Magical Strings brings Yuletide to Shoreline
Published 8:53 am Thursday, February 28, 2008
Throughout time, people have kindled the yuletide fire against the darkness, yearning for the return of light. For 25 years, the Northwest’s internationally acclaimed Magical Strings has brought the healing light of music, story and dance to the region through its annual Celtic Yuletide concert series.
The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council presents Magical Strings in concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30 at the Shorecrest Performing Arts Center.
The group’s 25th anniversary celebration of this Northwest tradition coincides with the release of their new album, “Where Dragons Dance.” The concert, featuring selections from “Where Dragons Dance,” will reunite Philip and Pam Boulding’s three generations of musicians and dancers. With Celtic harps, hammered dulcimers, whistles, concertina, strings and harp-like instruments from around the world, Magical Strings and special guest artists will blend music of different lands with a traditional Celtic repertoire and soulful original compositions. Dramatic choreography accompanies storytelling, poetry and solo harp in a symbolic weaving of the yuletide journey from darkness to light.
The festivities will feature the lightning-fast feet of the Raney Irish Dancers, juggler extraordinary Thomas Arthur, and songs of the season with Mike Saunders on fiddle and guitar. Tom Creegan will play haunting melodies on the Irish pipes, and Jarrod Kaplan will supply lively percussion. Also featured will be a children’s choir, and an Irish carol sung in Gaelic by Colleen Raney of the Raney Irish Dancers.
The Bouldings’ daughter, Brittany, a senior at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, will share a special violin solo along with her lively Irish fiddling. Geoffrey and Brenin, the Boulding’s eldest children, will join in with their fiddle and cello. Twins Morgan and Marshall will join the family ensemble with their concert whistle, harmonium, wire-strung harp and merriment. Concert-goers may even be favored with a dance from the Boulding’s young granddaughters, Kailey and Rowan, in full Celtic costume. And even the audience is invited to don a costume, process through the hall with the musicians, and join in the caroling at the end.
Since 1980, Magical Strings has increased its popularity worldwide, performing to critical acclaim throughout the United States, Canada, the British Isles and Japan. The group has toured and recorded with Dan Fogelberg, appeared on Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion,” and played two sold-out tours of Japan. They have recorded 13 albums on Flying Fish/Founder Records, EarthBeat Records, Magic Hill Music, and their newest on Allegro’s Alula Visions label.
Philip and Pain Boulding were awarded a residency from an Irish arts organization in County Kerry, Ireland, to compose music in an old stone cottage on a bluff overlooking the western sea, which inspired much of the music on their CD “Legend of Inishcahey,” and their latest album, “Where Dragons Dance.”
Magical Strings Celtic Yuletide Concert will take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30 at the Shorecrest Performing Arts Center, located at 15343 25th Ave. NE. in Shoreline. Tickets are $15 general, $12 for seniors &students and $8 children; discounted ticket subscription for all five of Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council’s Arts in Culture series performances are available for $65 general, $54 for seniors/students, if purchased by Nov. 30. For more information call 206-417-4645.
