Lynn Hilary (from left), Susan McFadden, Máiréad Carlin, and Máiréad Nesbitt are Celtic Woman. Photo by Lili Forberg

Nearing the 10-year anniversary of its first show, Celtic Woman is hardly showing its age.

In fact, according to Susan McFadden, its new “The Emerald: Musical Gems” production is the liveliest the Irish troupe has ever presented.

“It’s quite high-energy and uptempo — definitely, probably the most energetic show that Celtic Woman have ever done,” says McFadden, 31, a Dublin-born singer and actress who came on board in 2012. “Over the years as the lineup changes, we all dance now, we’re all able to dance, so we’ve been given more to do and that goes hand in hand with the more energetic show we have now.

“So it’s a lot of fun to be a part of, and the audience seems to be having a good time, too. It’s definitely more fun than us just standing there singing.”

For “The Emerald” — which is a PBS special as well as an album — Celtic Woman revisits much of its past repertoire, including standards such as “Danny Boy,” “She Moves Through the Fair” and “Amazing Grace.” That serves to connect the current lineup (violinist Máiréad Nesbitt is the only founding member remaining) with Celtic Woman’s history, while the new, freshened arrangements stake a claim in the present.

“They’re new versions of the older repertoire of Celtic Woman, revisiting them again with new voices, new arrangements, new instruments, just a new take on the old classics,” McFadden explains. “It’s great to do them in these contemporary styles and really bring them into the 21st century. The music is so timeless already, but this lets it grow and live and be accessible to anyone who hears it.”

By Gary Graff
Daily Tribune
05/07/14, 1:36 PM EDT

Named Celtic Woman in order to represent the essence of a Celtic female performer, the group’s 2014 tour features, from left, vocalists Lynn Hilary, Susan McFadden and newest member Mairéad Carlin along with Celtic violinist Máiréad Nesbitt. Celtic Woman will perform in Sioux City Sunday.


Growing up in Northern Ireland, Máiread Carlin remembers nights by the fire with cups of tea, singing folk songs with her family.

Like her granny, Carlin loved to sing and took her first voice lesson at the age of 4.

There was always music in the Derry household. Traditional Irish tunes were infused with snippets of her older sister’s love of Oasis and The Cranberries while her dad played The Birds and Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny.

Carlin loved all-girl groups early on. “I think my first cassette I ever bought was … by the Spice Girls,” she said, calling from Arizona before a performance in the Tucson Music Hall.

As her musical tastes matured, she returned to her father’s choice of music from the 1960s and 1970s. Carlin looked up to Denny, the lead singer of a British folk-rock band.

“She was the most soulful singer I have ever heard in my life, just real cathartic singing,” Carlin said. “People told her she was a jazz singer, but she loved folk music. She had a pull in her heart and didn’t know which direction to go in.

“I just connected with her music and her soul in that way.”

Carlin has felt that pull. The talented 25-year-old struggled through a time of contention, trying to find her voice, before becoming the newest member of Celtic Woman late last year.

She joins three Irish women on stage – vocalists Susan McFadden and Lynn Hilary along with violinist Máiréad Nesbitt. They are set to perform at Sioux City’s Orpheum Theatre on April 27 as part of a 75-city concert tour, promoting the group’s latest CD/DVD “Emerald: Musical Gems.”

The new release spotlights reimagined performances of fan favorites including “Caladonia” and “Danny Boy.” Also featured are fresh interpretations of “Amazing Grace” and “You Raise Me Up.”

The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Music Charts. The group's nine CDs and eight DVDs have become multi-platinum best-sellers, making Celtic Woman the only all-female group to achieve such success in the classical crossover-world music genres over the past decade.

The lineup of performers has changed since the group began a decade ago, but its signature sound remains the same, captivating crowds with a blend of ethereal vocals and cultural heritage.

While the original members of Celtic Woman made their debut on a PBS special in 2004, Carlin entered a competition called "BBC Talent." Out of 25,000 children, she was selected to play the lead role of Rose in the film production of “The Little Prince,” an opera by Rachel Portman.

That gave her the chance to move to London for a couple months when she was 16 and, ultimately, set her sights on returning to the city. Two years later, she began her classical studies at the Trinity College of Music.

She learned a lot and earned a degree but also discovered she didn’t want to pursue a career in classical music – at least not in the traditional sense.

“I always knew I wanted to be a performer,” Carlin said. “I just didn’t know what kind of performer I wanted to be.”

Conflicting critiques told her to sing one way, then another. For a time, she felt like she couldn’t sing anymore. Her genuine sound faded into the distance, becoming a murmur amid the noise.

“I didn’t know how to use my voice anymore because I was being told all these different things,” she said.

These days, she draws inspiration from the late Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who penned the words, “Sing yourself to where the singing comes from.”

