Irish Super Group Lunasa to Play SOPAC This Spring

Irish super group Lúnasa, with special guest Tim O'Brien will perform at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 22 at 7:30PM. Aficionados of Celtic music will rejoice at this opportunity to hear one of the greatest Irish bands of recent times at the intimate and acoustically excellent South Orange venue.

Named after the ancient Celtic harvest festival in honor of the Irish god Lugh, patron of the arts, Lúnasa's stunning shows are honed by superb musicianship and a constant touring cycle. They have performed over 1,500 shows across 36 countries since the band formed in 1997. The band has appeared at internationally renowned venues such as The Hollywood Bowl, National Concert Hall (Dublin), Sydney Opera House and Moscow International House of Music. They have been invited to appear at the White House.

Lúnasa have sold more than quarter of a million albums in the course of the band's career and boast an impressive back catalogue of 7 highly acclaimed and award-winning studio albums.

Their inventive arrangements and bass-driven grooves have steered Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory. Their recordings have been hailed as some of the best and most important world music albums anywhere, while their blend of intelligence, innovation, virtuosity, and passion has brought them to the forefront of Celtic music.

Lúnasa is composed of Kevin Crawford (flutes, low whistles and tin whistles), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass) who was a key member of The Waterboys, Ed Boyd (guitar), Seán Smyth (fiddle and low whistle) is an All-Ireland champion who played with Donal Lunny's Coolfin and Cillian Vallely (uilleann pipes and low whistles) comes from the famous Vallely artistic clan and has performed with Riverdance. He recently recorded with Bruce Springsteen. Folk Roots magazine has rightly termed them an "Irish music dream team."

Grammy Award winner Tim O'Brien is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter of extraordinary talent. O'Brien's presence has been strongly felt not only in his own rich music, but in the many recordings of his songs by such artists as the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks, Dierks Bentley, Nickel Creek, Kathy Mattea, The New Grass Revival, and the Seldom Scene Most recently, O'Brien has been performing before capacity crowds in the band of Mark Knopfler. He now joins Lúnasa at SOPAC for a night of daring musicianship.

Lúnasa with special guest Tim O'Brien comes to SOPAC on Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 PM. Tickets can be purchased online at www.sopacnow.org/lunasa or by calling the box office at (973) 313-2787.

Since 2006, SOPAC has been serving as a premier performing arts center in the region. SOPAC offers innovative artistic and cultural experiences for diverse audiences in an intimate, inviting environment. The premier arts center hosts a variety of live performances, community events and education programs for all ages. To further expand its offerings, SOPAC has a partnership with the Juilliard School of Music to present Juilliard @ SOPAC-a series featuring upcoming musicians from the acclaimed conservatory. SOPAC is home for Seton Hall University Arts Council's performances, including Classical Concert Series, Jazz 'N the Hall performances and Seton Hall University Theatre productions. SOPAC also presents performances by its theater company in-residence, American Theater Group. For more information, visit SOPACnow.org.

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