Gearóid Ó HAllmhuráin & Barbara MacDonald Magone

Concertina champion Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin and pianist Barbara MacDonald Magone return for a night of lively Irish and Cape Breton music. Longtime friends, the duo's performances are marked by their musical camaraderie as well as their virtuosity.
A fourth-generation musician and a native of County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin holds five World Championship Irish music titles: as a concertina player, as a uilleann piper, and as a member of the renowned Kilfenora Ceili Band, the oldest traditional dance band in Ireland. A distinguished Irish historian as well as a master musician with a sweet touch on the concertina, his performances are enriched by his extraordinary knowledge of Irish traditional music, cultural history, and folklife. Irish Voice rated his 1996 album, Traditional Music From Clare and Beyond (Celtic Crossings), "among the best concertina recordings of all time."
Barbara MacDonald Magone was born and raised in a musical family of Cape Breton immigrants to Detroit. A superb pianist, she has performed for three Masters of the Folk Violin tours (sponsored by the Smithsonian/National Council for the Traditional Arts) and appears often with fiddlers Alasdair Fraser, Liz Carroll, Seamus Connolly, James Kelly, Dale Russ, and Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. Barbara sets the standard for Cape Breton piano playing with her sensitive and lively interpretations of soulful airs, toe-tapping strathspeys, and reels.