Three thousand enthusiastic people stood cheering when Riverdance was born on the stage of the Point Theatre, Dublin in 1994.  In the accompanying  RTE Orchestra, young violin player Máiréad Nesbitt said to herself, ‘This is going to take over the world.’  Two years later Michael Flatley himself asked Nesbitt to be the lead solo fiddle player in his new show ‘Lord of the Dance,’ she recalled with a laugh, “I started to think, ‘Now I can take over the world!’”

Flatley has not been the only one to notice Nesbitt’s musical talent.  Since Lord of the Dance, she has been asked to perform with the likes of  Van Morrison,  Nigel Kennedy , Sinead O’Connor, Clannad, Emmylou Harris, Aslan, Chris De Burgh, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, Sharon Shannon, and Paul Brady – just to mention a few from a long and growing list.  Now, in the middle of the 85 city, 2016, Celtic Woman “Destiny Tour” Nesbitt has not yet taken over the world, but she has been leaving her impression on it with her stunning performances.  For the past 11 years she has been seen on stage and screen as the solo fiddle player for the Irish musical sensation.  During the show Nesbitt captivates her audience with her timeless presence and joyful playing as she glides across the stage with her tune as her partner –  With her graceful movement of a prima ballerina one might think that she has a strong dance background.  “Not really,” said Nesbitt, “Every child in Ireland does Irish dancing.   I had a really brilliant dancing teacher, Anthony Nolan, I only had him for a short time because I knew dancing wasn’t my thing.  I definitely wasn’t into the curly wigs and make-up, I was more of a Tomboy who just wanted to play the fiddle.”

At age 4 Nesbitt was playing the piano, but at age 6 she picked up the fiddle.  “The main reason I wanted to play the fiddle in the first place was to play with my sister Frances and mother Kathleen because they were great players and I wanted to have that communication with them.”  Her family and ancestry are steeped in talented players and teachers of classical and traditional music, which led to an interesting development of her unique musical style.  “Classical teachers did not want you to play any other type of music in case you would ruin your bow hand, so I came up with two completely different bow hands for each style and compartmentalized them in my head and kept them both to equal standards.  I’m so glad that I did because I’m able to incorporate different traits from one to the other to make my own style.”

Nesbitt likes to call her style ‘Celtic Violin,’ a phrase that was coined at Walt Disney Studios while she worked on the soundtrack of the Tinker Bell movies.  However you want to describe it, her style has won All Ireland Awards, Best Traditional Female from Irish Music Magazine and attracts loads of offers to work movie soundtracks, guest performances, and studio albums.

Gavin Murphy, the new music director gave Nesbitt a lot of room to arrange her solos on “Destiny,” the new Celtic Woman CD-  A vote of confidence started by his predecessor David Downes years earlier. “It’s been an honor to work with them, they are both amazing!  I’m lucky to have the involvement – I love writing and arranging.”  The experience working with two genius musical directors might come in handy as Nesbitt plans another solo album and an album with her family this year.  As details unfold she will post on her website www.maireadnesbitt.com

Underlying Nesbitt’s musical talents is a strong work ethic and a desire to please her audience – which is not always easy to do with a big show like Celtic Woman.  She is well aware of the traditional purist who would be happy enough listening to a trad session all night, as well as those on the other side of the coin who are not from a traditional Irish music background and may need a heavy dose of entertainment to get them through.  “The balance is between credibility and entertainment.  Striking the balance is very delicate and very important.  People spend so much of their hard earned money to come to a fantastic show and we never ever take that for granted and that is why we work so hard to make sure that they’re entertained.”  If packed venues and millions of sold CD/DVDs are indicators, Celtic Woman have been doing that very well.               Pat McCullough –  May 2016/Celtic Connection, Denver CO

Celtic Woman will be in Greeley May 27, Colorado Springs May 28, and in Denver May 31 and June 1^st.  Information and ticket links at:  www.CelticWoman.com