Celtic Pagan and Christian music and dance traditions have a very strong link to the Christmas season.  To understand and celebrate this connection, Brian O’Donovan created 18 years ago a Christmas edition of his nationally-broadcast radio program, A Celtic Sojourn.  It has proven to be extraordinarily popular, prompting the creation of two music recordings and this live concert version.  A Christmas Celtic Sojourn CD Volume 1 was released in 2001.  The second volume titled Comfort and Joy, an anthology released in 2003 in collaboration with Rounder Records, struck a more celebratory tone.  Its seventeen tracks celebrated the Celtic and English origins of some of the more popular Christmas songs today. 

The Concert, called A Christmas Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan, launched in 2003 and reflected the easy, relaxed and divers offerings of the yearly national radio program.  With Elliot Norton Award winner Paula Plum as artistic director, it blended the music of Cherish the Ladies, the Robbie O’Connell Band, Sean Keane, Sharon Shannon, and Aoife and Fionnuala O’Donovan, and introduced the vocal harmonies of Navan to New England. The result was a charming evening of conviviality and good humor peppered with thought provoking reflections on the season, and by unexpected performances and spectacular dancing. 

A Christmas Celtic Sojourn 2005 with Brian O’Donovan features the music of Irish supergroup Danú, the extraordinary Scottish guitarist Tony McManus, Celtic cellist Natalie Haas, and welcomes back the exquisite a cappella harmonies of Navan.  In addition, dancer Kieran Jordan, just back from a year of study in Ireland, introduces her new four-person dance troupe Nua-nós.  Performances are Friday-Sunday December 16-18, in the intimate old-world opera house, the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston’s downtown Theatre District. 

“This is a big move for us,” said O’Donovan recently.  “The Somerville Theatre has been a wonderful venue for us but when we realized the Cutler Majestic was available and anxious to hold the event, we just couldn’t wait.  The newly renovated theatre is just spectacular and moving there will help us further establish A Christmas Celtic Sojourn as a solid tradition in the Boston arts calendar.”