A CELTIC CHRISTMAS Comes to Santa Cruz, Mountain View in December

Every Christmas for the past twenty-six years, Tomáseen Foley's A Celtic Christmas has crisscrossed the country, bringing to packed venues his authentic remembrance of a way of life that is, alas, no longer with us. A truly family-friendly event, A Celtic Christmas has two one-night stops in the Bay Area: Friday, December 17, at Santa Cruz's Rio Theatre, and Wednesday, December 22, at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts.

For tickets ($35-63) or more information, visit https://www.tomaseenfoley.com/tours.html. Lap passes are available for the Mountain View performance.

"When I was a child, it was around the fireplaces of my neighbors' thatched cottages that I experienced the last remnants of the old communal way of life," says Tomáseen. "The family was the center of the community then, and the community was the center of life itself, the shining axle around which the great wheel of the universe revolved. Stories, music, song and dance were the spokes of that slowly turning wheel."

Now in its 26th season of touring nationally, Tomáseen Foley's A Celtic Christmas recreates the joy and innocence of a night before Christmas in a remote farmhouse in his native parish of Teampall an Ghleanntáin in the west of Ireland in the 1950s - when the neighboring families would gather around the fire to grace the wintry night with traditional Irish Christmas carols, to raise the rafters with the joy of their music; to knock sparks off the flagstone floor with their traditional dances. And, of course, there were stories - they filled the night with the laughter of their stories.

Michelle Drown of The Santa Barbara Independent has said of Foley: "A good storyteller can spin a captivating yarn from the most mundane topics. They can carry their audience to another time and place. It's an art-and a gift-and Tomáseen Foley has it in spades. Called a seanchaí in Gaelic, the storyteller has played an invaluable role in Ireland's long, ancient history. Foley thankfully is doing his part to keep that tradition alive." She continued, "Peppered throughout the storytelling were music and dance. With today's world of lightninga??fast communication, it was a privilege to spend time in a rural cottage in the west of Ireland, listening to 'old lore' and traditional music."

Storyteller/Director Tomáseen Foley grew up cradled in a culture unique to the old communal way of life, and continues to share the joy of that upbringing. In conjunction with the Omaha Symphony and other orchestras, he performs in Celtic Journey as well as occasional performances with Apollo's Fire, the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra. He has released two CDs: Parcel From America, and a live recording, The Priest and the Acrobat. Rego Irish Records said of Foley, "He is a master of the Irish narrative and a keeper of the flame for a priceless piece of Irish culture." For further information, visit: www.tomaseenfoley.com.

Santa Cruz resident and Grammy Award winner William Coulter is the show's longtime Music Director. An internationally recognized master of the steel-string guitar, he has been performing and recording traditional Celtic and American folk music for more than 30 years. Coulter studied classical guitar and earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California Santa Cruz, a master's degree in music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, an a second master's degree from the University of California Santa Cruz in Ethnomusicology. He now teaches guitar at UC Santa Cruz as well as the National Guitar Summer Workshop, Alasdair Fraser's Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, and the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop. For further information, visit http://williamcoulterguitar.com.

Violinist Edwin Huizinga is a world-travelled artist known for combining traditional and classical pieces with new sounds and ideas. He loves to compose and works with a vast number of artists in the worlds of rock and roll, ambient music, folk music, Baroque music, and opera. He and co-star William Coulter are the musical duo Fire & Grace, well known in the Santa Cruz area; in addition, Huizinga is also on the Artistic Leadership team of the Carmel Bach Festival; a founding member of ACRONYM, a world-renowned baroque ensemble; and has recently become the Artistic Director of the Sweetwater Music Festival. His latest commissions are for Opera Atelier and the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. For further information, visit www.edwinhuizinga.com. Huizinga will be in the Santa Cruz performance only.

Other performers in A Celtic Christmas, all acclaimed artists in their own right, include Brian Bigley (https://www.brianbigleymusic.com/; Uilleann Pipes, Irish flute, Whistles, and Traditional Irish Dance); Eimear Arkins (https://www.eimeararkins.com/; Singer, Irish Dance, Multiple Instruments)a??; Natalie Wagner (Irish Dance)a??; and Marcus Donnelly (Irish Dance).

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