And that’s just what she did.

She sang her way into Celtic Woman, a group known for spellbinding performances that combine the sound and sensibility of traditional Irish music with contemporary pop standards.

She had admired Celtic Woman since it began.

“Their music is right up my street,” Carlin said. “I was a fan, really.”

Through folk music, she returned to her roots and rediscovered the ability to sing in her own natural voice.

Eventually, she found that her talents and visions aligned with the essence of a Celtic female performer – the very thing that Celtic Woman strives to stand for.

“I love their honesty. I love how they connect with the audience,” she said. “There’s a big emphasis on telling a story. Through these songs, we’re continuing a legacy of all these folk songs and stories. I also loved the fact that they embraced each woman’s individuality. No two women in Celtic Woman are the same and, to me, that’s a beautiful thing.”

Ally Karsyn
Sioux City Journal
04/26/2014

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


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

Celtic Woman (from left) Máiréad Carlin, Lisa Lambe, Susan McFadden and Máiréad Nesbitt
Photo by Lili Forberg 

Their strapless ball gowns and flashy shows might make the average Irish folk fiddler cry “Vegas!”

But the women who perform with Celtic Woman are well-trained and acclaimed musicians.

Hey, they’re on public television all the time.

Celtic Woman is the creation of David Downes, former music director of Riverdance, the Irish production that captured a worldwide fan base in the 1990s.

The Celtic Woman cast, with its similar appeal, will perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Comcast Arena in Everett.

Dennis Vannoy, 53, of Granite Falls, plans to be in the audience. This will be his 15th live Celtic Woman show. His dates for the evening are his daughter, Floreen Vannoy, 28, of Marysville, and his 10-year-old granddaughter, Emma Weaver, who has seen Celtic Woman seven times since she was 4 years old.

“We are the No. 1 fans of Celtic Woman,” said Vannoy, who is quick to share show memorabilia he has collected for Emma during the past seven years. “We have met some of the performers on a couple of occasions, and we hope to see them again on Tuesday.”

The global music sensation, going on 10 years, is touring in support of its new album and DVD, “Emerald: Musical Gems.”

Vannoy bought Floreen and Emma green gowns to wear to the concert, and he will be wearing a gold tie with his tuxedo.

“We’ve primarily seen Celtic Woman at the Paramount in Seattle, so to have them perform in Everett is amazing,” he said.

Vannoy, who has flown across the country to attend Celtic Woman concerts, still gets goose bumps when he thinks about the first time he heard the ensemble on public television.

“I was amazed at the sound they produced. I could not turn it off,” he said. “I had never heard anything like it. I was floored, and I was hooked. I’ll never get over it.”

Emma shyly concedes that she would like to someday play the violin, sing and twirl around on stage like the Celtic Woman performers. In the meantime, she likes to wear her concert gowns for school pictures and to read about the cast.

The Celtic Woman quartet is led by fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt, a former all-Ireland fiddle champ, who has a background in classical music. The others, Susan McFadden, Lisa Lambe, Máiréad Carlin and Lynn Hilary all have professional experience or degrees in theater and music.

The Celtic Woman show in Everett will include traditional Celtic folk songs, hymns, musical theater and pop tunes.

By Gale Fiege, Herald Writer
The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA
Thursday, March 20, 2014, 12:01 a.m.

 
Photo of Máiréad Nesbitt

CELTIC WOMAN SIZZLE
Lisa Lambe, Máiréad Carlin, Susan McFadden and Máiréad Nesbitt

THE FOUR Irish songbirds of Celtic Woman started the first show of their Australian tour with a standing ovation at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre last night.

From the opening moments of the concert, the visually stunning stage setting - complete with hazy smoke, magical light effects and pulsating drums - transfixed and transported the audience to the Irish Highlands.

The pure vocals of the talented vocalists - Máiréad Carlin, Lisa Lambe and Susan McFadden with gifted violinist Máiréad Nesbitt - was uplifting and inspiring.

The captivating and masterful talent of violinist Nesbitt is great for aspiring violinists everywhere.

Great choreography and the interaction with the audience by performing traditional and well known compositions such as You Raise Me Up and You'll Never Walk Alone ensured that both male and female, and young and old were captivated from the beginning to the end of each performance.

 High-energy tap dancing, a diversity of musical instruments and with 50 members of the Australian Girls Choir was an exhilarating combination that will definitely win over more fans for Celtic Woman as the group continues its tour around the country.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Australian Girls Choir and the show was certainly a spectacular showcase for them.

Celtic Woman has succeeded in bringing a part of Ireland and Scotland with them on tour and implanting it into the crowd through a mix of traditional music, original compositions and contemporary pop.

This is musical storytelling at its best.

Celtic Woman plays The Newcastle Entertainment Centre on Wednesday and the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Friday.

