GEORGE NEWS - The Knysna Celtic Festival concert, one of South Africa's most popular Celtic gatherings, will be coming to George for the first time.
The festival features pipe bands and highland dancers from Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, and KwaZulu-Natal.
It will be held at Eden Place in Kraaibosch on Thursday 22 February at 19:00.
Just about everything performed at Knysna will be presented at the George event and as a bonus the Carpe Musicam! Choir will be adding their voices to the orchestra in some beautiful new items.
Eden Place is an ideal location for this kind of event.
It seats about a thousand people and offers plenty of up-to-date facilities for presenting a top-class show.
The festival's highlight event is the Sundowners Celtic Concert.
"The concert was originally established to promote bluegrass and Celtic music, and as a showcase for local musicians like the Knysna and Districts Pipe Band - but it's become such an enormous success that we're now able to attract international guest performers," said organising committee member, Pipe Major Steve Collins.
Sundowners Celtic concert
This year's concert - the seventh in the series - will feature Cape Town-based traditional folk bands Jenny and The Jameses, Blacksmith (which has played at every one of these concerts since 2012) as well as Scottish Highland dancers from Pretoria's O'Leary Studio, and Irish dancers from Cape Town's Celtic Dance Tapestry.
Of course, the Knysna and Districts Pipe Band will also be on stage and the newly formed Castle Rock Ceilidh Band will be introduced.
"The top Scottish harpist and composer, Catriona McKay, and the award-winning Shetland fiddler, Chris Stout will be joining us for the second year in a row," said Collins.
*The Knysna Celtic Festival and Massed Pipes and Drums parade through Knysna takes place on Saturday 24 February together with the concert.
There will be traditional piping and dance competitions during the annual Highland Gathering at Loerie Park in Knysna.
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