St. Patrick's Day celebration with Waking Erin

Tomorrow, March 17, is St. Patrick’s Day.

And Salt Lake’s own Celtic ensemble, Waking Erin, will show the true meaning of the date said harpist/founder Cynthia Douglass.

“It’s not about pubs or drinking,” Douglass said. “We don’t go and do bars and we don’t do taverns. And that’s what so many people think of St. Patty’s as being, and it really is not.

“It’s a celebration of who St. Patrick was. We love to celebrate it with gorgeous music in a concert setting.”

St. Patrick, as most people know, is the patron saint of Ireland.

Waking Erin — Douglass, cellist Jarom Xochimitl, singer Juliana Boulter and fiddler David Tomer — will present it’s St. Patrick’s Day concert, in connection with the Excellence in the Community Concert Series, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. 300 South, on March 17.

While Waking Erin’s company Celtic dancer Meghan Kwan Smith will not be part of the program, the Shelley School Dance Troupe will be a part of the event.

Tickets are $15 and are available by calling 801-355-2787 or 888-451-2787. Tickets can also be purchased by logging on to www.arttix.org

(Photo: courtesy of Waking Erin. Jarom Xochimitl, left, Juliana Boulter, Cynthia Douglass and David Tomer)

Douglass, an early music musician who started playing Celtic harp 25 years ago, said the St. Patrick’s Day celebration will include traditional Irish and Scottish Celtic music, as well as some original music.

“I have 30 original songs that I have composed for harp and other instruments over the years,” she said. “And we’ll be playing one song, ‘Fairies on the Glen’ that I wrote.”

The other songs will range from high-energy jigs and reels to tearful ballads, she said.

“Celtic music is a completely different paradigm than classical music,” Douglass said. “First of all, you don’t play what’s written, and you ornament everything. There are rules about whether you ornament in the Scottish style, the Irish style or the Welsh style. You have to know the theory well enough to ornament correctly. And when you do it in the band, you have to all agree on where you’re ornamenting and how.”

Douglass said she likes it when the audience claps and stomps during the playing.

“We’re pretty dynamic, and we don’t stay in our chairs,” she said with a laugh. “They need to expect they’ll be stomping and clapping. It’s pretty lively.”

Douglass said she thanks Excellence in the Community concert series founder Jeff Whitely for his support.

“The series really needs more supporters,” she said. “They are trying to do everything just on ticket sales and they really need more support.”

Also, Douglass said Waking Erin welcomes children to their shows.

“It’s a beautiful place to bring children,” she said. “We love having children there. We always hear the babble of them in the audience and that’s just fine, because we plant the seeds in their heads for the future generation (of Celtic musicians).”