New England Celtic Arts launches its 15th season featuring Prince Edward Island fiddle legend Richard Wood with Gordon Belsher, who will perform at various venues from Monday, Jan. 16 to Friday, Jan. 20. In addition to ongoing affiliations with several established Maine venues such as One Longfellow Square in Portland and Deertrees Theatre in Harrison, NECA will be providing a new series with the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath, and the newly formed Bangor Celtic Crossroads Concert Series. Also added this season will be a “Celtic Cabaret” series at 49 Franklin in Rumford.
For more than two decades, Wood has impressed audiences all across Canada, as well as in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Australia. Highlights include TV guest appearances with Shania Twain on “David Letterman” and “Good Morning America,” Carnegie Hall with Irish legends The Chieftains, a featured performer on CBC’s Canada Day on Parliament Hill, “Rita MacNeil and Friends,” and with Jean Butler of Riverdance on “Celtic Electric.”
Wood has played for Canada’s prime minister and governor general, the queen of England, and for the emperor of Japan in Tokyo. In the late 1990s he toured the U.K. & Europe headlining concert halls and folk festivals. He’s since played at the Lincoln Center in New York City, Epcot at Disney World, and was a featured performer in the touring fiddle spectacle.
He will be joined on stage with veteran PEI songwriter and longtime sideman Gordon Belsher. Belsher is no stranger to Maine audiences as he has toured through the region and the New England for 40-plus years. Through that time he has garnered many awards within the Canadian music industry.
Wood and Belshar’s NECA tour through Maine begins Monday, Jan. 16, with Bangor Celtic Crossroads Concerts, 58 Main St., Bangor; Tuesday, Jan. 17 at One Longfellow Square, 282 State St.,Portland; Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the Green Church, 163 Main St., Mexico; Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Old South Church, 235 Main St., Farmington ; and Friday, Jan. 20 at the Chocolate Church Arts Center, 804 Washington St., Bath. Curtain at 7 p.m. at all locations except the Chocolate Church which is 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 in Bangor and $15 at all other shows. Tickets for the Bangor show are cash or check at the door. Reservations are highly suggested, as space is limited, by calling 207-947-5205. One Longfellow Square call 207-761-1757 or go online at: https://onelongfellowsquare.com/event-registration/?ee=654; The Green Church, call 207-562-4445; Old South Congregational Church call 207-299-3686 and The Chocolate Church, call 207-442-8455 seating is limited.
Comments are no longer available on this story