Concertina champion Gearoid O hAllmhurain and pianist Barbara MacDonald Magone present a night of lively Irish and Cape Breton music. Longtime friends, the duo's performances are marked by their musical camaraderie as well as their virtuosity.

A fourth-generation musician and a native of County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, Dr. Gearoid O hAllmhurain holds five World Championship Irish music titles: as a concertina player, as a uilleann piper, and as a member of the renowned Kilfenora Ceili Band, the oldest traditional dance band in Ireland. A distinguished Irish historian and anthropologist as well as a master musician with a sweet touch on the concertina, his performances are enriched by his extraordinary knowledge of Irish traditional music, cultural history and folklife. His 1996 album, Traditional Music From Clare and Beyond (Celtic Crossings), was placed "among the best concertina recordings of all time" by the Irish Voice.

Barbara MacDonald Magone was born and raised in a musical family of Cape Breton immigrants to Detroit. A superb Cape Breton-style pianist, she has performed for three Masters of the Folk Violin tours (sponsored by the Smithsonian/National Council for the Traditional Arts) and appears often with fiddlers Alasdair Fraser, Liz Carroll, Seamus Connolly, James Kelly, Dale Russ, and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh. Barbara sets the standard for Cape Breton piano playing with her sensitive and lively interpretations of her favorite Scottish, from soulful airs to toe-tapping strathspeys and reels.

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