Steph Geremia confirmed for July
10 Jan 19
by Billie Jones
Chuffed to bits to announce Irish American multi-instrumentalist and singer, Steph Geremia and her band, as headliners for the opening night concert at this year's Newton Stewart & Minnigaff Traditional Music & Dance Festival in the Festival Marquee, Creebridge House Hotel on Friday 12th July.
Steph is highly regarded as one of the finest musicians of her generation. Perhaps best known as a traditional Irish flute player and as a mainstay of the critically acclaimed Irish group, Alan Kelly Gang, she has also impressed as a singer, presenting her own identity of a breathy Celtic vocal style mixed with a hint of her American roots.
After nearly a decade since the release of her debut solo album, The Open Road, which was described by Irish Music Magazine as “an unexpected treasure” June 2018 welcomed the release of Steph’s sparkling second solo release, Up She Flew, which features music from Irelands own rich Sligo, Leitrim & North Connaught tradition. Up She Flew has been described as “a masterclass in Irish flute”, “as good an album of top-drawer Irish tradition as is imaginable” and “a vivid blending of New World energy with Old World vibrancy”, demonstrating once again Steph’s vibrant and versatile spirit, her technical prowess, breath control and her ability to bring an innovative approach without losing the heart of the tradition to which she is intrinsically connected.
Steph says “for me, everything is in the small details… This album has not only been inspired by the rich North Connaught repertoire and particular tune settings from the players from this region, but also from a time when these great musicians breathed life into the tunes with their slight variations and subtle re-phrasing of every bar; when variations mimicked the landscape and one could get lost in the modal discrepancies, shifting from c’s to c#’s at will… Up she flew and the cock flattened her!”
Surrounded by a star studded cast including Seamie O’Dowd (Dervish), Jim Murray (Sharon Shannon Band), Alan Kelly (Eddi Reader Band), Donal O’Connor (At First Light), Martin Brunsden (Hot House Flowers), Jim Higgins (Christy Moore Band), her touring line up also boasts having Scottish powerhouse, Aaron Jones (Old Blind Dogs) on bouzouki/guitar/vocals, fiddle maestro, Ben Gunnery (Riverdance / Barrage) and bodhran legend, John Joe Kelly.
Tickets for the opening night concert will be available online later this month or you can purchase Weekend Passes just now, which give you access to all ticketed concert events, excluding workshops, by clicking the button below. It's going to be another oustanding night in the Festival Marquee at Creebridge House Hotel this July.
Buy Weekend Pass