THUNDER BAY – Natalie MacMaster and her husband Donnell Leahy are creating Christmas memories of their own on the road this holiday season.
The fiddle-playing couple will have plenty of company as they criss-cross the country on their annual Celtic Family Christmas tour, which on Saturday pays a visit to the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium.
MacMaster, who hails from Cape Breton, and Leahy, a native of Lakefield, Ont., have packed up their seven musically talented children and incorporated them into the show.
The 46-year-old MacMaster said she can’t think of any better way to spend the lead-up to Christmas than on stage with her family.
“To have married not only our souls and hearts, but to have married our music, and now to have children and now they’re playing music is really beautiful and quite amazing for us to live that,” she said, reached recently by phone from the road.
“It’s challenging, for sure, but well worth any effort.”
MacMaster, a two-time Juno Award-winning artist began playing fiddle at nine – as one might expect as the niece of fiddling legend Buddy MacMaster and the cousin of Ashley MacIsaac. Her husband, regarded as one of the top Celtic fiddlers in the world, has three Juno Awards to his name, earned with the internationally acclaimed family group, Leahy.
The show itself is unlike anything the couple have done before.
Musically, they’ll be delivering holiday favourites that are fun for the entire family, nothing out of the ordinary.
But there’s an added twist this time around – a little theatre.
“(Fans) can expect what they would from Natalie and Donnell if they’ve been to shows in the past,” said MacMaster, also a recipient of the Order of Canada.
“But there is also something very unexpected. We have a brand-new show that includes a wonderful actor by the name of William Colgate. He’s just an incredible talent. Donnell has always talked about trying to make our show a little deeper and a little more about where we come from, as opposed to it just being about us.”
Leahy met the actor this past summer and was enamoured with his talent, eagerly agreeing to collaborate to add a little something extra to the Celtic Family Christmas.
“There are little bits of him throughout the night and he plays a couple of different characters in the show. It’s quite entertaining and quite informative and the acting is really quite brilliant. As far as the music, there’s still the same music and the same amount of music. We didn’t want to take away from that. It’ll only enhance it,” MacMaster said.
Limited orchestra seating remains for the show. Tickets are available at the Community Auditorium box office or website.
