Molson Canadian Centre at Casino New Brunswick presents:

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy Live in Moncton, October 19.

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy are world-class musicians with their hearts firmly rooted in their rural village home. MacMaster grew up in rural Cape Breton, Nova Scotia where her parents still live in the home she was born in. She is a globally acclaimed fiddle player who has appeared on numerous CBC, CTV and PBS TV shows and sold over 200,000 albums. Leahy is part of a multi-generation beef farming family, born and raised on the Leahy family farm in Lakefield, Ontario. As the incendiary musical leader of double Platinum– selling, festival–headlining Celtic family group Leahy, he refined his mesmerizingly strident, exultant, and high-energy performances which have become his musical signature.

Since marrying in 2002, two of Canada’s brightest stars, often referred to as the “First Couple of Contemporary Celtic Music” and have been captivating audiences with their exceptional musical skills and obvious joy at playing the fiddle.

Expanding on their Cape Breton musical heritage, MacMaster and Leahy are excited to introduce audiences to their children who are growing by musical leaps and bounds. They strive to bring up their children with the same home, faith, and musical heritage each of them received. Fiddling, step-dancing, and piano lessons find their place alongside hockey sticks, schoolbooks, and family events. The children have embraced their centuries-old musical inheritance and look forward to sharing the joy they receive from it. MacMaster and Leahy have created a musical progeny that is in all ways unique and enticing and ensures that a strong Cape Breton and Canadian fiddling tradition will exist for years to come.

The performance will feature many selections from “One”, MacMaster and Leahy’s recording debut as a duo. It was a chance meeting with legendary producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple) — who recruited Justin Cortelyou (Taylor Swift, Ke$ha, Alan Jackson) to co–produce — that led to the recording sessions in Cape Breton. The result is quite possibly the best fiddle album ever recorded. The album includes the first ever recorded versions of the original material that they have begun writing together, and these fit seamlessly alongside their refreshing reinterpretations of traditional and contemporary tunes they have discovered in their musical exploration. Be transported by this fierce fiddling duo as Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy command the stage with an explosive celebration of raw energy and passion that infuses their traditional heritage with their taste for the contemporary.

For more information on Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, visit: nataliemacmaster.com