How to go
What: Celtic Woman: Home for Christmas, the Symphony Tour
Where: Clark State Performing Arts Center, Kuss Auditorium, 300 S. Fountain Ave., Springfield
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12
Admission: $75, $59, $50, $40
More info: 937-328-3874 or go to http://pac.clarkstate.edu
The silver bells and tinsel will be complemented by Emerald Isle green this season.
Celtic Woman: Home for Christmas, the Symphony Tour will see the quartet of lasses bring their Irish home to the Clark State Performing Arts Center.
The holiday spirit will be lifted at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12. The show is presented by the Clark State Performing Arts Center and is appropriate for everyone.
It’s been a busy year for vocalists Susan McFadden, Mairead Carlin and newest member Eabha McMahon and violinist Mairead Nesbitt, just having finished a 10th anniversary tour in November and preparing for the release of a new album and tour to support it in 2016.
McFadden said the group always looks forward to the holiday tour, its fifth.
“It’s very exciting to change it up. It’s different but a Celtic Woman vision, a crossover of modern songs with a Celtic twist,” she said.
The show will open with “Carol of the Bells” adding woodwind, and then transitioning to “O’ Come All Ye Faithful.” While the Grammy-winning group is attraction enough, they’ve added to tour.
“It will be a little different from our regular shows with a symphony,” McFadden said. “But it’s with a Celtic Woman vision.”
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra will take to its home stage to back Celtic Woman.
Working with different symphonies at each tour stop means a different orchestration. That leaves the ladies on their toes, but still reaching for the top of their game.
“We want to make a good impression for them. It’s a real challenge but exciting,” McFadden said. “Every orchestra is phenomenal.”
The performance will include a lot of movement, a percussion number, bagpipes and a balance of serious and fun elements.
And though it’s a Christmas show, expect to hear Celtic Woman’s staple, “Danny Boy,” a reflection of their Irish heritage.
Although far from home, the reception they receive makes Celtic Woman feel welcome wherever they are.
“We love it in the states,” McFadden said. “The audiences are up for it, clapping and hollering from the first number. In other countries audiences are very reserved and observe and wait. So it’s great for us to have an audience behind us. Who doesn’t love Christmas songs?”
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