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Despite many lineup changes, the group remains as popular as a four-leaf clover

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Celtic Woman from left to right are Lisa Lambe, Susan McFadden, Máiréad Carlin
and the final original member of Celtic Woman is Máiréad Nesbitt (right). Photo by Lili Forberg

As Celtic Woman begins its 10th year, violinist Máiréad Nesbitt has the distinction of being the last original member of the group.

The other remaining original member, singer Chloë Agnew, departed last year. Máiréad Carlin was selected to replace Agnew, joining holdovers Lisa Lambe and Susan McFadden as the third vocalist in Celtic Woman.

Nesbitt doesn’t consider her status as the longest-running member all that significant, noting in a recent phone interview, “I don’t really think about it.”

What is significant — and a major reason why she has remained in Celtic Woman for a decade — is the unique opportunity the group affords her as an instrumentalist.

“It was always said that there were four principals, and the instrumentalist is on the same level as the vocalists,” Nesbitt said.

“Everyone’s on the same level, and that to me is very special because (as an instrumentalist) you don’t get that too often. You know, sometimes you may be backing somebody or that kind of thing.

“So it’s great to be recognized as such an artist that they want you up there on the same level. So it’s very nice for me.”

Nesbitt came to Celtic Woman in 2004 at a point when she had launched a promising solo career, having released her debut album, “Raining Up,” in 2001.

She also had built an impressive résumé as a guest musician, performing and recording with Van Morrison, Nigel Kennedy, Sinead O’Connor, Emmylou Harris and Chris De Burgh, among others.

Nesbitt had been a featured player, as well, in two theatrical productions by dancer Michael Flatley, “Lord of the Dance” and “Feet of Flames.”

From a one-off to a career

Initially, Celtic Woman didn’t figure to become such a major part of Nesbitt’s career.

Originally, Celtic Woman was created for a one-off television special filmed in Ireland. Instead, the Public Broadcasting System picked up the film of that performance, and it became a popular fundraising program for the network in spring and summer 2005.

That success helped pave the way for the release of the show as a concert DVD that sold more than 1 million copies. Meanwhile, the group’s self-titled first studio album topped Billboard magazine’s world music chart for a record-setting 81 weeks.

By then it was clear that musical director David Downes and producer Sharon Bowne had hit on a winning musical formula, mixing traditional Irish songs, a little light classical, pop standards and even a few tunes from musicals and movies.

Over the next eight years came a steady flow of popular studio albums and concert DVDs — often paired together and released simultaneously (such as the 2007 studio CD, “A New Journey,” and a concert DVD, “A New Journey: Live at Slane Castle, Ireland,” and 2012’s “Believe” studio album and concert DVD).

The group’s success has been sustained while the lineup has seen 11 different singers come through its ranks, with Lambe joining in 2011 and McFadden arriving in 2012. Lambe, though, has temporarily left the group until summer, with former member Lynn Hilary filling in for the U.S. tour.

Carlin has joined Lambe and McFadden in time to help Celtic Woman promote its latest studio CD and DVD combo, “Emerald: Musical Gems,” which was released Feb. 25. The studio CD features new recordings of songs from earlier albums.

While some of the new versions of songs hew closely to the earlier arrangements, others, such as “Dulaman” and the cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” contrast notably with their earlier recorded versions.

The “Emerald: Musical Gems — Live in Concert” DVD was filmed last spring at Morris Performing Arts Center in South Bend, Ind., on what was essentially a greatest hits tour for Celtic Woman.

Compared with other concert DVDs that have been staged at such visually stunning locations as Ireland’s Slane Castle and Powerscort Estate, a show at a conventional music venue might seem like a mundane setting for the new DVD.

But Nesbitt said the venue worked very well for the DVD.

“It really captured the live show,” Nesbitt said. “It really captured the audience. It captured their reactions.

“I’m not saying any other DVD didn’t, but it’s almost like, there’s a sense of you can kind of, when you’re looking at it — and I’ve only seen bits of it — you can almost touch us.

“It’s accessible.”

A whole new show

This year’s tour will bring a stage production quite different from the one featured on the “Emerald” DVD.

“We’ve added even more things to ramp it up again for people because you know, really, there’s nothing like a live performance, is there?” Nesbitt said.

The song selection will be a mix of material from the “Emerald” album and songs that won’t be so familiar to fans.

“It has basically gems from what people know and love, some of the numbers that people ¬really, really want to hear,” Nesbitt said. “Then, (there are) some absolutely new numbers, which will inject a big vitality into the show, we feel.

“There are lots of surprises and a great set list of songs, from smaller songs to the massive, big seven-minute numbers that are beautiful.

“We’re really, really excited about it.”

“There are lots of surprises and a great set list of songs, from smaller songs to the massive, big seven-minute numbers that are beautiful. We’re really, really excited about it.”
Máiréad Nesbitt
Celtic Woman violinist

By Alan Sculley
Last Word Features
The Register-Guard
Eugene, OR
Published: 12:00 a.m., March 21