Celtic Colours International Festival announces line-up for 2010

[Celtic Colours International Festival]

RELEASE DATE – June 18, 2010

Celtic Colours International Festival announces line-up for 2010

(Sydney, NS) Celtic Colours International Festival unveiled their line-up
for 2010 during a concert Thursday night at the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion
in Sydney.

“We’re celebrating ‘home’ this year at Celtic Colours,” says Joella Foulds,
Artistic Director of the Festival, now in its fourteenth year. “It will be
so nice to welcome home Cape Breton artists like Natalie MacMaster and Bruce
Guthro, who haven’t played at the Festival in a couple of years. It will
also be nice to welcome back some artists who have spent considerable time
in Cape Breton and feel at home on the Island, like Irish fiddler Liz
Doherty and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser who are good friends of Celtic
Colours.”

Other names who will be familiar to Celtic Colours’ audiences from years
gone by include Scottish guitar whiz Tony McManus; Prince Edward Island
singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant; Irish flute player and Gaelic singer Nuala
Kennedy, Irish-American guitarist-singer-songwriter John Doyle; Donnell and
Erin Leahy from the popular Canadian family band Leahy; Acadien group
Vishten; and Cape Breton's own rising stars, The Cottars.

Celtic Colours opens October 8 with a concert in Port Hawkesbury called
“Home is Where the Heart Is” and closes October 16 with “Songs From Home” at
the Joan Harriss Cruise Pavilion in Sydney.

Among the 45 concerts this year are a couple of special projects that
organizers are very excited about. Along with the usual shows dedicated to
Cape Breton fiddlers, piping, guitar, piano, Gaelic song and dancing, there
will be a show that presents new Gaelic songs written in collaboration with
local Artist in Residence Lewis MacKinnon and established Gaelic composers
from Cape Breton and Scotland; newly composed tunes written in collaboration
with visiting Artists in Residence Chris Stout and Catriona McKay; and a
collaboration of young songwriters and tunemakers, writing new compositions
based on traditional repertoire. Concerts will also pay tribute to tradition
bearers, celebrate the music of Brenda Stubbert, and see Festival favourites
Beòlach reunited.

Popular performers Brendan Power, Seán McKeon, and Laoise Kelly will be
returning from last year’s lineup. Artists new to the Festival this year
include Terry Kelly, Old Man Leudecke, De Temps Antan, The Once, Madison
Violet, Suedan, and Meantime. Although T with the Maggies is a new name this
year, three of the four members of the group, comprised of the top Gaelic
singers in Ireland, were here last year. And of course, no Celtic Colours
would be complete with our very own favourites like J.P. Cormier, Mary Jane
Lamond, Carl MacKenzie, Howie MacDonald, Brenda Stubbert, Doug MacPhee, Dave
MacIsaac and Rita MacNeil.

As usual, Celtic Colours will present a full complement of Cultural
Experience workshops in communities all around Cape Breton Island.

Tickets for Celtic Colours International Festival go on sale July 5, 2010.
They can be purchased at the Festival Box Office, located at the Joan
Harriss Cruise Pavilion in Sydney, online, or by phone—567-3000 (local) or
1-888-355-7744 (toll free). For the complete lineup of Celtic Colours, to
view video highlights from 2009, or purchase tickets, visit
www.celtic-colours.com.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, INTERVIEW OR PHOTO REQUESTS CONTACT:

Dave Mahalik - Information Officer
Celtic Colours International Festival
850 Grand Lake Road, Suite 8
Sydney, NS
B1P 5T9
902 562 6700
www.celtic-colours.com
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