Happy Spring from the Center for Irish Music!
Before our school news and announcements, I want to acknowledge the grief and heartache that our city and community has been undergoing this past month. As a culturally-based arts organization, we understand the power of community and shared history. Our identities - as individuals and as communities, with their diversity and multitudes - are shaped in part by language and music. We find so much joy in the small role we have in fostering a collective identity with you, our traditional Irish music community.
From this position, and one of exceptional privilege - as we are a majority white community - I want to be very clear that we fully support the Black Lives Matter movement. Our Black and Brown neighbors and students deserve to feel safe, to raise their families, to be creative, and to grow up to be who they want to be. Black lives matter.
On the note of racial diversity and reaching out, I applaud the Irish Music and Dance Association for their cross-cultural grant program and the Celtic Junction Arts Center for their social justice seminars. I am so proud that CIM instructors - world-class musicians who teach for us, have been involved in IMDA and CJAC's initiatives thus far. There is also room for us to grow and learn. I'd love to hear your ideas about how CIM could extend beyond its comfort zone to uplift and build solidarity in authentic, humble, musical, and community-oriented ways.
With the coming of summer (and a massive national vaccination campaign), we can hardly wait to open our doors and release fresh air through the hallways. We are thrilled to welcome some students into our rooms!
We have been hard-at-work putting plans in place for safe music learning including Newell Park mini ensemble festivals, flute & whistle masks, air purifiers, outdoor classes and of course, virtual classrooms. To register for summer term, or to sign up for MIM @ Home 2021, go straight to our registration page.
For those of you who live far away (or who aren't vaccinated just yet), know that we are committed to offering high-quality virtual programs through the summer and beyond. The pandemic has changed CIM, showing us endless ways to connect with more Irish traditional music enthusiasts than ever before.
As always, I want to thank you, our supporters, for keeping us company through this challenging time. Let's play some tunes!
Norah Rendell
Executive Artistic Director
Center for Irish Music
*CIM students: The "students" webpage is updated on a weekly basis. We request that current students bookmark this page and check in regularly to find out about upcoming dates, deadlines, events and student-related announcements. Thank you!
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Register Now for Summer Term at the CIM
June 14th-August 29th
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Spring Term at the Center for Irish Music is underway, and Summer term is open for registration! Click the links below to learn more, and email Lily Gaetgaeow, registration coordinator, with questions or to enroll in private lessons on any of the 16 instruments we teach! |
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YOUTH ENSEMBLES
GROUP CLASSES FOR CHILDREN
GROUP CLASSES FOR ALL AGES
ADULT ENSEMBLES
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GROUP CLASSES FOR ADULTS
Registration Fee Please Note: A $20 annual registration fee will be added to the cost of all group classes & private lessons for new students. Registration fee lasts from 9/1 through 8/31.
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Spring Youth Recitals & Adult Student Open Mic |
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Youth Recitals
Adult Open Mic
Join CIM students and instructors for our Spring Term Recitals, May 2nd, May 7th and May 9th.
Center for Irish Music recitals are open to the public and are a wonderful way to hear the tunes and songs our fellow students have been working on throughout the year.
Since recitals are virtual, you can invite family and friends from all over the world to watch! The programs will be shared on the recitals page of the CIM website on the day of each recital.
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Minnesota Irish Music Weekend @ Home, June 10-14
Featuring world-class traditional Irish Musicians
MARY BERGIN • BRÍD HARPER • NELL NÍ CHRÓINÍN • EDEL FOX• CONOR CONNOLLY
PÁRAIC MAC DONNCHADHA • TOMMY FITZHARRIS • MICHELLE MULCAHY • DÁITHÍ SPROULE • MACDARA Ó'FAOLÁIN
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Join the Center for Irish Music for the 13th annual Minnesota Irish Music Weekend @ Home! We are presenting this beloved festival as a virtual event in 2021, pairing world-class traditional Irish musicians with learners of all ages for a weekend of workshops, lectures, sessions, and streaming concerts. Each of our master artists is recognized for their musical expertise, and will offer insights and techniques to help learners tap into the deep roots of traditional Irish music. Invite your friends from around the world to sign up!
