Cherish the Ladies for two Galway concerts

The Grammy-nominated Irish-American traditional music group Cherish the Ladies will return to Galway on September 24 and October 3 for two concerts. The first is as part of the Clifden Arts Festival, the second is in the City’s Town Hall Theatre. 

Cherish the Ladies was founded in 1985 in New York City to celebrate the rise of women in what had been a male-dominated Irish music scene. Since then, the group has toured the world, played the White House and recorded 15 albums including their latest, An Irish Homecoming, which was also videoed for an Emmy nominated Public Television special that will be broadcast across America.

This tour, led by founding member and All-Ireland flute and whistle champion Joanie Madden, will see the band joined by Clare singer Maura O’Connell as well as a 12-piece string section, bodhrán player Anna Colliton and seven top step dancers.

The other members of Cherish the ladies are Galway’s own Mirella Murray on accordion, Mary Coogan on guitar, Kathleen Boyle on piano, Cathie Ryan on vocals, Nollaig Casey on fiddle.

The New York Times has called the women’s music “passionate, tender and rambunctious” and The Washington Post praised their “astonishing array of virtuosity” and The Boston Globe stated that “it is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do”. 

They will be at Clifden Arts Festival on Tuesday next, September 24 and at the Town Hall Theatre on Thursday, October 3.