Loreena remounts her ‘love letter to the season
This December Loreena will be bringing her celebrated seasonal performance of Under A Winter’s Moon concert back to the stage at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, in her home base of Stratford and in neighbouring London, Ontario.
Sparking the holiday spirit, Under A Winter’s Moon features carols and tales that blend Celtic, Indigenous and Welsh cultures, interwoven with strands of the natural world revealed through an Indigenous lens. It also includes Gemini Award-winning actor Cedric Smith performing the nostalgic A Child’s Christmas in Wales.
Loreena will be accompanied by Caroline Lavelle on cello and recorders and by members of the Celtic group The Bookends, with Errol Fischer on fiddle, Pete Watson on guitar and bouzouki, and Cait Watson on Irish whistle, with guest percussionist Romano DiNillo.
The performance, which Loreena has called “a love letter to the season” returns to Toronto’s acoustic gem Koerner Hall by popular demand following sold-out concerts in 2023.
The show begins with Ojibway artist Christin Dennis, also known as Gzhiiquot/Fast Moving Cloud, performing the story of Skywoman. Under A Winter’s Moon is a two-set concert, with the first set consisting of performances by Loreena and her band. The second set features actor Cedric Smith performing, in six parts, the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, each segment interspersed with more songs from Loreena. In all, the show includes 15 seasonal tunes, with such favourites as “Coventry Carol”, “Good King Wenceslas” and “Huron Carol”.
Loreena, who as you know was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame last month, first performed Under A Winter’s Moon in December 2021 as a series of live concerts in a historic sanctuary in Stratford, ON. A recording of the concert was subsequently released as her 16th album, which was followed by an eight-city Ontario tour in 2022, where most performances were sold out and second shows added.