Vic’s Picks

This page of my web site lists those upcoming musical events which I currently plan to attend, whether in Cape Breton and the Maritimes or closer to home. Most of these events feature traditional Scottish musicians who play in the Cape Breton style, but there are occasional departures to other genres, reflecting both my tastes and the choices available to me.

For information on selected past events I have attended and documented, please see:

the Cape Breton concerts area of my web site for events which occurred in Cape Breton
the Northeast Music Events area of my web site for events which occurred in the Northeast (very broadly defined as those parts of the United States and Canada that lie within ten hours’ drive of my home in New Jersey)

For a listing of current and future events in Cape Breton (including the Antigonish area and Cape Breton musical events elsewhere on mainland Nova Scotia), refer to the Daily, Two-Weeks, Two-Months, and Events-2019 Listings on Mike Little’s fine Music Cape Breton web site.

Upcoming February Events

Upcoming March Events

Date: 2013 March 24 (Saturday)
Time: 20h-23h30
Venue: Canadian-American Club, 202 Arlington Street, East Watertown, Massachusetts 02472-2005
Description: Cape Breton Dance/Concert with Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray. What a great way to usher in Spring with a visit from these two awesome musicians! Dust off your dancing shoes for an evening guaranteed to blow away the winter’s cobwebs.
Admission: $16 at the door

Upcoming April Events

Date: 2019 April 6 (Saturday)
Time: 20h-23h30
Venue: Canadian-American Club, 202 Arlington Street, East Watertown, Massachusetts 02472-2005
Description: Cape Breton Dance/Concert with Andrea Beaton and Troy MacGillivray. What a great way to usher in Spring with a visit from these two awesome musicians! Dust off your dancing shoes for an evening guaranteed to blow away the winter’s cobwebs.
Admission: $16 at the door

Upcoming June Events

Event: Féis a’ Chidsin!/KitchenFest!
Date: 2019 June 28 to July 7 (ten days: Friday through Sunday)
Venue: The Colaisde na Gàidhlig/Gaelic College at St Anns and at 37 other venues across Cape Breton Island
Description: Ten days, thirty-eight venues, more than one hundred events, and more than one hundred fifty performers! Pub nights, concerts, dances, plays, community meals, special events, and more! It’s one big Cape Breton kitchen cèilidh! And it includes the 58th Glendale Annual Outdoor Concert. Full details are at the KitchenFest! web site.
Admission: See the KitchenFest! schedule for details. Most events do not have advance tickets and are generally $10 at the door. Those that do and are not already sold out are available either at the Gaelic College or from its web site’s ticket booth.

Upcoming July Events

Event: Féis a’ Chidsin!/KitchenFest!
Date: 2017 July 1 to July 7 (seven days: Saturday through Friday)
Venue: The Colaisde na Gàidhlig/Gaelic College at St Anns and at more than 30 other venues across Cape Breton Island
Description: Seven days, more than thirty venues, more than one hundred events, and more than one hundred fifty performers! Pub nights, concerts, dances, plays, community meals, special events, and more! It’s one big Cape Breton kitchen cèilidh! Full details have not yet been released; stay tuned, or better yet, join the KitchenFest! mailing list.
Admission: Not yet announced.

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Event: The 41st annual Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival
Date: 2017 July 14-16 (three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday)
Schedule: As of this writing, no schedule has yet been posted. Traditionally, there is a cèilidh Friday night, two concerts Saturday afternoon and evening, a square dance Saturday night, two concerts Sunday afternoon and evening, and a square dance Sunday night. A nearly continuous jam session, including artists that have played on stage and anyone else, takes place in the tuning barn except during the concerts.
Venue: Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival grounds in Rollo Bay, Prince Edward Island
Description: The 41st Annual Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival in Prince Edward Island is three days of traditional music, both Scottish and Acadian (with some country and folk music in the mix as well), and dance, with unscheduled musical events occurring on the festival grounds (and especially in the “tuning barn”) all week-end long. According to the poster on the festival’s Facebook page, this year’s featured artists include Liz Carroll, The East Pointers, Vishtèn, André Brunet, Andrea Beaton, Richard Wood, Mairi Rankin, JJ Chaisson, Les Poules à Colin, Allan Dewar and Shelly Campbell, Teresa Doyle, Sean Gray, Elmer Deagle, DOC (Anastasia DesRoches, Mylène Ouellette, and Brent Chaisson), Chris Kirby, Cynthia MacLeod, Emerald Rae, Ward MacDonald, Calum MacKenzie, Alexis MacIsaac, and many many others. See the festival’s web site for the definitive list when it gets posted.
Admission: The Friday night concert is $25 for an adult, $20 for seniors and youth between 13 and 18, and free for children 12 and under; the Saturday and Sunday tickets are each $35 for an adult, $30 for seniors and youth between 13 and 18, and free for children 12 and under. Early-bird week-end passes, which may be ordered through the web site, are cheaper: $60 for an adult, $40 for seniors and youth between 13 and 18, and free for children 12 and under
Note: An unserviced camping slot is $40 for the entire week-end or $20 for a single day.
Comment: I have attended this well-organized and well-run festival every year since 2007. The wholesome family atmosphere, with the grassy green hill little ones love to roll down, is engaging all on its own. The nearly non-stop traditional music during its three days leaves little time for sleep: it is simply amazing, unrivalled in my experience by any other concert or festival of equal or shorter length. If you have never been, you have no idea what you are missing! I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Upcoming August Events

