Irish hall hosts ceilidh
Featuring three familiar fiddlers and two newcomers
Tonight’s ceilidh at the Irish Cultural Centre in Charlottetown will feature The Fiddle Summit, an array of talented fiddlers hosted by Ward MacDonald, one of the Island’s finest fiddlers.
The summit will feature three familiar Island fiddlers and two relatively new to the Island traditional music scene. Fiddlers performing are MacDonald, Allan MacDonald and Sheila MacKenzie, along with newcomers Nick van Ouwerkerk and Trevor Profitt.
Ward MacDonald, who comes from a long line of Scottish-style fiddlers, is equally adapt at composing tunes as well as performing. He is also well known as the originator of the P.E.I. Fiddle Camp held annually in July and one of the originators of the Island-wide Festival of Small Halls. He has toured for 20 years as a performer and teacher and will host the summit from the piano bench.
Allan MacDonald, who is also Ward’s father, is a fiddler from Bangor, P.E.I., where he began his musical life in his parents’ dance hall over 50 years ago. He plays weekly square dances all summer in Lorne Valley and is a regular at ceilidhs and events like the Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival and the Atlantic Fiddlers’ Jamboree.
MacKenzie performed all summer at the Kings Playhouse with Treble with Girls and is the original fiddling dynamo behind Celtic Ladies and Fiddlers’ Sons.
An accomplished Highland piper from Summerside, van Ouwerkerk has studied and competed with the College of Piping for nearly 20 years. He has recently begun to make waves in the traditional music scene delivering energy-infused traditional and original tunes. He will be performing at the ceilidh on the low D whistle (clearly breaking the established rules of a fiddle summit).
Profitt is a fiddler, bagpiper and piano player from Freetown. He is also an active member of the College of Piping’s Grade 2 pipe band and has performed in their summer production, “Highland Storm”, for several years. He will be playing fiddle and piano at the summit.
There will be a 50/50 draw during the evening and a light lunch is served during the intermission. The Irish Cultural Centre is located at 582 North River Road in Charlottetown.