Celebrated world artist continues rare and personal concert series following highly acclaimed fall dates, brings trio performance to intimate venues in select cities in the U.S. this March
Celebrating three decades as Canada’s foremost, groundbreaking independent artist and following a much lauded North American fall tour, Loreena McKennitt will continue her rare and intimate series of performances in select venues across the western U.S. next spring. Traditionally performing with her band in large concert halls around the world, this unique series will feature McKennitt in the trio formation that garnered her a 2012 Grammy nomination for Troubadours on the Rhine.
“It has been great to get back to touring in the United States this fall and has been wonderful to meet so many people along the way,” says Mckennitt. “Because one of the key variables of this kind of tour is performing in locations about three hours drive from each other, it has been great to see more of the country by ground rather than by air and encounter some of the regional specialties and characteristics. I only wish we could do this by bicycle!!!”
Joined by two of her long-time musical collaborators, guitarist Brian Hughes and cellist Caroline Lavelle, this atmospheric evening features music and stories inspired by Loreena’s exotic travels in pursuit of the history of the Celts- from China and Mongolia to central Turkey and Ireland, while interlacing the mystical Irish poems of Yeats and such classical writers as Shakespeare and Tennyson. The performances will also feature a small component on Irish history from the time of the famine (1840s) to the present, she brings historical events to a contemporary relevance.
McKennitt’s eclectic Celtic blend of pop, folk and world music has sold over 14 million albums worldwide. Her recordings have achieved gold, platinum and multi-platinum status in 15 countries on four continents. She has twice been nominated for a Grammy Award and has won two Junos, as well as a Billboard International Achievement Award.
McKennitt has performed in some of the world’s most-respected and historic concert venues, from Carnegie Hall to the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain and for dignitaries including Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and numerous heads of state.
In addition to her musical career, McKennitt has been recognized for a number of noteworthy philanthropic initiatives. In 1998, she founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety, and she was instrumental in the transformation of a 1929 neo-Gothic school into the Falstaff Family Centre, a charitable organization focused on families and children.
McKennitt is a Member of the Order of Manitoba (2003) and the Order of Canada (2004), and in 2013 she was appointed Knight of the National Order of Arts and Letters of the Republic of France. As a privacy advocate, she won a landmark privacy case in the UK. She has also been awarded four honorary degrees for her non-musical endeavours.
In 2006, McKennitt was appointed as the Royal Canadian Air Force Honorary Colonel of 435 Transport & Rescue Squadron (Winnipeg), and in September 2014 was appointed as the Honorary Colonel of the RCAF.