Irish music and dance carry a rich tradition borne of community.
Our fellowship of eastern Iowa artists is delighted to extend an invitation to you for Saturday, January 29 at 3 pm at Coralville Center for the Performing Arts.
As we gather again after many months apart, we honor all that came before us and gratefully offer Irish music and dance from a living tradition both rooted in musical lineage and rife with creative possibility.
Since their formation in 2015, Blame Not the Bard has journeyed throughout Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Missouri to bring the stories of Ireland to audiences large and small. With equal measures of instrumental prowess and historical knowledge, Blame Not the Bard will entertain your audience with songs, stories, jigs and reels. BNTB’s live performances have led to praise from The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, an Artist Direct profile on KDEC FM100.5 and an artist feature in the 2017 Iowa Irish Festival Program Guide.
Coppers & Brass is a quartet of some of the most accomplished traditional Irish musicians in Iowa. Taking their name from an Irish dance tune, they play a wide selection of modern arrangements of traditional tunes and songs as well as original music on fiddle, flute, whistle, guitar and bodhrán, the Irish frame drum. Though a relatively new ensemble, the individual band members have performed together for 17 to 22 years on concert and festival stages, at dances, clubs and events. Notably, Coppers & Brass performed at The Coralville Center For the Performing Arts for I Lift My Lamp, a show celebrating Irish immigration to America and The Englert for the Iowa Dance Festival.
In the 5th grade, Dan Vaughn got his start in music by picking up the trumpet. Inspired by his dad to play, he joined the school symphonic and pep band.
After a couple of years of band experience, he was brought to an Irish festival in Peoria, Illinois, where he became mesmerized by the tin whistle playing of Brian McCoy of The Kells.
He bought his first whistle at the festival and started practicing endlessly every day. With a couple years of playing under his belt, Dan was able to perform at the Peoria Irish Festival a few times while also giving teaching seminars. Dan performed with the band Gaelic Storm at a concert in Galena, Illinois, at the Irish Cottage. He was able to open for Gaelic Storm and join them on stage for their closing song.
also featuring Irish dance
For nearly fifteen years, Champagne Academy of Irish Dance has performed with local and international musicians such as The Beggarmen, Coppers & Brass, Blame Not the Bard, Lúnasa, Gaelic Storm, Danú, The Chieftains and more.
pipes
When he was 10 years old, Jeremy Kingsbury began playing Great Highland bagpipes in Milwaukee with the Billy Mitchell Scottish Pipe and Drums.
When he was 11, he managed to get a practice set of Irish (Uilleann) pipes and has enjoyed playing both bagpipes as well as whistles and jaw harps ever since.
Jeremy’s favorite tunes to play are eighteenth century melodies which cross Irish, Scottish and Border piping repertoires.
Tara McGovern 