Event: The Glengarry Highland Games, held annually in Maxville (Ontario) since 1948, offers more than sixty pipe bands from all across North America competing to decide the North American Pipe Band Championships™; more than two hundred highland dancers competing in various classes; solo musical competitions; Scottish traditional fiddling concerts including the Glengarry Massed Fiddlers; fiddle and harp workshops; the sports competitions typically found at highland games as well as track and field events; clan displays; and other exhibits of several kinds.
Date: 2019 August 2 (Friday) and 2019 August 3 (Saturday)
Time: 8h-1h (Friday), 8h-1h (Saturday)
Venue: Maxville Fair Grounds, Maxville, Ontario
Admission: General admission is $25 each day; grandstand seating is an additional cost varying by day, averaging to $10 each day.

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Event

The CB Fiddlers’ Association, the 46th annual celebration of Scottish traditional music, sponsored by the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association, offers a week-end of special events. Three-hour workshops for fiddle, piano, and stepdance run concurrently from 14h-17h on Saturday afternoon. A concert followed by a square dance takes place on Saturday starting at 19h. On Sunday afternoon from 14h-19h, the Finale Concert features performances both by the massed fiddlers and by the best of local and international talent.

Date

2019 August 17-18 (Saturday and Sunday)

Schedule

Saturday	14h-17h	Workshops in fiddle (beginner, intermediate, and advanced) Workshops in step-dance (beginner and advanced)
	17h-18h	Supper
	18h-19h	Tune-Sharing Session
	19h-21h	Concert/square dance
Sunday	14h-19h	Finale Concert

See the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association web site for pricing.

Venue

Colaisde na Gàidhlig/Gaelic College in St Anns

Admission

See the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association web site for pricing.

Comment

If you can attend only one summer concert of Cape Breton fiddle music, this is the one I’d recommend because it is here you will see the greatest number of fiddlers in one place—the sound of massed fiddlers is simply exceptional—and also hear the finest of Cape Breton’s fiddlers and the up-and-coming youth who have mastered their instruments. In case of inclement weather, the concert is held inside the Hall of the Clans, something that has happened more than once in the years I’ve been attending; otherwise, it is held outdoors in the Gaelic College’s fine natural amphitheatre, with a great view of Kellys Mountain. A concession service is available. Very highly recommended.

Photos from the past concerts of 2006–2018 are available in the Concerts and Festivals section of this web site.

Upcoming October Events

Event: Buddy MacMaster School of Fiddling: Masters Concert
Date: 2017 October 5 (Thursday)
Time: 19h30-22h
Venue: Celtic Music Interpretive Centre
Description: This concert features all the instructors from the 2017 Buddy MacMaster School of Fiddling: Shelly Campbell, Glenn Graham, Mairi Rankin, Andrea Beaton, Kenneth MacKenzie, Wendy MacIsaac, Troy MacGillivray, Kinnon Beaton, Kimberley Fraser, Allan Dewar, and guests.
Admission: $25.00. If any be left (this concert sells out quickly), tickets are available at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre or on-line at the Centre’s web site.

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Event: The Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton. The festival’s web site has the full list of official events and their locations; some are now sold out. Mike Little’s web site offers an easier to consult listing of the shows and his web page lists the many unofficial events occurring on Cape Breton Island during the festival, many of which are also in the festival programme, available here as a downloadable PDF file.
Date: 2015 October 6-14 (nine days: Friday through Saturday of the following week)
Time: 19h30-22h for evening concerts; 14h-17h for afternoon matinées
Venue: Communities all over Cape Breton Island
Description: This world-class festival celebrates Cape Breton’s autumn colours with a nine-day feast of instrumental music, song, and dance from the Gaelic, Acadian, and Mi’kmaq traditions. International performers are invited from many parts of the world to join Cape Breton’s world-class artists. Most days offer multiple concerts and you will often find it very hard to choose between them—one wishes there were more days to the festival so one could hear more of the artists! Many community events (cèilidhs, square dances, community dinners, crafts displays, learning experiences, outdoor events, and the like) provide a great opportunity to enjoy the Island’s rich cultures and to meet old friends and make new ones; the many hiking trails in every part of Cape Breton (see this web page for a list) offer plenty of opportunity to see this beautiful island’s world-class scenery (and to work off all the great meals on offer there). If you’ve never been, you should definitely check it out; if you have been once, you’ll be back!
Admission: Tickets went on sale 2017 July 11. Many shows are now sold out. Prices vary with the event; see the festival’s ticketing web page for ticket prices and to order tickets.

Upcoming November Events

Event: Canadian-American Club Fundraiser headlining Andrea Beaton and Janine Randall.
Date: 2017 November 12 (Sunday)
Time: 13h-19h
Venue: Canadian-American Club, 202 Arlington Street, East Watertown, Massachusetts 02472-2005
Admission: suggested donation of $20

Vic’s Picks

No Upcoming Events

Upcoming January Events

Upcoming February Events

Upcoming March Events

Upcoming April Events

Upcoming May Events

Upcoming June Events

Upcoming July Events

Upcoming August Events

Upcoming September Events

Upcoming October Events

Upcoming November Events

Upcoming December Events