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Celtic Crossings Performing Artists
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Barbara MacDonald Magone:
Cape Breton Pianist
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Born and raised in a Detroit community of Cape Breton immigrants, her mother played piano and her father, fiddler John A. MacDonald, was founder of the Five MacDonald Fiddlers. Barbara's father was her first teacher, patiently picking out tunes on the piano, teaching her by ear. Enthusiastic, but too young to operate a pipe organ alone, she had her two sisters pump the bellows as she played!
 At seven, Barbara started formal music training starting, but admits that playing by ear ‘got in the way’”. However, the stream of Cape Bretoners, into the MacDonald home for frequent music sessions, encouraged her obvious musical abilities.
Childhood summers in Cape Breton found her accompanying such notable Island fiddlers as Buddy MacMaster, Carl MacKenzie, Cameron Chisholm, Theresa MacLellan and John Campbell, for dances, concerts, and weddings from a young age.
Considered a superb Cape Breton-style pianist, Magone remains much in demand both as accompanist and as a soloist in her own right. She performed for three Masters of the Folk Violin tours sponsored by the Smithsonian and the National Council for the Traditional Arts and has subsequently performed with Irish fiddlers Liz Carroll, Séamus Connolly, James Kelly, Dale Russ, Máiréad Ní Mhaonaigh and Irish concertina champion Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin.
A veteran of countless festivals and schools including: Festival of American Fiddle Tunes (Port Townsend, Washington); California Traditional Music Society Summer Solstice Festival; San Diego Folk Festival; Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School; Celtic Week (Ashokan, New York); Gaelic Roots (Boston College) and the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Barbara also recently performed with Cape Breton fiddler John Pelerine in "The Well", a play written for the 2000 Dublin Theater Festival.
An unassuming musician, Barbara’s magical talent was captured on her 1989 recording, Fiddler’s Friend (Culburnie Records CUL103, re-released 1998). Accompanied by Scottish fiddler extraordinaire Alasdair Fraser and guitarist, Jody Stecher, Barbara sets the standard for Cape Breton piano playing with her sensitive and lively interpretations of her favorite Scottish, from soulful airs to dance-inducing strathspey and reel medleys.
For more information, contact Celtic Crossings.
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"Barbara MacDonald Magone is one of the most sought after accompanists in North America; powerful yet sympathetic."
Boston Globe
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SolÓ:
Gearoid Ó hAllmhuráin MBA, Ph.D.
Master Musician and Irish Historian
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 Pronounced Ga-ROAD O-hal-ver-awn
A fourth-generation Clare concertina player, Ó hAllmhuráin began his musical journey under the watchful eye of his grandmother, Nora Coughlan, a native of Kilmaley. Continuing under the guidance of Frank Custy, whose network of music classes helped to culturally rejuvenate many rural communities in North Clare, Gearóid moved from the whistle to the accordion. In 1974, he began playing the uilleann pipes, which he learned from Seán Reid, a renowned figure in the history of Irish piping.
Like Noel Hill, Gearóid also spent many years under the tutelage of Paddy Murphy, Clare's master concertina player who lived in Bealcragga, Connolly, in the shadow of Mount Callan. Pioneering a unique fingering system for the Anglo-German concertina in the 1930's, Murphy's innovative style was a vital catalyst in determining the course of Irish concertina music down to the 1980's.
 In 1996, Ó hAllmhuráin's solo recording entitled Traditional Music from Clare and Beyond assembled three generations of Irish traditional musicians including legendary fiddlers Paddy Canny, Martin Hayes, and Peader O'Loughlin. According to the Irish Voice, this album was "among the best concertina recordings of all time."
A distinguished Irish music historian and anthropologist, Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin is also the Jefferson Smurfit Corporation Professor of Irish Studies at the University of Missouri-St Louis. One of the most prestigious in North America, this Irish Studies program is affiliated with an international network of ethnic cultural programs.
Ó hAllmhuráin’s multi-faceted presentations include illustrated lectures, Irish language and concertina workshops, and concerts. Each are enriched by his extraordinary knowledge of Irish traditional music, cultural history and folklife.
For more information, contact Celtic Crossings.
