IN CONCERT
What: Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy — A Celtic Family Christmas
Where: Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 905 Pandora Ave.
When: Friday, Nov. 23, 8 p.m. (doors at 7)
Tickets: $45 at ticketfly.com
Note: MacMaster and Leahy will also perform Saturday at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo and Sunday at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre in Duncan
Members of the musical MacMaster-Leahy clan — including four fiddle-playing children — will be on the road this month, with three stops on Vancouver Island serving as the kickoff to Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy’s annual Christmas fiddle festivities.
The couple’s 23-date A Celtic Family Christmas tour begins on Friday in Victoria, followed by performances Saturday at the Port Theatre in Nanaimo and Sunday at the Cowichan Performing Arts Centre in Duncan.
The tour wraps on Dec. 22 in Peterborough, near the family’s sprawling farm in Douro, Ont. The show will feature holiday favourites played by both the parents and four of their six children, who are known collectively as the MacMaster Leahy Kids.
“Christmas is where this whole concept started and we are excited to be travelling as a family,” Leahy, a three-time Juno Award winner, said in a statement. “It’s a perfect time to travel across Canada and bring light and happiness to families and fans across the country.”
The first Christmas concert tour by the family took place four years ago. It was a big success, but the birth of their youngest daughter made it too difficult to get back on the road in 2015.
MacMaster has spent the bulk of the past two decades on the road during the Christmas holidays, both as a solo artist and with various members of her family along for the ride.
The two-time Juno Award winner from Cape Breton, an Order of Canada recipient, has a teaching degree and homeschools her children.
Mixing music and family isn’t new to Leahy, either. His family’s band is one of the most reputable Canadian Celtic acts in the country.
“The fiddle was definitely common ground for us when we first got together,” MacMaster said in a statement. “But I was so in awe of Donnell’s family, of 11 siblings who could play and had a family band. And here I am now doing almost exactly the same thing.”
A Celtic Family Christmas, the couple’s first Christmas album, was released in 2016, and was followed by a nationwide tour not unlike the family’s current trek.
Family shows during the Christmas season have been staples since 2014, after MacMaster got over the fear that a month on the road would have a negative impact on her children.
MacMaster and Leahy both grew up playing music, and it has only helped their development as people and performers, MacMaster said.
“We do wrestle with fears about touring with the children — are they getting enough home life? But we also feel incredibly lucky to be together as a family and to be letting our children develop their musical talent.”
“I think the thing I’m most proud of is Natalie,” Leahy said. “She’s a musical star, but her commitment to her family and to me is a side nobody gets to see. She’s so giving. It’s never ‘no’ with her.”
