Traditional Irish Music with Ivan Goff, Brenda Castles, Liz Hanley, and Jefferson Hamer

Mountain City Traditional Arts presents Traditional Irish Music on Wednesday, November 1 at 7 pm. The performance features some of the tradition’s most in demand musicians including Brenda Castles on Concertina, Liz Hanley on Fiddle and Song, Ivan Goff on Uilleann Pipes and Flute, and Jefferson Hammer, on Guitar and Song. Independently, each musician has a stellar reputation in Irish music. Collectively, they bring to the stage a powerhouse performance. 

Ivan Goff is from Dublin and is a member of Irish traditional band Danú. He has performed/toured worldwide in duets and ensembles with many household names of Irish music including Iarla Ó Lionáird, Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh, Martin Hayes, John Doyle, Eileen Ivers, Cormac Breatnach, Dervish, and Lúnasa. With credits that range from film and theater to appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Ivan has also performed in Broadway productions such as Sting's The Last Ship, Come From Away, and Riverdance. Ivan has a PhD in music from NYU and MAs in music from UCD and Queens, Belfast.

Brenda Castles is from Co. Meath and learned concertina from Mícheál Ó'Raghallaigh. She has two solo albums of Irish music on concertina and performed regularly with Mick Moloney's Green Fields of America collective. She has recently performed solo concerts for the Consairtín festival in Ennis, Temple Bar TradFest, Meath Beo and the Pipers Club in Dublin. This year Brenda has produced a short film called 'Plight of the Bumble Bee' for which she composed a traditionally inspired soundtrack.

Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. He has toured and recorded albums with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, winner of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), and Session Americana. The Murphy Beds, his long-running traditional folk duo with Eamon O’Leary, has released two self-produced albums, about which the Huffington Post wrote, “[the album] bears repeated listening from start to finish, with ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” His original songs and lead guitar work are featured on Alameda, an acoustic and electric collaboration with bassist Jeff Picker and drummer John Fatum, featuring special guests from the NYC folk community and beyond.

Liz Hanley is a Brooklyn based fiddle player, violinist, singer and performer across many genres. Vents Magazine states “Liz Hanley is a singer with the sort of crystal-clear, instantly ingratiating voice that has always been a hallmark of progressive folk-rock” and Irish Music Magazine write “Liz Hanley has that uncanny knack and the distinctive voice to reawaken our interest in the familiar…” Hanley has toured globally with the late great Dr. Mick Moloney and The Green Fields of America, the pop-infused prog-folk-rock band Frogbelly And Symphony and symphonic rock band Emanuel and the Fear. Hanley’s debut album of songs and tunes in the Irish tradition "The Ecstasy of St Cecilia" was hailed a “gentle work of beauty” by FolkWorld.

Located at 25 E. Main Street, Frostburg, Mountain City Traditional Arts is a program of Frostburg State University and a founding member of Maryland’s Folklife Network. It receives support from the Maryland Traditions Program of the State Arts Council. For more information call 301-687-8040.