Concert hall transformed to Cape Breton kitchen party

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This article was published 29/10/2023 (1076 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canadian fiddler extraordinaire Natalie MacMaster lit a fire at the Centennial Concert Hall Saturday night, delivering two full hours of joy-filled reels, jigs, strathspeys and ballads from her Cape Breton homeland, as well as several original numbers that literally had audience members dancing in the aisles.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra featured the Juno-winning, Nova Scotia-born dynamo during two weekend concerts as part of its Live at the WSO series, led with gusto by WSO associate conductor Julian Pellicano, who also conducted MacMaster’s last local appearance in December 2013. It’s one of life’s imponderables why it’s taken 10 years to see this national treasure and member of the Order of Canada grace this stage again.

The 51-year-old artist and mother of seven — who shares seven children with her equally acclaimed fiddler husband, Donnell Leahy — proved in fine fettle all night, as she laced her high-octane, 10-piece program with warm-hearted wit, musical insights and lore, and shared many personal anecdotes from her own family background that provided a larger context for her artistry.

One of those children also shared the spotlight: eldest daughter Mary Frances Leahy, 17, a pianist/fiddler/composer/dancer who confidently pounded out chords on her grand piano and practically flew off her bench for an electrifying step-dance (more, please) during MacMaster’s first set of three toe-tapping reels.

After a sprightly orchestral opener of Percy Grainger’s Molly on the Shore, MacMaster, who first took up the fiddle at age nine, bounded onto the stage for Tunes a Plenty, before hailing the crowd with a “Hello, Winterpeg!” and charmingly describing her live concert performances as “me time.”

One evening highlight was The Chase, with Belfast-born drummer Mark Kelso — who also plays a mean set of spoons — propelling the hard-driving piece forward with a rock solid back-beat, leading to MacMaster to exclaim, “There’s a whole lot of hollering here for a symphony show” after the audience roared its approval.

Christmas Jig/Mouth of Tobique offered an early seasonal treat, so infectious it led to MacMaster breaking/stretching a fiddle string; the consummate professional immediately quipped, “It must be the change in temperature” and repaired it onstage, further underscoring the show’s spontaneity.

The program also included several original MacMaster compositions, showcasing her more reflective, philosophical side. The first of those, So You Love — performed with Leahy on her 2023 album Canvas and written for American cellist Yo-Yo Ma — begins as a soulful, lyrical waltz that bleeds into an exuberant work of cinematic proportion. Kudos to both WSO concertmaster Gwen Hoebig and assistant principal cellist Robyn Neidhold for tackling Leahy’s and Ma’s original solo parts so sensitively.

A white-hot Galicia (also from Canvas) saw MacMaster playing the heart and guts out of her string instrument, moving freely among the WSO musicians and eventually kicking off her boots to spring barefoot about the stage, eliciting another of the night’s many ovations.

The evening’s sweet spot — make that two — was an intimate duet, featuring the now-seated MacMaster performing a “string” of traditional tunes alongside Leahy’s piano, conjuring Cape Breton kitchen parties where many players first cut their fiddling teeth.

The other was Mary Frances Leahy’s original duet Choo Choo, performed with her “momma,” that brought this writer to tears. Although it’s clear MacMaster still has many years of fiddling ahead of her, we witnessed the passing of a musical legacy from one generation to the next, with her daughter already having donned the familial mantle; it added tremendous poignancy to the night.

Every good party needs a moment or two of repose; this came with Blue Bonnets Over the Border, before a final rousing Carnival medley packed another punch, inspiring more loud whoops and cheers from the house.

Following a short reprise as an encore, MacMaster flashed a final peace sign and blew kisses to the crowd, which was still on its feet. One hopes to see the fiddler return — perhaps with a few more of her children in tow — very soon.

holly.harris@shaw.ca