Fiddle me this
The Celtic Music Series will start off hot, when celebrated guest soloist Eileen Ivers brings her Universal Roots band to the Lincoln City Cultural Center for a remarkable in-person concert this Sunday, Oct. 3.
With more than 50 symphony orchestras to her credit, Ivers was called “the future of the Celtic Fiddle” by the Washington Post and “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin” by The New York Times.
Though Bronx born, she is a nine-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion.
Grammy-awarded and Emmy-nominated, Ivers continues to push the fiddling tradition boundaries from a folk music staple to a fiercely fresh, powerfully beautiful and intensely driving world stage experience.
She has performed with Sting, “Fiddlers 3” with Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Regina Carter, Patti Smith, Al Di Meola and the Chieftains. She was a founding member of Cherish the Ladies, a member of the Hall & Oates band and a featured instrumentalist on soundtracks including “Gangs of New York” and “Back to Titanic.”
Her most recent musical release, “Beyond the Bog Road” focuses on the influences of the Celtic tradition on roots music, including bluegrass, French-Canadian, Cajun, Appalachian and Americana, and how the music journeyed on to become a fundamental ingredient of the American Country music tradition.
The album reached number one on the Alt-Country Roots Music chart and was called “a triumph …a musical magnum-opus” by Irish Music Magazine.
Ivers’ new, energetic, joyous and passionate band, Universal Roots, connect the music, cultures, stories and emotions that tie us together. The ensemble, with a broad array of instrumentation, features Matt Mancuso on lead vocals, guitar, trumpet and fiddle; Buddy Connolly on button accordion, whistles, piano and vocals; Lindsey Horner on upright and electric bass, baritone sax and vocals; Dave Barckow on lead vocals, percussion and guitar with Ivers on fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bodhran and live looping.
The Eileen Ivers concert will be the first of six concerts in the cultural center’s 2021-22 Celtic Music Series. The live music will continue with the duo of Lisa Lynne and Aryeh Frankfurter on Nov. 4; a Celtic Christmas with Men of Worth on Dec. 9; Andrew Finn Magill and Dave Curley on Jan. 27; Cantrip on Feb. 20; and fiddler Gerry O’Connor with Richard Mandel on April 26.
The Eileen Ivers and Universal Roots concert begins at 7 pm. Reserved table seats are $20 for youth, $32 for seniors and students and $35 for adults. A special series package price for current cultural center members for all six concerts is $125.
For more information and to purchase tickets, go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org, call 541-994-9994, or go in person during regular business hours, 10 am to 4 pm, Thursday through Monday. The Lincoln City Cultural Center is located at 540 NE Hwy. 101.