Huerfano County goes Celtic at month's end

By TAMMY ALHADEF
THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN

The Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival has grown to become one of the most comprehensive Celtic music festivals around.

Bringing to Huerfano County world-class entertainers and instructors from all over the United Kingdom as well as Boston, New York and Maine, the Sept. 27-30 festival will offer concerts, Ceilidh dances, gatherings and classes.

Now in its third year, the festival has become a tremendous resource for those who study the harp, uilleann pipe and other Celtic instruments, and for those interested in learning more about the music and culture itself.

Featured performers will offer classes throughout the weekend, ranging from a 15-hour weekend harp retreat with master harpists Lynn Saoirse and Maire Ni Chathasaigh, to storytelling demonstrations with folklorist and harpist Heather Yule. More than 25 classes are available, ranging in price from $5 to $270. Festival director Barbara Yule said several mini-courses were added to the schedule this year, offering instruction in both Celtic guitar and Irish fiddle for intermediate and advanced players, as well as a course in elementary harp.

This year the festival will feature Chathasaigh and guitarist Chris Newman at the “Strings on Fire” concert.

Maire Ni Chathasaigh will perform at the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival this month.
COURTESY PHOTO/SPANISH PEAKS INTERNATIONAL CELTIC MUSIC FESTIVAL

Award-winning author and folksinger Margaret Bennett will perform at a “Musical Tour Around Scotland” - a night of Scottish music and storytelling that includes the voices of Allison Bell and Ed Miller.

Cellist Abby Newton will lead an ensemble of musicians that include Jerry O’Sullivan, Arlene Patterson, Rosie Newton, Ken Willson, Kim McKee and Heather Yule. Other performances include jazz harpist Park Stickney at “Harp Takes the Jazz Train,” and “Let’s Have it for the Irish,” with fiddler Seamus Connolly, harpist Lynn Saoirse, Kevin McElroy and others.

A “Taste of Things to Come” will open the festival at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Fox Theater. The annual Ceilidh in La Veta Park will be free to the public, offering music, dancing and sing-alongs.

The festival is held throughout Huerfano County at different locations. Festival schedules are available at local businesses or on the Internet at www.celticmusicfest.com.

For more information, call 719-742-5410.

Additionally, St. Benedict Episcopal Church in La Veta will host a Celtic Spirituality retreat Sept. 29 in the La Veta Public Library.

Carmelite Sister Tessa Bielecki will be the facilitator of the retreat, "From the Desert to the Celts." Cost of the one-day retreat is $35, prior to Sept. 22 registration, or $45 at the door.

For registration, send a check to St. Benedict Retreat, P.O. Box 1186, La Veta, CO 81055.

For information, call Sarah Lowell at 719-742-5713 or Mary Leonard in Pueblo at 544-4789.