Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series

Admission: $15 in advance / $18 at the door
Use the secure link at our online box office below

♫ Back in the Garden / Colonel Frazer

Both of Jesse's parents are musicians and he started playing the fiddle at an early age, studying with the renowned teacher and player Brendan Mulvihill. In 1998 his love for the music took him to Ireland to stay, where he made his mark as a fiddler touring and recording with the great Irish band Danú. His debut solo fiddle CD Jigs and Reels was among the top ten Irish traditional music CDs cited by music columnist Earle Hitchner in America's largest Irish weekly, "The Irish Echo". This was followed by a collaborative release (with Belfast flute player Harry Bradley and London guitarist John Blake) entitled The Tap Room Trio, one of the best recordings of Irish traditional music in recent years. Well deserved praise is now being garnered by his most recent release, The Ewe With The Crooked Horn (2010).

Jesse has attained a level of skill, confidence and artistic judgement usually associated with older, more mature musicians. He learned well in his younger days, absorbing the music that was around him, and his travels and experiences in Ireland have rounded out his musical education and helped develop his individual approach. His fiddle playing is understated and tasteful; his bowing, remarkable. A passion for the Irish traditional fiddle music of the 78rpm era can be seen in his choice of material, and his concert performances invariably include classics from the repertoires of the great Sligo fiddle trinity: James Morrison, Paddy Killoran and Michael Coleman.

RYAN McGIVER, guitarist and sought-after accompanist on both sides of the Atlantic, will be teaming up with Jesse on this tour. He has toured in America, Europe and Asia, taught workshops at home and abroad, and shared stages with performers like uilleann piper Cillian Vallely of the band Lúnasa, Connemara fiddlers Liz and Yvonne Kane, young concertina phenom Edel Fox and many others. When not working as a stone mason or playing his own music, Ryan tours with Dublin born Grammy Award winning singer Susan McKeown.

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In the old steel town of Coatesville, PA, about an hour west of Philly, the Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series presents live concerts featuring the cream of the crop of Irish traditional musicians, in a historic building on the town's main street. That intimate, cozy venue is also home to the Coatesville Cultural Society. In 2004 we approached the director there with a plan to present an evening of jigs, reels and hornpipes by a group of area musicians. Local band 'The Morrigan' played Irish dance music on fiddle, accordion, flute and guitar for about 50 appreciative community members. Encouraged by the turnout, we contacted an elder statesman of Irish music in America, Mike Rafferty, the revered octogenarian Galway flute player who emigrated to the states in 1949. Again, we arranged a concert, this time with Mike playing traditional Irish wooden flute, his daughter Mary on button-accordion and Dónal Clancy on guitar. It turned out to be a lovely evening of brilliant Irish music along with Mike's reminiscences of growing up and learning to play in Co. Galway. The concert series was off and running!

2004
Mike & Mary Rafferty, w. Dónal Clancy - Oct. 2
Billy McComiskey & Friends - Dec. 11

2005
Brian Conway & Darin Kelly - Jan. 9
Paddy O’Brien & Chulrua - Mar. 12
John Carty & Ged Foley - Apr. 2
Gráinne Hambley & William Jackson - Apr. 9
John Flanagan (sean nós singer) - May 20
Kane Sisters - Aug. 19
Téada - Sept. 18
Randal Bays & Roger Landes - Oct. 8
Paddy O’Brien & Chulrua - Oct. 30
Colm Gannon & John Blake - Nov. 21
Brian Conway & Brendan Dolan - Dec. 3

Have we mentioned this yet???

FIDDLER JESSE SMITH (guitar acc. by Ryan McGiver)
Jesse Smith can breathe life into musical notes that have long
remained silent on the pages of 19th century manuscripts
as well as play tunes of a comparatively more recent vintage.
Sat., Feb. 11; 8:00 PM ~ $15 in advance ~ $18 at the door Coatesville Cultural Society / 143 E. Lincoln Hwy, Coatesville, PA

Support LIVE Irish music at small venues. CTIMS has done its part for seven years on less than a shoestring budget. If you appreciate that, do your part now. Buy tickets for yourself and a friend (or two)!

About our friends at the Cultural Society ...

The Coatesville Cultural Society is a theater company based in Coatesville, PA. Founded in 1994 by a group of artists and friends, the Cultural Society is a gathering place for people of diverse backgrounds and interests. Through theater, the CCS hopes to bring together people who otherwise might not have the occasion to spend an evening in each others company. Towards this end, an evening of theater at the CCS includes time spent breaking bread together, sharing thoughts and observations and listening to others – things that can only help to heal and strengthen the community.

The Coatesville Cultural Society's productions are performed at its theater on Main Street in Coatesville as well as on tour throughout the region, to schools and even abroad. Recent productions include contemporary and original plays, poetry adapted to the stage and productions of Greek and Shakespearean plays. In addition to its own work, the Society presents the work of other artists and organizations at its theater (like The Coatesville Traditional Irish Music Series!)

GO, PHILLIES!

Later this month, on Sun., Feb. 26 ...

About our friends at the Cultural Society ...