Nic Gareiss and Simon Chrisman
Take flight With World-Class Dance and Music at St. Mary's
A Production Of St Mary's Celtic Music Series
Sat, Sep 6th 2025, 7:00PM
St Mary's By The Sea Episcopal Church, Pacific Grove place
Video
videocam
Website
link
Tickets
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $12 Child Door $15
Tickets
Advance tickets are available unitl 5:00PM on 09/06/2025
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $12 Child Door $15
Member discount $3
This will be an event of events! Nic Gareiss has an international reputation for percussive dance, and has performed with some of the greatest living legends of Scottish and Irish music. Simon Chrisman is world-class too, and brings vitality and energy to the hammer dulcimer, and has also played with names you recognize. We can guarantee you have never heard dulcimer played quite like this! It is spectacular. Together, they will not only delight us, but will teach us a thing or two about rhythm and dance. See below for details about a workshop that scheduled for the afternoon of the concert. Concert attendees will get a workshop discount!
Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Nic Gareiss has been hailed by the New York Times for his “dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance” and called “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” by the Boston Herald. Gareiss grew up learning percussive dance from Ireland, Canada, and Appalachia surrounded by fiddlers, banjo-players, and balladeers at folk festivals in the Midwest. This mix of instrumental music, song, and movement from rural places has become the heart of Nic's creative work, influencing his singular style marked by a deep love of footwork, improvisation, and musical collaboration. He has performed in seventeen countries including at London's Barbican Centre, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Kennedy Center.
Simon Chrisman brings an unusual style to an instrument that has previously been thought to have limited range and technique. His inventive virtuosic touch and sophisticated rhythmic sensibilities are redefining the dulcimer, earning the attention of musicians from all over the world. According to the Boston Herald, Simon's music combines "chamber music’s finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass’s playful virtuosity and pop music’s melodic resourcefulness." He regularly tours with the Jeremy Kittel Band and the Bee Eaters, and has performed with Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky, Mike Marshall, Laurie Lewis, and Seamus Egan.
Workshop: A dance workshop experience will be held at St. Mary's, Edwards Hall at 1 to 2:30 p.m. on September 6th. Concert ticketholders will get a discounted price, pay at the door for the workshop. $25 per person, $20 for concertgoers. You do not have to have prior dance in your background to be a part of the workshop. It will be an inclusive and welcoming experience. Come out and meet these brilliant performers!
Simon Chrisman brings an unusual style to an instrument that has previously been thought to have limited range and technique. His inventive virtuosic touch and sophisticated rhythmic sensibilities are redefining the dulcimer, earning the attention of musicians from all over the world. According to the Boston Herald, Simon's music combines "chamber music’s finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass’s playful virtuosity and pop music’s melodic resourcefulness." He regularly tours with the Jeremy Kittel Band and the Bee Eaters, and has performed with Darol Anger, Bruce Molsky, Mike Marshall, Laurie Lewis, and Seamus Egan.
Workshop: A dance workshop experience will be held at St. Mary's, Edwards Hall at 1 to 2:30 p.m. on September 6th. Concert ticketholders will get a discounted price, pay at the door for the workshop. $25 per person, $20 for concertgoers. You do not have to have prior dance in your background to be a part of the workshop. It will be an inclusive and welcoming experience. Come out and meet these brilliant performers!
Video
videocam
Website
link
Tickets
Advance $30
Door $35
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who's who of the fiddle world including Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.
Tickets
Advance tickets are available unitl 5:00PM on 10/10/2025
Advance $30
Door $35
Member discount $3
The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling", and brilliant Californian cellist Natalie Haas spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 20 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who's who of the fiddle world including Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.
This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra. The duo's debut recording, Fire & Grace, won the coveted the Scots Trad Music "Album of the Year" award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record three more critically acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.
Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
World-Reknown Duo Returns to St. Mary's
A Production Of St Mary's Celtic Music Series
Sun, Oct 12th 2025, 3:00PM
St Mary's By The Sea Episcopal Church, Pacific Grove place
Video
videocam
Website
link
Tickets
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $12 Child Door $15
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who's who of the fiddle world including Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.
Tickets
Advance tickets are available unitl 5:00PM on 10/12/2025
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $12 Child Door $15
Member discount $3
The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, "the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling", and brilliant Californian cellist Natalie Haas spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 20 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.
Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who's who of the fiddle world including Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.
This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra. The duo's debut recording, Fire & Grace, won the coveted the Scots Trad Music "Album of the Year" award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record three more critically acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.
Video
videocam
Website
link
Tickets
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $15 Child Door $15
Student Advance $18 Student Door $18
Tickets
Advance tickets are available unitl 5:00PM on 11/19/2025
Advance $30
Door $35
Child Advance $15 Child Door $15
Student Advance $18 Student Door $18
Member discount $3
Securely ranked among Scotland’s most skilled and imaginative contemporary folk acts, Breabach unite deep roots in Highland and Island tradition with the innovative musical ferment of their Glasgow base. They have released six increasingly acclaimed albums, while fuelling their creative appetites in collaborations with indigenous Australasian artists, Quebec’s Le Vent du Nord, and most recently as artists-in-residence at 2019’s Celtic Colours festival with Cape Bretoners, Beolach.
Their 15 year adventure has included live performances from Sydney Opera House to Central Park NY. They have racked up an impressive array of accolades including five Scots Trad Music Awards, nominations as ‘Best Group’ in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and ‘European Album of the Year’ in The Songlines Music Awards.
An exciting new chapter begins in 2020 with the introduction of the supremely talented, multi instrumentalist Conal McDonagh to the band and work beginning on ‘Dùsgadh’ a newly commissioned film with original score in collaboration with animator Cat Bruce.
Breabach are; Megan Henderson (Fiddle, Vocals, Step Dance), James Lindsay (Double Bass, Vocals), Calum MacCrimmon (Bagpipes, Whistle, Bouzouki, Vocals), Conal McDonagh (Bagpipes, Whistle, Vocals) and Ewan Robertson (Guitar, Vocals, Cajon). Acknowledging and respecting the origins of both the music they play and the roots of the band whilst embracing the future with new ideas, energy and belief is a key attribute of the band and has remained a constant theme throughout their 15 years.
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