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The Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum opens its spring Traditional Music Series tonight with an internationally acclaimed Irish duo, the first of two concerts that stretch into May — and part of a tradition at the Washington Street venue that stretches back nearly two centuries.
In the 1840s and 1850s, the building then known as Lyceum Hall hosted lectures, debates, and concerts featuring both local musicians and traveling performers from Hungary, Austria, Spain, England, and Ireland. The modern Traditional Music Series, co-sponsored by the Office of Historic Alexandria and the North American Morris Dance Organization, picks up that thread with periodic concerts on the same historic stage.
Tonight's concert begins at 7 p.m. with Séan Gavin and Caoimhín Ó Fearghail. Tickets are $35.
Gavin, a native of Detroit making his third appearance in the series, is widely considered one of the foremost Irish musicians of his generation. A master of the uilleann pipes and flute, he is the first and only musician born outside Ireland to win the Séan Ó Riada Gold Medal. He has toured with the groups Bua and Téada, served as musical director for the PBS program "I Am Ireland," and the long-running stage show Atlantic Steps, and has lectured on traditional music at the University of Chicago and St. Andrew's University in Scotland. He is also the founder of the Irish Music Institute, a Detroit-based nonprofit connecting players and learners worldwide.
Ó Fearghail — pronounced Kwee-veen — hails from An Rinn in the Irish-speaking Waterford Gaeltacht. He has earned both the TG4 Young Musician of the Year award and the Best Folk Instrumentalist honor at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards. Starting on the tin whistle at age eight, he has since mastered uilleann pipes, flute, guitar, and bouzouki, and is also an accomplished singer and Irish speaker. He has toured internationally with Caladh Nua, Danú, and others, and is a frequent teacher at major piping events, including Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh.
The series continues Friday, May 1, at 7:30 p.m. with fiddler Dylan Foley and multi-instrumentalist Matt Mancuso. Tickets are $30, with a $15 youth rate, and free snacks will be available.
Foley, a native of Highland, N.Y., now based in Tennessee, is a four-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion who studied under Rose Flanagan and was mentored by regional legends Mike McHale and Fr. Charlie Coen. He has performed at Lincoln Center, toured internationally, including Vietnam and Thailand, and recorded with acclaimed groups, including The Yanks. He also appeared alongside Brendan Gleeson in the television series "Mr. Mercedes."
Mancuso plays both fiddle and trumpet and brings an unusually broad musical range to the stage, blending deep roots in Irish traditional music with a serious jazz background. Introduced to Irish music by his father, guitarist Pete Mancuso, he studied under Maureen Glynn and Tony De Marco and competed at the All-Ireland level, placing highly for seven consecutive years. He has toured the world with Lord of the Dance, Grada, the Cathie Ryan Band, and Eileen Ivers' band.
Both concerts take place at The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington St. Beer and wine will be available at both events. The series is supported by the City of Alexandria, the Folklore Society of Greater Washington, and the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann O'Neill Malcom Branch.
More information is available at alexandriava.gov/Lyceum.
