Danny Kyle's Open Stage
- Tuesday 31 January, 5:00pm
- Free
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall
Hosted by Danny Kyle's good friend Liz Clark, the Open Stage is a chance to see new musical talent as they try to win a coveted support slot at next year's festival - and all absolutely free!
Choral Recital for Celtic Connections
- Tuesday 31 January, 6:00pm
- Free
- University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel
A concert of choral music to celebrate Celtic Connections which will include Ronald Stevenson's Medieval Scottish Triptych, Ecce novum Gaudium - Anon (arr. Kenneth Elliott), Aurora rutilat - Anon (medieval Scottish chant) and William Sweeney’s Wha Kens.
The Chapel Choir of the University of Glasgow will be conducted by James Grossmith with organist Kevin Bowyer.
Dónal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine and Paddy Glackin with 'Outlands' featuring Fred Morrison
- Tuesday 31 January, 7:30pm
- £23, £20, £18
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium
No need to ask why the awesome Irish quartet of Dónal Lunny, Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine and Paddy Glackin didn't bother coming up with some catchy collective moniker: each of their names alone - three Planxty co-founders and two Bothy Band originals - never mind all together, guarantee a performance of sublimely seasoned class. Even decades on from their initial seismic impact, all four remain standard-bearers in their field, both for their deep-dyed traditional mastery and their boundless receptivity to fresh ideas.
Also setting the bar prodigiously high, Scottish bagpipe legend Fred Morrison performs material from his dazzling 2010 album Outlands, on which he stakes out common ground between his family's South Uist piping style and US bluegrass. As on the recording, he explores this vibrantly fertile territory with Americana luminaries Ron Block (Alison Krauss & Union Station) and Tim O'Brien, as well as regular cohorts Matheu Watson and Martin O'Neill.
Savourna Stevenson and Support
- Tuesday 31 January, 7:30pm
- £15
- City Halls, Grand Hall
Scottish harp pioneer Savourna Stevenson first emerged way ahead of the curve, opening new horizons for both her iconic national instrument and traditional music itself, via cross-fertilisation with jazz and world strains - this being as far back as the early 1980s. She's continued to take the harp where it's never been before, with excerpts from her acclaimed Harp Quintet, premièred at Celtic Connections 2000, having soundtracked episodes of both Sex and the City and Ugly Betty. That same work, teaming Stevenson with the Edinburgh Quartet, forms the centerpiece of this 50th birthday celebration, among music for both pedal harp and clarsach, also featuring long-time collaborator Danny Thompson.
Madison Violet and The Whisky River Boat Club
- Tuesday 31 January, 7:30pm
- £11
- O2 ABC Glasgow 2
As the only Canadians ever to win the John Lennon Songwriting Award - for The Ransom, off their 2009 third album No Fool for Trying - Madison Violet, aka Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac, ensured major attention for their 2011 follow-up The Good in Goodbye, whose stunning equilibrium between soul-searching lyrics and uplifting melodies widely surpassed expectations.
As per the name, new Scottish five-piece The Whisky River Boat Club - Salsa Celtica's Toby Shippey, fiddler Jo Jeffries, singer/multi-instrumentalist Jed Milroy, bassist Marty Camino and singer/guitarist Gavin Taylor - originally peddled their country/bluegrass mix of classic and original material on a 70-mile canoe trip down the Spey in October 2011, taking in a few gigs and plenty of drams en route.
Brel
- Chemikal Underground and Special Guests
- Tuesday 31 January, 7:30pm
- £5
- Brel
Two evenings curated by the iconic Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, originally formed by ex-members of The Delgados. Tonight's guests are Emma Pollock, Zoey Van Goey and Wounded Knee.
Rab Noakes & Friends
- Tuesday 31 January, 8:00pm
- £13
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite
As underlined by his starring role in the Bob Dylan 70th birthday jamboree Forever Young, at Celtic Connections 2011, and our 2012 tribute to the late Gerry Rafferty, singer and songwriter Rab Noakes is a supremely seasoned campaigner on both the Scottish and international rock'n'roots scene. Or as the Herald admiringly put it, "a Noakes show is a decidedly non-fusty lesson in the history of popular music." This particular Noakes show sees him joined by a host of pals from across the years, including Tim O'Brien, Rod Clements, Monica Queen, Jimmie Macgregor and a band featuring David Paton, Fraser Speirs, James Mackintosh and Hilary Brooks.
The Deadly Duos
Litha
- Tuesday 31 January, 8:00pm
- £11
- The National Piping Centre
Now you see two duos...now you see a quartet: Litha were formerly known, in fact, as 2Duos, authors of 2009's Until the Cows Come Home: "a great, great album" (Mike Harding). Now Germany's Deitsch - aka Gudrun Walther and Jürgen Treyz - and fellow singers/multi-instrumentalists Claire Mann and Aaron Jones launch their follow-up, Dancing of the Light.
Woody Sez
- Tuesday 31 January, 8:00pm
- £13
- Tron Theatre
The political strand within Celtic Connections' 2012 programme overlaps wholly organically with our centenary celebration of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (1912-1967), the "dust bowl troubadour" who both chronicled and protested the Great Depression, "singing for the plain folks and getting tough with the rich folks." Named for his Daily Worker newspaper column, this dynamic production features four multi-talented actor-musicians - playing guitars, fiddles, banjo, mandolin, dobro, autoharp, dulcimer, jaw harp and spoons - who bring to life both Guthrie's own colourful, arduous story and the rich cast of characters who shared in it. Featuring around 30 classic Guthrie songs, from desolate ballads to defiant rallying-calls, the show pays fittingly heartfelt, uncontrived and freshly topical tribute to a towering folk icon. "Knocks big West End biopics such as Jersey Boys into a heap of dust. . . stirringly captures the rebellious spirit of Guthrie's times, and of our own." (Guardian)
Produced by Mary Cossette Productions in association with UK Arts International
BBC Radio Scotland 92-95FM & 810MW Live Radio Broadcasts
Mary Ann Kennedy's Global Gathering
- Tuesday 31 January, 8:00pm
- Free but ticketed
- BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay
Mary Ann has music from round the world and round the corner, and will feature a handpicked selection of festival artists playing live in BBC Scotland's headquarters on the Clyde. Live on BBC Radio Scotland.
EileanMo Ghaoil (The Music of Arran)
- Tuesday 31 January, 8:00pm
- £10
- The Glasgow Art Club
Performing a selection of the beautiful island of Arran's best music from the album of the same name, are some of Scotland's leading traditional musicians: Angus Lyon (accordion, piano), Ali Hutton (pipes, whistle, guitar), Innes Watson (guitar, fiddle), Deirdre Graham (Gaelic song) and Ross Kennedy (vocals), all directed and arranged by Arran native, Gillian Frame (fiddle, viola, vocals).
Celtic Connections Late Night Sessions
BBC Radio 3's World on 3 Live hosted by Mary Ann Kennedy
- Tuesday 31 January, 10:00pm
- £6
- Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall
Mary Ann Kennedy will present four special editions of BBC Radio 3's World on 3, broadcast live from the Exhibition Hall featuring special live performances from top artists appearing at Celtic Connections 2012.
