TWO August Celtic house concerts in Fort Collins. RSVP’s required – email: [email protected]
August 7th – John Whelan with Shannon Muenchow and Graeme Danforth
August 9th -Natalie Padilla, Blayne Chastain and Peter Romero
About John (button accordion):
Artist info:
For over 50 years John Whelan has been hailed as one of the world’s best living Irish button accordion players. Originally from England and now based on the US West Coast, the seven-time All-Ireland champion fearlessly explores the creative reaches of music, artistry, and expression while carefully preserving the musical roots from which he originally flourished, and passing those on to the next generation.
As a celebrated recording artist, John has recorded more than 15 CDs, appeared on more than 30 albums with other artists, and spent several weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard World Music Charts. John is also a sought-after composer and producer and has written more than 65 original tunes, many of which have been recorded and performed by artists all over the world. He is widely recognized for forming the John Whelan Band, and also his duo performances with Grammy Award-winning fiddle player Eileen Ivers during the first years of Riverdance.
Find out more about John Whelan at www.johnwhelanmusic.com.
About Shannon (fiddle) and Graeme (cittern):
Shannon Muenchow is a young fiddle player who was brought up in the Irish music and dance community in Boulder, Colorado. Her parents brought her to sessions at the same time she began to play fiddle and Irish step dance. Her growing love of the music experience encouraged her to travel in a van playing music along the west coast for a few months with some friends at the beginning of 2020. While on this trip, she and her friends accompanied John Whelan on his Monday’s With John Facebook live program. Shannon and bandmate Graeme Danforth (cittern) play regular gigs and house concerts around Colorado in their band Bangers and Blunders.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
More about Natalie (fiddle):
Now based in Western Massachusetts, Natalie was raised in Montana to a musical family, then spent 13 years in Colorado studying and playing music all over the state. She’s a full time performer, teacher, recording artist, and tunesmith with a background in Oldtime, Irish, Bluegrass, Classical violin and Texas Style fiddle.
Her fourth album of original music Eostre was released April 22, 2025, produced by Canadian multi-instrumentalist and engineer Quinn Bachand, adding to the collection of recording projects.
She currently plays with Vermont based trio Low Lily, was a founding member of Colorado acoustic band Masontown, and has been a violinist with The Bozeman Symphony, Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, Colorado Bach Ensemble, National Repertory Orchestra, and Opera Colorado.
More about Blayne (flute):
Blayne is a master Irish flute player and guitarist who composes and has a special fondness for hymns, which fits with his “dream job” of music director at Saint Patrick Presbyterian Church in Greeley. Attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and being a working musician in Nashville exposed him to a wide variety of music, but it wasn’t until he moved to Colorado years later that I would be introduced to “pure-drop” traditional Irish music via Irish flutist and friend Shannon Heaton.
More about Peter (piano):
Peter Romero holds a degree in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Northern Colorado. His compositions have been widely in Colorado, and he has composed commissioned works. Peter is also an accompanist for the Greeley Children’s Chorale and has performed with them in locations across the U.S. and Canada. He has performed with the University of Northern Colorado choirs, the Greeley Chamber Choir, and accompanies at two Greeley churches.