In This Issue:

Announcing MIM artists 2015

Eigse thank yous

Landmark Center Schedules

Aisling Gheal Concert

Cherish the Ladies in concert and master class

Upcoming Events

Friday, March 6th

Eileen Ivers, the original fiddler from Riverdance, brings her energetic fiddling to Orchestra Hall at 8pm. **Bonus: Several O'Shea Irish Dancers will join Eileen on stage to get your toes tapping to some rousing jigs and reels!

Sunday, March 8th

Aisling Gheal (Bright Vision): The Traditional and Classical Music of Ireland features the East Metro Symphony Orchestra and the CIM's Young Adult Ensemble. 3pm at EastRidge High School in Woodbury. Tickets are available for purchase in the CIM office or at the door.

Thursday, March 12th

Kidsjam Workshops: Jigs 'n Jam with Northern Gael at 10:30am at the Landmark Center in St. Paul.

Trout in the Milk is featured at this month's Celtic Music Showcase at 7pm at the Underground Music Cafe in Falcon Heights.

Don't miss An Evening with Solas at 7:30pm at the Cedar Cultural Center.

Friday, March 13th

Kickin' it Irish, an Irish dance and live music performance featuring O'Shea Irish Dance and the Two Tap Trio will get your toes tapping at the Celtic Junction at 7:30pm.

Saturday, March 14th

Barra performs in a FREE concert in the magazine room at the St. Paul Central Library, 2pm

Paddy O'Brien will be performing at the Hosmer Library, 2pm

Kickin' it Irish, an Irish dance and live music performance featuring O'Shea Irish Dance and the Two Tap Trio will get your toes tapping at the Celtic Junction at 3:30pm and 7:30pm.

Barra in concert at the Oak Center General Store, 8pm

Sunday, March 15th

Join the Irish community at the IMDA's Day of Irish Dance at the Landmark Center, 11am - 5pm.

Kickin' it Irish, an Irish dance and live music performance featuring O'Shea Irish Dance and the Two Tap Trio will get your toes tapping at the Celtic Junction at 7:30pm.

Monday, March 16th

Kickin' it Irish at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, 8pm.

Tuesday, March 17th

IMDA's St. Patrick's Day Celebration once again provides all-day entertainment at the Landmark Center, 10am - 5pm.

Todd Menton performs rousing songs and tunes at 2pm at the Dubliner Pub.

At 6:30pm, bring your dancing shoes for a St. Patrick's Day Ceili at the Celtic Junction.

Barra's Annual St. Patrick's Day Ceili at CSPS Hall begins at 7pm.

Continue the tradition of experiencing Boiled in Lead at the Cedar Cultural Center, 8pm.

Round out your St. Patrick's Day with Cherish the Ladies at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. **Watch for CIM advanced youth ensemble students to perform in the finale!

Saturday, March 21st

Don't miss An Evening with Lunasa at the Cedar Cultural Center, 8pm.

Boiled in Lead continues the St. Paddy's Day festivities at the Oak Center General Store at 8pm.

****************************************************

This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of all of the possible events within the Irish community in the Twin Cities. For more listings, please visit the IMDA's Event Calendar, which is a great resource for local events.

We are excited to announce the visiting artists for

our 8th annual

**JUNE 12-14, 2015**

Joanie Madden

tin whistle

Mick Mulcahy

accordion

Louise Mulcahy

flute, whistle, uilleann pipes

Michelle Mulcahy

harp, fiddle, piano

Bridget Fitzgerald

song

Sean Clohessy

fiddle

Visit the 2015 event site at centerforirishmusic.org/mim and stay up to date.

Registration will be open in early Spring.

We are currently assembling the amazing MIM event planning team! To help out with the planning or on the weekend itself, contact Norah directly at nrendell@centerforirishmusic.org

Traditional

Irish Instruments

Coloring Book

Available!

Artist Marty Ochs and CIM Executive Director Norah Rendell have created this artful coloring book for you! Bring these images to life with your own imagination and artistry, and learn more about 16 of the most commonly-played instruments in traditional Irish music. Great care has been taken to make the details of the illustrations realistic: numbers of keys, buttons, strings, tuning pegs, finger holes and more.

Thank you for supporting the Center for Irish Music with the purchase of this coloring book!

Coloring books are available for purchase in the CIM office or at Irish on Grand for $10.00.

	CIM VIDEO TELLS OUR STORY
We are excited to share with you our new promotional video, made in celebration of CIM's tenth anniversary. Thank you to Steve Flynn of GoodLooking Films for helping us bring the story of the Center for Irish Music to a wider audience. Please take a few minutes to watch the video and share it with your friends and family. You might even be featured in the video!

	Support CIM Every Time you Shop!
Each time you shop Amazon.com, you can help raise money for CIM! Simply click on the following link and save it in your bookmarks. That way, every time you shop you'll be brought directly to our Amazon smile site. Happy shopping and thank you for supporting The Center for Irish Music. http://smile.amazon.com/ch/20-5902063

FIND CIM ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

MARCH 2015

Special St. Patrick's Day Edition

Dear CIM supporters,

Happy Saint Patrick's Day month! This is one of the busiest months of the year at the CIM, so I will keep my note brief.

Please take a moment to read through this newsletter, including the incredible list of upcoming events this month!

Join us for IMDA's Day of Irish Dance and St. Patrick's Day Celebration on Sunday, March 15th and Tuesday, March 17th!

