Video: The Portmna Workhouse/ The Hurling Boys of Portumna for Cherish the Ladies Album “Hear of the Home”
Cherish the Ladies:
Joanie Madden – Whistle
Mary Coogan – Guitar
Mirella Murray – Accordion
Kathleen Boyle – Piano
Nollaig Casey – Fiddle
Special guest musicians: Donnchadh Gough (Bodhrán) and Trevor Hutchinson (Bass)
“Cherish the Ladies” performs their Irish Music Tour of USA next month from March 1st to 25th, 2022. The group plays Irish traditional music and travel with Irish dancers including World Champions, National Champions along with “Riverdance” and “Lord of the Dance” alumni. The song and dance ensemble includes accordionist Mirella Murray and Kathleen Boyle (accordion and piano).
Cherish the Ladies are a very successful Celtic Pops ensemble. To date, they have been the guest soloists for over 300 nights with the leading symphonies across the United States performing their signature Celtic Pops Celebration program and their Celtic Christmas show. Their symphonic career all began with a phone call from the Boston Pops and the Ladies made their debut with the Cincinnati Pops under the tutelage of legendary conductor, Keith Lockhart. After the overwhelming enthusiastic response, Keith brought Cherish the Ladies back to Boston’s Symphony Hall where they performed another four shows including the prestigious Tanglewood Summer Series. Their successful collaboration continued with a recording that led to their Grammy nominated album, “The Celtic Album”. Since that time, the ladies have taken the symphony world by storm and have performed with National and regional orchestras with many return engagements.
Excerpts from their website: For over 37 years, Cherish the Ladies, one of America’s most heralded Irish music ensembles, has won the hearts of audiences worldwide with their rousing blend of traditional music, captivating vocals, and propulsive step dancing. To quote The Boston Globe: “It is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do”, speaking of this Grammy-nominated Irish American super group that formed in New York City in 1985 to celebrate the rise of women in what had been a male-dominated Irish music scene. Since their inception, they have toured the world performing thousands of concerts from the White House to the Olympics, recorded 18 critically acclaimed albums and an Emmy award winning PBS television program, “An Irish Homecoming”.
Accordionist Mirella Murray grew up in Claddaghduff on the north west coast of Connemara in County Galway. Her father John Joe, a notable sean nós dancer, came from Inishark Island and had a deep understanding and love for traditional music. Mirella studied the piano accordion with Mary Finn and it was at music classes that she met up with fiddler Liz Kane from Letterfrack. Mirella won the accordion All-Ireland championship and duet All-Ireland championship with Liz Kane.
Mirella teamed up with the great fiddle player Tola Custy from Co. Clare and they recorded, “Three Sunsets”, which was voted one of the top five albums of the year by The Irish Times Newspaper. Mirella performed at the International Women’s Day Festival in Moscow; was featured in the Galway Arts Festival and toured Austria, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Spain and France. She was a featured soloist in the off Broadway production of the late Johnny Cunningham’s theatrical production, “Peter & Wendy”, an adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” which garnished two OBIE Awards. She also has an incredible flair for teaching, and it is a credit to her musicianship that twenty-two of her pupils have gained All-Ireland titles. She has accumulated a vast store of tunes from her travels, and musicians such as Sharon Shannon, Lunasa and the Bumblebees credit her as a source for many uncommon melodies.
Kathleen Boyle from Glasgow, Scotland comes from a family steeped in the traditional music of Donegal. Her father Hughie is a talented musician and handed down his love of music to her. Kathleen is a talented pianist and accordion player and has won All-Scotland and All-Britain titles on both instruments.
In 1999, Kathleen made history as the first graduate gaining a degree in traditional music from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. She is in great demand as a teacher and lecturer on both accordion and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music and The Irish Academy of World Music in Limerick University.
She has performed at Holyrood Palace for His Royal Highness Prince Charles and for Irish President Mary McAleese; Kathleen’s travels with Cherish the Ladies and Dochas have taken her around the world with tours of the UK, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Austria, Germany, Sweden, America, Canada and China. Dochas, were voted best new comers at the 2004 Scots Traditional Music Awards and nominated as best folk band in 2006. Kathleen’s first solo album “An Cailin Rua” or “The Red Haired Girl” was released to rave reviews in 2008. Her latest recording, “Back to Donegal”, is an album she recorded with her father and family members.
Upcoming performances include:
03/01/22
Ridgewood, New Jersey – Ridgewood Women’s Club Private Event
03/04: Mineola, New York – The Irish American Center
03/05: Cumberland, Rhode Island – Blackstone River Theatre
03/06: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Commodore Barry Arts and Cultural Center
03/09: Duluth, Minnesota – The West Theatre
03/10: Minneapolis, Minnesota – The Dakota
03/11: Des Moines, Iowa – The Celtic Music Association Concert
03/12: Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House
03/13: Milwaukee, Wisconsin – The Irish Cultural and Heritage Center
03/16: Boston, Massachusetts – City Winery
03/17: Tarrytown, New York – Tarrytown Music Hall
03/18: Geneva, New York – The Smith Opera House
03/19: Binghamton, New York – Broome County Forum Theater with the Binghamton Philharmonic
03/20: Frederick, Maryland – Weinberg Center for the Arts
03/22: Old Saybrook, Connecticut – The Katherine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center
03/23: Portsmouth, New Hampsire – Jimmy’s on Congress
03/25: Muskegon, Michigan – The Frauenthal Theater with the West Michigan Symphony
For details email: contact@cherishtheladies.com