Amanda Ahern
CabooltureNews
Caboolture QLD 4510, Australia
13th Jan 2014 9:49 AM

 CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Celtic Woman drew a large and enthusiastic crowd for its performance of Christmas music -- plus some of its other non-seasonal hits -- with the West Virginia Symphony Tuesday night at the Clay Center.

The trio of Irish singers, Mairead Carlin, Lisa Lambe and Susan McFadden, along with fiddle player Máiréad Nesbitt, entertained for nearly two hours for an audience that seemed as if it would be happy to listen for two more.

The group's music director David Downes played piano along with the orchestra, but it is his superb arrangements that really drive the show.

The concert began with Downes' dazzling arrangement of "Carol of the Bells" which had lots of brassy energy while giving the singers natty harmony to go with that catchy little tune. The trio certainly didn't disappoint, sounding bright and pitch perfect. What made the piece so special, though, was its sudden turns into Irish dance music on which Nesbitt fiddled away.

The concert's highlight was "Ding, Dong, Merrily on High." Carlin, Lambe and McFadden shared the melody gracefully while slipping into charming harmony on the choruses. Downes' setting makes great use of a chugging rhythm of sleigh bells and small percussion and has wonderful drones in the bass. The ending is pure elegance, built from loud peals of sound that give way to the trio in moderate volume with a halo of strings and winds.

Each of the singers sounded very stylishly American (in the opposite of the way none of us ever sound stylishly Irish) in a variety of American popular songs. Lambe sang "I'll be Home for Christmas." McFadden added "The Christmas Song" with orchestra cellist Andrea Di Gregorio playing a brief solo. Lambe and McFadden were joined by percussionist Andy Riley on snare drum for "The Little Drummer Boy."

The trio sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with jazzy panache while Nesbitt added a bit of fiddle in the gaps.

One of the simplest arrangements stood out with the trio and Nesbitt, accompanied by Downes' piano.Carlin brought a very direct emotion to "Silent Night" and showed a solid upper range at the end.

It would be hard to do pop music without "White Christmas." The trio made it lush, especially in the last chorus. A bit of "Somewhere over the Rainbow" made the end shine.

Nesbitt played Holst's "In the Bleak Midwinter" and a pair of flashy Celtic dance medleys (with Riley on frame drum) with flair.

Lambe sang gorgeously on Robert Burns' "Old Lang Syne" -- on that other tune that you hear once in a while and not the one that we sing on New Year's Eve. Carlin traded phrases with a bagpipes player on "We Three Kings of Orient are" to striking effect.

The concert had two big closing numbers. "Oh, Christmas Tree" was sung in German with brass resounding to close the first half. "You Raise Me Up" ended the program with the singers in neat harmony and in an arrangement that stopped short of being over the top.

A straightforward "O, Come All Ye Faithful" and a witty "Let it Snow" were the encores.

John Page led the local orchestra with precision and style.

By David Williams
Charleston Gazette
wvgazette.com
December 3, 2013

 Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving

Internationally renowned for alluring stage productions and songs of heartwarming inspiration, Celtic Woman present their new chapter of musical enchantment in HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. Vocalists Lisa Lambe, Susan McFadden, Méav Ni Mhaolchatha and Celtic violinist Máiréad Nesbitt perform timeless holiday favorites ("Silent Night," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "It Came Upon aMidnight Clear," "Joy to the World") with their signature Celtic twist under the distinct musical direction of Emmy-nominated music producer David Downes. CELTIC WOMAN: HOME FOR CHRISTMAS is part of special programming premiering on PBS stations beginning November 30, 2013 (check local listings).

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, directed by Russell Thomas and filmed at Dublin's Helix Theatre, is both a visual and aural feast. Featuring Ireland's finest musicians comprised of a 36-piece orchestra and the 40-member Philharmonic Choir, this large-scale production is a moving and festive celebration of the music cherished for generations.

Since Celtic Woman's March 2005 American debut on public television, the unique all-female ensemble has emerged as a spectacular commercial success and a genuine cultural phenomenon. Their evocative, uplifting music has crossed over national and cultural borders to touch the hearts of a devoted fan base that spans the globe. The adult contemporary ensemble has gone on to achieve world-renowned success by connecting directly to fans via public television and international tours. Celtic Woman has sold over eight million CDs and DVDs worldwide, with multi-platinum album sales in nine countries, and over 2.3 million concert tickets sold.

Celebrate the joys of the holiday season by sharing a new tradition with family and friends -CELTIC WOMAN: HOME FOR CHRISTMAS.

PBS special programming invites viewers to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; hear diverse viewpoints; and take front-row seats to world-class drama and performances. Viewer contributions are an important source of funding, making PBS programs possible. PBS and public television stations offer all Americans from every walk of life the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content.

broadwayworld.com
October 24 2013