FREEPORT — Nine time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion Eileen Ivers and her Immigrant Soul band will perform Saturday, Sept. 5, as part of L.L. Bean’s Summer Concert Series 2009. Ivers was the fiddler for the original production of Riverdance and played on the Grammy-winning cast album.

Hailed as one of the great innovators and pioneers in the Celtic and world music genres, Ivers has been called “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin” by The New York Times. Her recording credits include more than 80 contemporary and traditional albums, and numerous movie scores.

The daughter of Irish immigrants, Ivers grew up in the Bronx. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in mathematics from Iona College; and while continuing her post-graduate work in mathematics immersed herself in the different music genres of music she experienced in New York. Perhaps it was her mathematical mind coupled with her passion for seeking parallels in traditional music styles that helped create her signature sound featured in recordings since the late 1980s.

Immigrant Soul headlines prestigious performing arts centers, guest stars with numerous symphonies, performs at major festivals worldwide and has appeared on national and international television. Making up the band are Tommy McDonnell, vocalist, percussion; Buddy Connolly, accordion, whistles and keyboards; Greg Anderson, guitar, backup vocals; and Leo Traversa, bass guitar.

Ivers created Beyond the Bog Road, a multimedia concert of music, story, dance and film that celebrates the journey of the Irish immigrant and showcases how Irish music and dance have integrated with various roots music of North America.

She has shared the stage with two of the world’s most celebrated violinists, classical virtuoso Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and jazz great Regina Carter, in the critically acclaimed “Fiddlers Three” show, which the Boston Globe said “will go down as one of the great Boston Pops Events.”

ETA Music, the world’s leading electric stringed instrument maker, has recently introduced the Eileen Ivers Signature Series Violin.

Performing Sunday
The multiple Grammy Award-winning country-western swing band Asleep at the Wheel will perform Sunday, Sept. 6. The has won nine Grammys, released more than 20 albums and has charted 20-plus singles on the country charts. Popular singles include “The Letter That Johnny Walker Read,” “House of Blue Lights” and “Roly Poly” with the Dixie Chicks.
Both free, outdoor concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Discovery Park. Bring a lawn chair or blanket.