What’s happening

March 15, 2017

Very Busy St. Patrick’s Day Weekend!

The Barra MacNeils are about to launch into a very busy St. Patrick’s Day weekend! Since cloning is not yet a viable option, everyone involved had to get creative to make major overlapping symphony concerts work.

Lucy MacNeil is lending her stellar vocal talents to Symphony Nova Scotia’s “Flying On Your Own: A Tribute to Rita MacNeil” at Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium for two shows, March 18, at 7:30PM and March 19, at 2PM.
Lucy’s brothers, and the balance of the Barra MacNeils: Kyle, Stewart, Sheumas and Boyd (including bassist Jamie Gatti) are all spending an evening in concert with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and Ashley MacIssac on March 17 at 8PM.

March 13, 2017

Flying on your own: A tribute to Rita MacNeil

After a sold-out 2014 tribute that one audience member called “simply wonderful,” Symphony Nova Scotia once again pays homage to Cape Breton’s Queen of Song. Join our orchestra and long-time Rita collaborators Scott Macmillan, the Men of the Deeps, Lucy MacNeil of the Barra MacNeils, and Rita’s niece Katriona MacNeil for an encore performance of Rita’s most loved music. Highlights include We Rise Again, Flying on Your Own, The Ballad of Springhill, Working Man, Home I’ll Be, and many more.

January 25, 2017

St.Patrick’s day with Ashley MacIsaac

Ashley MacIssac and members of The Barra MacNeils join forces with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra for St. Patrick’s Day, with some sizzling fiddling from the Orchestra’s Assistant Concertmaster Donovan Seidle.

December 18, 2016

New Year’s Eve, Scottish style

Hogman-eh! with The Barra MacNeils! Join Master of Ceremonies Bill Welychka as The Scottish Society of Ottawa hosts its fifth annual “Hogman-eh!” – New Year’s Eve Scottish Style! in the Aberdeen Pavilion, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa, Ontario. It’s free! Doors openimage1 at 5 p.m. Ring in the New Year twice. The first time is at 7 p.m. (midnight in Scotland) when the “Kids Zone” festivities reach their peak with a piper led march of the kids to the main stage balloon drop.

December 6, 2016

Let’s bring a bit of light to the season! Final Ontario stop in Brockville

So what can fans in Brockville expect from Sunday’s performance? A little of everything, he says.

“The show features a lot of Lucy’s big, big ballads that a lot of people have come to expect each year,” as well as plenty of energetic audience and family favorites, he said. “There’s a lot of really upbeat traditional Cape Breton sounds…and there’s always a good dose of story and some dance.”

With the days growing shorter and darker through the month, Stewart says he hopes the show “brings a bit of light to the season.”

November 18, 2016

Final Stop in Nova Scotia for the national Christmas tour

The Barra MacNeils will be finishing-up their legendary cross-country Christmas tour at home in Nova Scotia. Tour dates include two shows at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay on December 18, and the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax on December 19 and 20. Celebrating over 30 years of music, the five siblings inject new life and energy into the sights and sounds of the holidays with Christmas in Concert with the Barra MacNeils – showcasing their unique stamp on family favourites and fresh new songs for the season.

October 24, 2016

Best way to kick off the holiday season at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria

…”CeltFest Vancouver Island is excited to announce that they will resume the world’s greatest live acts in the Celtic world this season, beginning with The Barra MacNeils… Appearing with the Barras in
Victoria’s historic McPherson Playhouse will be master piper, René Cusson, a dynamic dance troupe of Highland and step dancers, and notable Celtic youth performers – bringing together multiple genera- tions in the Celtic community to share the traditions in the participa- tory manner CeltFest is famous for.”

October 12, 2016

Celtic Colours’ encore presentation of the Unusual Suspects featured a stirring performance by Cape Breton’s Barra MacNeils.

Another featured Cape Breton stars the Barra MacNeils, now celebrating their 30th anniversary, on a luminous By Northern Light, with siblings Kyle, Lucy and Stewart’s instinctive harmonies shining out in the dark auditorium.

October 5, 2016

Fabulous Celtic East Coast Christmas Show at the Sid Williams Theatre

The Barra MacNeils concert experience brings so much more to the stage than most live acts ever can. Multiple lead vocalists, beautiful sibling harmonies, top drawer instrumental prowess in a wide variety of acoustic, string, percussion, and wind instruments, dancing, storytelling, Gaelic songs and a journey through an ancient culture. Family entertainment at its highest level.