About the Event

Join Altan musicians for a pre-show lecture on the History of Donegal Music and Donegal Fiddle Styles. Donegal is the northwest corner of Ireland where the Gaelic language is still alive.  

Altan 

Altan are an Irish folk music band formed in County Donegal in 1987 by lead vocalist Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her husband Frankie Kennedy. With a Celtic spirit culled from the rich musical traditions of their native County Donegal, Altan explores the expanse of Irish music, from lovely old tunes to lively jigs and reels. 

The band’s latest album, The Gap of Dreams, celebrates the roots of its music in Donegal folklore. The title refers to that “gap” between this and the “other world,” which older fiddlers noted as the source for their music and inspiration, poetically describing encounters with the fairy folk or listening to tunes on the wind. In creativity, the “gap of dreams” is never shut.