With the world in the midst of the “Coronavirus Cancellation” St. Patrick’s Day 2020 is more of a day for contemplation than celebration, and we’ve got just the musical prescription to take your minds off the pandemic: a touching duo performance of a wonderful work by the Irish minstrel/composer/harp wizard Turlough O’Carolan: Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór (“Small Fairy Mound, Big Fairy Mound”).
It’s played by the once and future stars of our Heifetz Spring Hootenanny. Violinist Nigel Armstrong, set to join our HeifetzPEG faculty in Summer 2020, and the wizardly Peter Blanchette, the inventor of the 11-string, “archguitar.” Nigel and Peter first got together for our very first “Spring Hoot” at the historic American Hotel and Banquet Room in downtown Staunton, Virginia, and were lined up to perform at this week’s now-cancelled event. But we promise they’ll be back in better times – and Heifetz Hoots- to come!
The legendary itinerant Irish harper Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738). Blind from birth, he was “at once a poet, musician, and composer, and sung his own verses to his harp.”