With St. Patrick's Day approaching, a grand Celtic event is planned for residents of all ages at City Hall's Kyrouz Auditorium on Sunday from 4 to 7 p.m.
This event, a benefit for the City Hall Restoration Fund, will feature a Gloucester native who toured Europe and Cape Bretton learning her craft as a fiddler.
Emerald Rae and her Irish and Cape Breton musicians and dancers will step to the tunes of Celtic fiddlers, vocals and guitar. There will be dance instruction as part of this event.
Rae, a Gloucester girl and fiddle player, has been busy recently giving presentations in local elementary schools in Gloucester and Rockport with her musical partner Sean Connor. They also now have a weekly jam session at the Alchemy cafe on Sundays.
After Rae graduated high school, she attended Berklee College of Music in Boston and earned a degree in film scoring in 2006. She then moved to Scotland for a year to attend the University of Glasgow to work on a master's degree.
Rae, also a step dancer, is back living on Cape Ann.
"I play full time, at weddings and private parties, and it's exciting to play here in Gloucester. It's nice to do a home gig," she said.
She and Connor will perform with fellow musician Liam Hart on guitar and Irish flute.
"He's also a singer and a fluent Irish Gaelic speaker and he will entertain people with some of that," said Rae.
Christine Morrison, a Cape Breton dancer, will be the caller. She grew up Irish stepdancing and performed with Four On The Floor, a popular Cape Bretton dancing group. She is a full-time dance teacher at Dance New England where she has more than 200 students.
"She's really fun and hilarious and I'm looking forward to working with her," said Rae. "This is going to be down to earth and down home fun but most importantly, fun for people of all ages. Our mission is to share the music and dance with everyone and make people feel comfortable with it and at home with it."
Kathy Slifer said she and the other event organizers want to encourage families to come listen, and dance if they like, to this event at historic Gloucester City Hall.
"We have an Irish fiddler, a caller, a Cape Breton fiddler, a guitarist and singers who will lead us in dance as well as show us some stepping, the way our Irish and Scottish relatives do it in Cape Breton and the old country. This is a fun way to celebrate City Hall and St. Patrick's Day," she said.
The St. Patrick's Day dance and celebration includes instruction in Ceilidh, a Scottish dance (and called Ceili in Ireland). One all-ages dance that will be taught is called "Strip the Willow," featuring partners dancing down a row.
"A ceilidh is like a house party with music and dancing when people get together at someone's house with someone playing a fiddle," said Rae. "But in the past hundred years, these house parties have moved out into public places."
Jan Bell, a member of the City Hall restoration committee, invited everyone to wear their St. Patrick's green if they like.
"This should be a great time," said Bell. "So everyone should have a big Sunday lunch and come out to hear some great music."
The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for children with a family cap at $25. Light refreshments are included. Tickets are available at the door, and in advance at Alexandra's Bread and Bananas, both on Main Street.
Pet portraits to benefit Cape Ann Animal Aid
Underwood Photography is hosting a pet portrait event on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to benefit Cape Ann Animal Aid.
For $49 and one non-digestible chew toy for a shelter dog or cat, pet owners will receive a 30-minute portrait sitting and one free 8-by-10 photo.
Sittings must be booked in advance with Tom Underwood at 978-768-7472. For details, visit www.CapeAnnAnimalAid.com.
Trio, pianist play Rotary fundraiser
The Rotary Club of Gloucester presents "An Evening to Remember" starring, in concert, Linda Amero, Vito Calomo and Tony Verga, with piano accompaniment by Ferdinando Argenti, plus the Big Band music of Gloucester High School's The Docksiders.
Proceeds from the event will be shared with The Docksiders for their upcoming trip to Hawaii and to fund Rotary Programs.
The Rotary Club continues to maintain the Stage Fort Park Playground and Bandstand as well as funds several scholarships at Gloucester High School, purchases books annually for Sawyer Free Children's' Library and makes donations to several community organizations.
Hosted by Cruiseport Gloucester, the event takes place on March 25 and the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Show begins at 7 p.m. Tickets, $25, are available from Ruth Pino at ruth@ruthpino.com or at the Chamber of Commerce, 33 Commercial St. in Gloucester. For information, call 978-865-1232.
Cape Ann art on show in New Hampshire
The Currier Museum of Art has opened its vault to present "From Homer to Hopper: American Watercolor Masterworks" through June 7. The newly opened exhibition of watercolor paintings is a highlight of a year-long celebration of the museum's 80th anniversary. This exhibition features many artists painted on Cape Ann.
"From Homer to Hopper" draws from works by such nationally known masters as Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast, Childe Hassam, Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, Charles Burchfield, John Marin, Stuart Davis, and Andrew Wyethm, who have not been exhibited as a group in almost 20 years. The exhibition also includes watercolors by Georgia O'Keefe, Arthur Dove, and William Zorach, among others, borrowed from regional private collections.
More than 75 works trace the dynamic history of the watercolor medium over the last 175 years. Some of the earliest painters in the exhibition are itinerant folk artists such as Joseph H. Davis, who painted lively, decorative portraits of families in domestic settings along the Maine-New Hampshire border in the mid 1830s. By the1880s, as watercolor gained recognition among critics and the public, Winslow Homer exploited the expressive potential of the medium. He merged technical virtuosity with compelling narratives to produce profoundly moving and striking images such as "Fishwives" (1883) and "The North Woods" (1894). As a young man, Andrew Wyeth was inspired by Homer. Wyeth's four watercolors in the exhibition trace his development from the brightly colored, broadly executed early work of the late 1930s to the muted tones of his arresting mature compositions. Another great 20th-century realist, Edward Hopper composed haunting views of New England architecture in a straightforward style.
The Currier Museum of Art is at 150 Ash St., Manchester, N.H. For information, visit www.currier.org or call 603-669-6144
Rockport library's spring program
Rockport Public Library's Spring Meet the Author Series kicks off this month, again featuring a mix of local and nationally recognized authors. The line-up is as follows:
March 26: Gail Tsukiyama, "The Street of a Thousand Blossoms" (novel).
March 31: Kate Braestrup, "Marriage and Other Acts of Charity"
April 14, Jon Turk, "The Raven's Gift: A Scientist, A Shaman, and their Remarkable Journey Through the Siberian Wilderness."
May 8: Howard Mosher, "Walking to Gatlinburg" (novel).
May 19: Paul St. Germain, "Twin Lights of Thacher Island, Cape Ann."
May 26: Tana Pesso, "First Invite Love In: 40 Time-tested Tools for Creating a More Compassionate Life ( Introduction by the Dalai Lama)."
Summer authors scheduled to date are: June 30, Stephen McCauley, "Insignificant Others" (novel, local & national author); and Aug. 11, Rodman Philbrick, noted children's author, "The Young Man and the Sea."
Around Cape Ann is a column devoted to events happening on Cape Ann and artists from Cape Ann performing elsewhere. If you would like to submit an item, contact reporter Gail McCarthy at 978-283-7000, ext. 3445, or gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com. Items should be submitted at least two weeks in advance of the event.
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