www.celtic-colours.com
Although summer might still be running in North America (and long expected to start in Ireland) the Celtic Colours organisers have their attention firmly centred on the fall season. This year’s nine-day Celtic Colours International Festival will open on October 5th, at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre Arena, with world renowned The Chieftains. The closing ceremony will take place at the Big Fiddle in Sydney, with a special tribute celebrating 20 years of the Barra MacNeils.

The festival continues to grow and this year will feature 45 performances, over 200 educational presentations, dinners, dances, guided walks and a visual art series. All of this activity is spread over 46 Cape Breton communities and helps to explain why Celtic Colours received the ECMA Event of the Year Award for the past three years. Performers will be coming from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, USA and eight Canadian Provinces. Performing at Celtic Colours for the first time are Scotland’s Shooglenifty, Saltfishforty, Chris Stout & Catriona McKay, Sangsters, Catriona Watt and Calum Alex MacMillan.

Also making their first visit to Cape Breton will be Gwenan Gibbard from Wales, Ireland’s Karan Casey Band, and also Quebec’s, Genticorum. Some of the returning artists who have become great friends of Celtic Colours include: Scotland’s Dougie MacLean, Ireland’s Michael Black and Canadian singer/songwriters Ron Hynes and David Francey. Artists in residence this year are Cape Breton’s Wendy Mac Isaac and the Scottish trio Lau, who will be working with some of the new generation of East Coast composers to create a commission piece called the New Tunemakers.