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"Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin disproves the theory that those who can, do, and those who can't, teach. Notably, he holds FIVE All-Ireland Championships as a concertina player, uilleann piper and former member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band (the oldest traditional dance band in Ireland)."
Irish Voice (NY)
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Dú Ó:
Gearoid Ó hAllmhuráin and Patrick Ourceau
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 Dynamic duo Ó hAllmhuráin and Ourceau’s performances range from head-lining North American Irish festivals, including the Milwaukee Irish Festival (100,000 attendees), the Alaska Celtic Music Festival and Winnipeg Irish Festival to smaller gatherings such as President Clinton’s White House St Patrick’s Day celebration (1999). Distinguished by their traditional pedigrees and acoustic purity, they are reputedly the “most traditional duo” on the Irish circuit today and enjoy dedicated fans from coast to coast. Ourceau, a Frenchman now living in New York City, is among the most accomplished members of traditional Irish music's ‘Foreign Legion’. A fiddler of rare talent and sophistication, his music has all the hallmarks of great Irish fiddling - beautiful tone, pulsating rhythmic lift, deft bow work and crisply executed ornamentation.
In the last ten years, Irish traditional music has achieved unparalleled popularity, ranging from mega dance productions, film scores and joint ventures with other musical genres. Against this backdrop of musical commodification, All-Ireland Concertina Champion, Gearóid ÓhAllmhuráin, and Master Irish Fiddler, Patrick Ourceau, continue to play the music as it was handed down to them from the elder master musicians in Ireland. They are known internationally for being extraordinarily knowledgeable about the history of the tunes, the composers, the stories and lives of those touched by traditional music.
While their music is ostensibly Irish traditional dance music, it is ideally suited for a listening audience. Through the subtleties associated with unusual keys  and archaic tempos of refined acoustic music, the audience is transported back to the West of Ireland, to a rural environment where the music is handed down through the generations and visiting musicians are welcomed with honour. In Irish duo music, the overall goal is for both instruments to meld so tightly that their melodic ‘personalities’ intertwine in lift, rhythm, dynamics and tuneful perfection. Having played together for almost twenty years, Ourceau and Ó hAllmhuráin’s live performances are marked by astonishing synchronicity, unblemished by the media-driven trendiness which characterises much of the modern music industry.
Patrick and Gearóid’s engagements typically include concertina and fiddle workshops in addition to traditional concerts. In 1999, their first recording, Tracin’: Traditional Music from the West of Ireland immediately attracted the attention of audiences and media alike. Irish Music Magazine praised Tracin’ as "so satisfying to the senses… brilliant instrumental performance and inspiring liner notes".
Performance reviews
For more information, contact Celtic Crossings.
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"Masters in their own right."
Irish America Magazine
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Trí Ó:
Ó hAllmhuráin, Ourceau and O’Connell
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 “A National Treasure” is how, Ireland’s top music magazine, Hot Press, describes Robbie O’Connell, “a man blessed with an enviable turn of phrase and a gift for melody bestowed on only the few.”
Ó hAllmhuráin and Ourceau have performed together with long time friend Robbie O’Connell since November 1997. O’Connell’s sensitive guitar accompaniment compliments the duo’s traditional tunes. His own humorous, topical, and heart-wrenching love songs are enriched by the duo’s reciprocal accompaniment. In 1991, he won a prestigious Boston Music Award as Outstanding Celtic Act and was also featured in the highly acclaimed TV series “Bringing It All Back Home”.
As one of Ireland’s premier singer/songwriters, Robbie O’Connell has performed at the world’s largest halls, folk and Irish festivals, including Carnegie Hall with the Clancy Brothers. His own songs continue to be recorded by many of Ireland’s top singers, as well as US country artists, including Kathy Mattea.
 Audiences have loved O’Connell since his early years with his famous uncles, The Clancy Brothers and subsequent involvement with Green Fields of America and, of course, Mick Maloney, Jimmy Keane and Robbie O’Connell.
Patrick, Gearóid and Robbie’s engagements frequently include concertina, fiddle and songwriting workshops in addition to their concert performance.
For more information, contact Celtic Crossings.
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"Showing the amateurs how it is done!"
San Francisco Chronicle
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