St. Andrew's Day Concert & Ceilidh
The 2024 Fall Concert is now in the past. A great time was had by all. More than 300 folks were treated to Scottish music, dance performances, and ceilidh dancing for all.
We do not yet have details for the 2025 Fall Concert. Watch this space for details as they become available, or subscribe to our mailing list for information about Boston Branch activities.
The following information is from the 2024 concert.
COME CELEBRATE WITH US!
An Afternoon of Scottish Music and DanceFeaturing the energizing Celtic quintet:
Scottish Fish
with Stephen Thomforde (pipes), Highland Dance Boston,
and Boston Scottish Country Dancers
Ceilidh Dancing for all!
Sunday November 24, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.
Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA 02143
For 2024, our festivities return to The Center for the Arts at the Armory and we’ll be celebrating St. Andrew’s Day, the Scottish national holiday.
The venue features both ground level and mezzanine seating and provides a lively, family-friendly space to enjoy Scottish music and dance. Tickets are general admission. The bar will be open, and snacks will be available. We promise you a joyous blend of music, highland dancing, and country dancing - onstage and for everyone. Bring the kids, bring the grandparents!
About the artists:
Scottish Fish
Scottish Fish present a fresh take on traditional and contemporary
Scottish and Cape Breton music. Their lively and unique arrangements are woven
together from session music handed down from generations of the tradition’s finest
players, many of whom they have had the opportunity to share the
stage with. These five young women have a very long and unique history:
they began the band as elementary school children and have remained together for
the last decade. Now in their late teens and early twenties, their intense
chemistry is clear in their performances and music. You won't be able to keep
your toes from tapping and hands from clapping, especially when experiencing their
arrangements live. Visit the band’s website here.
Stephen Thomforde
Stephen began playing the Great Highland pipes at age twelve and has since added small
and border pipes to his repertoire. Growing up near Philadelphia, Stephen was immersed
in the vibrant folk scene from a young age. He began with contra and English dancing
and discovered Scottish country dance while working at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth in
2010. He's been hooked ever since. In addition to playing with the Catamount Pipe Band
in Montpelier, VT, Stephen is an accomplished dancer, having performed with the Red
Thistle Dancers in Palo Alto, CA, and the Boston Scottish Country Dancers. Stephen is
also a craftsman who makes pipes and pipe-themed gifts:
Check them out.
Highland Dance Boston
Highland Dance Boston is a performing company that specializes in the traditional and
contemporary dances of Scotland. The company includes competitive highland dancers,
teachers of Scottish dance, and musicians. Their repertoire includes many exciting
choreographies of traditional highland and step dances, as well as some original pieces
based on highland dance vocabulary. The group was formed in 2002 by Robert McOwen
and Karen Campbell Mahoney. It has performed at the New England Folk Festival and
Gaelic Roots and in all the Boston Branch’s November celebrations. Their founder,
Robert McOwen, is once again Artistic director of this year’s concert.
Highland Dance Boston website
The Boston Scottish Country Dancers
The Boston Scottish Country Dancers are the performing group of the Boston Branch of
the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society (RSCDS). The group performs at the New
England Folk Festival, the Dance for World Community, highland games, Burns’ Nights,
town fairs, retirement communities, children's events, church functions, and weddings.
Audience participation is the highlight of many performances.
About the Boston Scottish Country Dancers
About the venue
https://artsatthearmory.org/
Located between a new Green Line stop and the Red Line at Davis Square, the Armory is
accessible by the T. It also has its own parking lot, an overflow lot, and nearby
on-street street parking (free on Sundays).
Google maps directions to Arts at the Armory