We need your help staffing our information booth on March 15th & 17th. Sign up online.

Siobh�n Dugan has written a lovely article about CIM's collaboration with the East Metro Symphony Orchestra - culminating at this Sunday's performance (March 8th) - including interviews with EMSO's director, CIM students, Norah Rendell and D�ith� Sproule. Take a break today to read this beautiful piece of writing describing the project. Tickets are available for purchase in the CIM office.

Save the date for Minnesota Irish Music Weekend and spread the word to your friends, near and far! June 12-14, 2015

--Norah Rendell
, CIM Executive Director

SINCERE THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE

THIS YEAR'S �IGSE EVENT

A HUGE SUCCESS!

We are endlessly grateful to everyone who made this year's fundraiser evening a success. Thank you to our event planning team, volunteers, instructors, donors, guests, sponsors, honorary chair Tom Crann and emcee Kristo Sween, student musicians and dancers, session musicians, and our technical team for once again making our Eigse evening such a fun, musically-enriched night of support for the Center for Irish Music!

Here are just a few of the gorgeous photos taken by Ahania Photography throughout the event. To get even a fuller sense of the festive atmosphere of the evening, please visit the Eigse 2015 photo album on Facebook.

Honorary chair Tom Crann shares his personal connection to Ireland and Irish music

CIM instructors Todd Menton and Rosa Wells perform in the instructors' concert

Just a few of our amazing volunteers!

Guests peruse the silent auction offerings

CIM Performances at the Landmark Center for the IMDA's Day of Irish Dance and St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Sunday, March 15th -

Day of Irish Dance

11:00am* - Swallowtail Ensemble

11:40am* - An Luan Ensemble

12:20pm* - Starling Ensemble

4:15pm* - Open Sky Ensemble

*All performances on 3/15 are in the tea room, upstairs on the 3rd floor

Tuesday, March 17th - St. Patrick's Day Celebration

10:40am - MAIN STAGE - Advanced Youth Ensemble

Many CIM instructors will be performing at the Landmark Center on March 15th & 17th. Please check the IMDA website or newsletter for details.

Don't forget to support the work of the IMDA by becoming a member!

**Call for Volunteers!**

We need your help to staff our information booth at this year's IMDA events. Please sign up for as many slots as you are able on our online sign-up sheet.

If you have questions, please e-mail Emily at eflagstad@centerforirishmusic.org.

Aisling Gheal: The Traditional and Classical Music of Ireland

Sunday, March 8th at 3:00pm

Loft Stage at East Ridge High School, Woodbury, MN

This is an excerpt from Siobh�n Dugan's article about the Aisling Gheal concert. For the complete article, please visit our website. It is well worth the read!

Get ready, for it's less than a week 'til the Aisling Gheal (Bright Vision) Concert. If you haven't heard, this will be the Center for Irish Music's first ever gig with a classical orchestra, the East Metro Symphony Orchestra (EMSO), conducted by EMSO's Elizabeth Prielozny Barnes. The concert features CIM's new Young Adult Ensemble (Caillean Magee, Connor Padden, Hannah Flowers, Karen Kenison, Maia Crews-Erjavec and Martha Megarry) under artistic direction of CIM Executive Director and instructor, Norah Rendell. In another first, the event marks the USA premiere of these orchestrations of Irish traditional music, which were originally prepared for the traditional Irish band Altan and the RT� Concert Orchestra in Dublin. Last but not least, the live concert also introduces North American audiences for the first time to Altan's orchestral arrangement of 'The Roseville', a composition by Altan guitarist --and CIM instructor-- D�ith� Sproule.

The concert program also includes the rarely performed orchestral works: Irish Rhapsody No.1 by Charles Villiers Stanford and Suite of Irish Airs by Frederick May presented by EMSO. A set of traditional Irish jigs, hornpipes, reels and airs will be performed by CIM's Young Adult Ensemble. The Altan orchestral arrangements, the program's centerpiece, will be performed by the EMSO and CIM musicians together, and include songs sung in English and Irish Gaelic.

(For the complete article, please visit our website)

Admission to this wonderful event is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors, while those 18 and under are free! Presale tickets are available at the CIM office or through EMSO members. Cash is preferred, but checks will be accepted.

More information can be found at emsorch.org

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND

AN HOUR WITH THESE TALENTED

ARTISTS AT CIM!

Cherish the Ladies will be performing in the Ordway's new concert hall on St. Patricks Day, March 17th, at 7:30pm. Save the date and reserve your tickets now to this not-to-be-missed event! Some of our students might even get up on stage and play with Cherish.

SPECIAL OFFER: CIM newsletter subscribers receive a

$10 discount on the Cherish the Ladies concert

at the Ordway Theatre on March 17th.

Use promo code [IRISH10] when calling for tickets.

	SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR CELTIC RADIO SHOWS IN THE TWIN CITIES
MALARKEY - RADIO WITH AN IRISH ACCENT Every Monday at 7:30 - 8pm on KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis or 106.7 FM St. Paul. THE THISTLE AND SHAMROCK On KBEM-FM 88.5 FM, Saturdays from Noon - 1pm AND on internet radio http://www.thecurrent.org/heartland on Saturdays from 10 - 11am and Sundays from Noon - 1pm.

836 Prior Avenue North

St. Paul, MN 55104

651-815-0083

www.centerforirishmusic.org