MIM @ HOME PROGRAMS
VIRTUAL IRISH TRAD IMMERSION CAMP
Saturday & Sunday Mornings, June 12-13th | Age 9-12, Beginner to Intermediate
A fun, intensive workshop for young musicians who already play some Irish tunes, or who play an instrument that suits Irish music (like whistle, fiddle, flute, mandolin, banjo, concertina, accordion).
ADVANCED TEEN PROGRAM
Monday, June 14th | Age 12-19, Advanced
A unique one-day workshop with MIM @ Home master artists, exclusively for teens (and some pre-teens), plus access to all Saturday & Sunday adult workshops. New tunes, techniques, and inspiration!
ADULT WORKSHOPS (TWO-DAY OR ONE-DAY PASS)
Saturday & Sunday, June 12-13th
A selection of workshops, lectures, and fascinating interviews with the visiting master artists. There is something for everyone, musicians and non-musicians alike. The full workshop schedule will be available soon at www.centerforirishmusic.org/mim
CONCERTS & PUBLIC EVENTS
THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 7:00 PM
Virtual Kick-off Concert with Master Artists Edel Fox, Nell Ní Chróinín, Tommy Fitzharris
FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 7:00 PM
Great Session Experience
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 3:00 PM
Concert featuring Master Artists Mary Bergin & Conor Connolly
SATURDAY, JUNE 12, 7:30 PM
Marty McHugh & Friends, Nathan Gourley & Laura Fedderson with Brian Miller, LIVE from the Celtic Junction Arts Center outdoor stage. Limited in-person tickets are available!
SUNDAY, JUNE 13, 3:00 PM
Concert featuring Master Artists Páraic Mac Donnchadha & Bríd Harper
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Transatlantic Tune Exchange with TAP and CIM |
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As part of the Irish Arts Week, CIM's Youth Ensembles exchanged tunes with students from a fascinating Irish traditional music school in South Armagh, called the Traditional Arts Partnership (TAP).
On Sunday, April 25th, both schools met up online to meet one another, hear stories from each school, meet tutors/instructors and hear students play a few tunes.
Click on the image to the left to watch our video collaboration of Tony Doherty's Waltz, a tune sourced from the Eoin McKiernan Library's collection, by Brian Miller. This tune is also part of the 2021 Common Tunes, which is being released this week!
Thanks to the Traditional Arts Partnership and CJAC for partnering with us to present this wonderful opportunity for our students.
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Trad Nation: an Author Talk and Panel Discussion with LGBTQ Musicians and Dancers |
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The Center for Irish Music is proudly sponsoring this event, presented by the Celtic Junction Arts Center as part the Social Justice Seminars.
Free ONLINE Event
Friday, June 18th
7pm - 9pm
- Tes Slominsky, Charlottesville, VA: fiddle
- Brett Lipshutz, Milwaukee, WI: flute
- Alicia Ní Chuinn, Seattle, WA: dance
- Augie Fairchild, Charlottesville, VA: flute
- Armand Aromin, Providence, RI: fiddle and song
About Dr. Slominski:
Dr. Slominski is a music and sound scholar and a fiddle player in the Irish tradition. She founded the still-thriving Blue Ridge Irish Music School in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1999, and taught ethnomusicology at Beloit College from 2012 until 2019. Currently, she is Co-Editor-in-Chief, Grove Music Online Gender/Sexuality Revision, Oxford University Press. Her recent book is Trad Nation: Gender, Sexuality, and Race in Irish Traditional Music (Wesleyan University Press, 2020).
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The Center for Irish Music is a 501c3 nonprofit, and we depend on your support to continue passing down the tradition of Irish music and song. Please consider joining us as a volunteer or making a gift to the CIM today!
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This activity is made
possible by the voters of
Minnesota through
a Minnesota State Arts
Board Operating Support
grant, thanks to a
legislative appropriation
from the arts and
cultural heritage fund.
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