technical brilliance and integrity in their performance of Irish and Scottish music. A ready wit and sense of fun enliven their onstage performance while their original arrangements and dynamic interactions between the two major strands of the Celtic tradition keep the music bright and fresh. A hallmark of the band's approach has been their refusal to dilute their music with the addition of inappropriate vocalists or electric instruments or percussion. They prefer the natural tone colors of their acoustic instruments, traditionally played. Almost alone among Celtic groups, they truly play "music that tastes of itself."
ALY BAIN is probably the best-known and most significant fiddle-player in the Celtic tradition. Although his musical base is firmly in Scotland, his extensive travels have given Aly an appreciation and mastery of many kinds of fiddle music.
CATHAL McCONNELL, a founder-member of the band, is one of the best flute and whistle players in the Irish tradition and a greatly respected singer. His naturally relaxed and friendly stage presence allied to an air of bespectacled confusion endears him to audiences everywhere.
DAVE RICHARDSON has been an integral part of the group since early in the '70s when he left behind research studies in molecular evolution. His steady, sympathetic playing on mandoline, cittern, English concertina and, lately, the button accordion, provides a strong platform for the soloists and has made a significant contribution to the characteristic sound of the Boys.
BRENDAN BEGLEY, a genial giant from the Dingle peninsula in Kerry, is a well-known and accomplished performer of Irish traditional music on the accordion.
MALCOLM STITT is part of the rising movement of very able younger musicians emerging, stamping their own mark on traditions well learned from the old masters of fiddle, pipes and song.
Time Magazine hails the Boys of the Lough as having, "...hard-core folk appeal...the most rhythmically bracing of the traditional music bands." The Boston Globe calls them "Legends," and the New York Times describes them as "one of the finest bands in Celtic traditional music."
Don't miss this chance to make your St. Patrick's Day enchanting. Tickets are available by visiting or calling the Modlin Center Box Office at (804) 289-8980 or by visiting modlin.richmond.edu.