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Celtic Connections 2014 Starts Today

Celtic Connections 2014 starts today, Thursday 16th January, with a bumper Opening Concert filled to the brim with outstanding musical talent.

http://www.celticconnections.com
 
The Celtic Connections Opening Concert is a fantastic milestone for musical collaboration. Who’d have thought when the festival kicked off two decades ago, with the established line up of Dhais, Four Men and a Dog and Wolfstone, that twenty years later in exactly the same venue audiences would be treated to a collaboration between a classical musical star premiering collaborative new work with Scottish traditional musicians.
 
It is Celtic Connections pleasure to welcome the multi-award winning classical violinist, Nicola Benedetti, to play alongside two of Scotland’s most well known traditional musicians, Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham, with Julie Fowlis also singing alongside them to complete this phenomenal line-up.
 
This is the festival’s 21st year and with the eclectic programme on offer it is most definitely the biggest and most ambitious yet! The next 18 days will be a smorgasbord of musical performances from soul legend Bobby Womack to the composer of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack AR Rahman’s music being performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to Scottish traditional music extraordinaires Chris Stout and Findlay MacDonald showcasing their The Cauld Wind Blaws Big collaboration which will place all four of Scotland national instruments – bagpipes, fiddle, clarsach and voice – firmly in the foreground with this spectacular night of music.
 
This year the festival will also expand into Glasgow brand new SSE Hydro where Glasgow’s own Del Amitri will play in Britain for the first time since 1992. Also to celebrate Rabbie’s birthday on 25th January an international cast of musical stars will showcase at the Celtic Connections International Burns Night.

Donald Shaw, Artistic Director of Celtic Connections, said: “It’s fantastic we’re finally here at the opening day of the festival! I can’t wait for the next 18 days when there will be an eclectic mix of musical genres from all over the world playing in venues right across Glasgow.
 
“Celtic Connections 2014 is kicking off what is going to be a massive year for Glasgow and Scotland and as a festival we have embraced this by showcasing musical talent from other Commonwealth countries and exploring the cultural links between the music that comes out of Scotland and these other countries.”

This section: Celtic Connections 2014