Although many a reveler associates St. Patrick’s Day with green beer and packed pubs, tonight the Cherry Creek Chorale presents an all-ages Irish and Scottish music celebration that’s a welcome, family-friendly prelude to wilder celebrations.
The chorale is now in its 30th season, and tonight’s “Celtic Bluegrass” performance as Bethany Lutheran Church marks its fourth annual installment of a popular Irish/Scottish music festival.
“Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” says Brian Patrick Leatherman, the chorale’s artistic director and conductor. “It just really struck a note with the community, and it even outsold our Christmas concert one year.”
Local bluegrass band Reckless Abandon will join the chorale this year, adding a Celtic twinge to the bluegrass stylings. Expect an unplugged, acoustic set from the band, to better suit the atmosphere inside the church auditorium, Leatherman says. Players from the Centennial State Pipes and Drums also will join concert, along with the Colorado Celtic Harp Society.
“We find lots of different ways of intermixing the groups,” Leatherman says. “It’s very collaborative and eclectic.”
Some songs will be familiar to concertgoers, albeit with new and different arrangements to accommodate the varying contributions of a choir, harps, drums, pipes, and a bluegrass band. Look for restyled versions of Paul McCartney’s “Mull of Kintyre,” and a Celtic-infused interpretation of the country-music classic “Long Black Veil.”
Two arrangements will feature the choir and harps together — “The Minstrel Boy” and “The Croppy Boy.”
“‘The Croppy Boy’ is a classic Irish folk song, very poignant and beautiful,” Leatherman says. “In this version, it’s set with Mozartian clarity to accompaniment by 10 harps.”
Every year the show ends with the choir encircling the seated audience to perform “Amazing Grace.”
“When you get 130 choir members wrapped around the audience, and then add pipes and drums,” Leatherman says, “it’s pretty incredible.”
“Celtic Bluegrass” is at 7:30 tonight at Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E. Hampden Ave. Tickets are $4-$15 and will be available at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m.; information: 303-789-5920.
