CELTIC ENSEMBLE
Sunday, July 16th at 8:00pm
Irish Fiddle
Originally from Fairbanks and currently residing in Brooklyn, Caitlin performs, records, and teaches in NYC and around the country in a variety of genres including Irish traditional and rock, country and bluegrass, Texas swing and contest fiddling, and on occasion returns to her roots as a classical violinist. Caitlin is currently the violinist/fiddler for Riverdance's new touring production, "Heartbeat of Home", and recently performed on Broadway with Sting's musical "The Last Ship". An in-demand teacher with a unique self-developed curriculum blending classical technique and theory with folk music's oral tradition and styles, Caitlin is on the faculty at Manhattan's Irish Arts Center and maintains a large private teaching studio in Manhattan. A former All-Ireland and New England Fiddle Champion, Caitlin has toured nationally with Cherish the Ladies, Trinity Dance Company, Mick Moloney and the Green Fields of America, and Celtic Fire.
Percussion
James Yoshizawa is a Los Angeles-based drummer, percussionist and educator. He holds a B.M. in Percussion Performance from CSU Long Beach and has studied many instruments including drumset, mallet percussion, hand percussion (congas, bongos, bones, pandeiro, frame drums, riq), and orchestral percussion. He has performed with many great artists such as Brad Dutz, Katisse Buckingham, Ron Stout, Chris Wabich and Michael Carney.
Irish Flute
Isaac Alderson grew up in Chicago, surrounded by all kinds of music. At the age of 12, he discovered Irish traditional music and began obsessively practicing the uilleann pipes, learning from such players as Al Purcell, Patrick Cannady, Kieran O'Hare, and many others. At 14, he began to study the flute and whistle with Laurence Nugent from Co. Fermanagh. Many trips to Ireland over subsequent years helped to fan the flames of his enthusiasm for the music and gave him the opportunity to study and play with many outstanding musicians. At 18, Isaac moved to New York in order to attend college and dive into the city's phenomenal Irish music scene. In 2002, Isaac won the All-Ireland Senior Championships on all three of his main instruments. After finishing college, he toured for two years with Eileen Ivers as part of her band, Immigrant Soul, and afterwards with such diverse groups as Jameson's Revenge, Runa, Millish, and many others, and also played extensively around New York with fiddler Gráinne Murphy and guitarist Alan Murray. He currently performs with his band The Yanks, and also the international quartet Comas, the touring show Celtic Crossroads, Irish bar band The Bronx Boys, and the chamber folk group Ensemble Galilei. He has toured in the US, Canada, Ireland, Colombia, much of western Europe, and recently did a three-month tour of China as the piper in the famed show, Riverdance. Other major industry gigs have included pit orchestra work on Sting's musical, The Last Ship, and sub work in the show Celtic Woman. As a teacher, Isaac has led workshops in flute, whistle, and uilleann pipes at the Great Northern Irish Pipers' Club tionól, the St. Louis Tionól, the Re-Jigged Festival in Nova Scotia, the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Texas, MAD Week in the D.C. area, the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival in Canada, Common Ground in Maryland, the Corofin Trad Fest in Co. Clare, and also had led small workshops for students in Rio Negro and Villa de Leyva, Colombia. He also teaches private lessons online and in person, mainly to advanced students. He is known for his patience and compassion in teaching students of all levels.
Irish Dance
Former lead of Riverdance and co-creator of the groundbreaking dance group Hammerstep, Jason is originally from Sydney, Australia, where he won won 5 consecutive State and National Solo Irish dancing titles from 1999-2003. He also performed in the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympics (alongside Tap Dogs) in 2000 at just 15 years of age. In early 2004, Jason joined the world famous Riverdance and toured as principle lead dancer for seven years, performing in over 40 countries and for notable leaders including The Empress of Japan and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. As Creative Director of Hammerstep, Jason has produced international performances at venues including New York City's Lincoln Center and The Palace Theatre on London's West End. Jason won the Jury’s Award for Outstanding Choreography at the First Irish Theatre Festival 2013 and his work received critical acclaim of various publications while showing at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013. Jason also co-wrote and choreographed the short film Indigo Grey: The Passage, that was featured in over 30 international film festivals and won 8 festival awards.
Guitar
Kyle Sanna is a multi-dimensional guitarist and composer. A master of genres that include everything from rock to jazz to the traditional music of Ireland, he has performed with some of today's greatest virtuosos, including Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, and Chris Thile. Kyle's arrangements have been performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and by Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, among others. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Oregon and has studied composition at the Université Lumière in Lyon, France. Kyle currently lives in New York City.
