Entertainment

Anna Ludlow hails from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and has been rocking the Canadian Celtic and folk scene for the past two decades. Entertaining with her fiddle and vocals, she captivates audiences, giving a true kitchen party experience. Having collaborated with some of Canada’s most renowned artists, lead her to become the principal fiddler for the Juno nominated critically acclaimed production DRUM, and In 2018 she became the inaugural fiddle player for the hit and Tony award-winning show ‘COME FROM AWAY’. Outside of theatre work Anna is influenced by her working-class Celtic ancestry, and fuses the traditional Cape Breton music of the Scottish Gàidhealtachd with a modern percussive vibe. With over 8 multi-award nominations, multiple performances on The Marilyn Denis Show, a feature on Bell Fibe TV featuring her original music you won’t want to miss her perform. She is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and song-writer and uses her dynamic performances to give listeners a modern taste of history and culture. You can also find her touring and recording with multiple bands across Canada.

Heather MacIsaac of Antigonish began piano lessons at the age of 5. At 12, after following in the Highland dancing footsteps of her sisters, she turned her attention to bagpipes.  It was then that music became a major influence in her life.  She has been privileged to be able to study with some of the world’s top pipers. By 16 she had won many of the amateur prizes, began teaching and joined the Grade 1 pipe band in Halifax. While completing degrees at both St.FXU and Dalhousie, she continued to play with the 78th Highlanders Halifax-based band including competing in the final at the World Pipe Band Championships and winning the North American Championships.  She is currently taking a break from competitive piping to explore different styles of traditional music and composition.  In addition to being a piper, she also plays whistles, accordion, small-pipes, piano and sings. MacIsaac works as a pharmacist at the local hospital and plays at local concerts, sessions, and events

Dara Smith-MacDonald, born and raised in Antigonish, has been playing the fiddle for more than 20 years and now resides in Port Hawkesbury. With family roots in Inverness, she very quickly began to develop a style that is strong, lively and traditional. Dara has played for concerts, ceilidhs, and dances throughout Cape Breton, mainland Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Ontario and the USA. She has performed at the Antigonish Highland Games, the Acoustic Roots Festival, Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival, KitchenFest!, and Celtic Colours. In the summer of 2019, she traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform in the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo with the fiddle group Hjaltibonhoga based out of Shetland. For the past 16 years, she has been teaching fiddle at Colaisde na Gàidhlig / the Gaelic College and to students in her home and around the world via Skype. Dara is a musical director and a member of the Board of Directors with the Cape Breton Fiddlers’ Association with whom she has traveled to Boston and to Maxville, Ontario. Dara can often be found on stage with Adam Young, a sought-after piano player from Marion Bridge. Dara and Adam released their first CD together, The Lake Sessions, in June of 2017 and released their second album, Island, along with Brent Chaisson, in the summer of 2019. Together they were nominated for the 2018 Music Nova Scotia, Traditional Roots Recording of the Year award for The Lake Sessions and in 2019 for Island.

Junior Fraser is a guitarist who grew up in Ohio, Antigonish County and now lives in Pomquet, Antigonish County. He started playing guitar at the age of 14, learning by ear, and hasn’t stopped since. He’s a regular on the concert and ceilidh scene in both Antigonish and Cape Breton performing alongside many musicians over the years.

A collection of incredible dancers from the MacLeod School of Highland Dance performing several traditional dances.

Coming off their tremendous show at the Cathedral’s 150th Anniversary Concert, the beauty, harmony, and sheer magnitude of their voices is sure to move you and leave you feeling swept off your feet!

Antigonish County native, Maureen Fraser, has been step-dancing most of her life. She began taking lessons from Margie Dunn, in early childhood and continues to attend seminars and workshops to this day. She has danced at various concerts and festivals throughout the Maritimes including the Broad Cove Concert and the Celtic Colours Festival. She’s appeared on ASN-TV’s Breakfast Television, has adjudicated step dancing festivals in PEI and was the director of the Antigonish Highland Games “Concert Under the Stars” for over six years.  Maureen has been teaching dance for over 30 years and has performed in, and choreographed for, local theatre productions, including “Music of the Night” and “Women of Antigonish”. Maureen currently resides in Antigonish where she runs her dance school, “The Maureen Fraser School of Dance” as well as her dance supply store.

A pianist with a resume that spans decades and includes performances with some of the best fiddlers, pipers, and dancers that Nova Scotia has ever produced! Marion’s steady timing and seamless play is sure to get your toes tapping.

The individual members of the Keppoch Tenors featuring Peter Rawding, Lewis MacDonald, Bill Murphy and Grayson Hudson all have vast experience with either solo performances or singing with others at various community events. However it was not until five years ago during a production of The Keppoch Wake that they got together and it was exactly the harmonized sound the production team was looking for.

Since becoming the Keppoch Tenors they have performed in four more Keppoch shows and will return again this year in the Bochans and a Birthday production. Accompanying the Tenors will be Gerald Benoit on guitar who also has many performances to his credit both as a solo artist and a band member.

Darryl originally hailed from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, but his audience has grown far and wide! After graduating from St.FX,  Darryl moved to Toronto, called Yuk Yuks and went to an amateur night. The rest, as they say, is history. Since then, Darryl has recorded a television special, performed across North America, in the UK, even in Iceland. Fresh off a UK tour, Darryl is going to leave the ceilidh tent in stitches!

Originally hailing from PEI, Dan Hendricken is one of the top comics from the Maritimes. He cut his teeth in comedy at the Yuk Yuk’s Club in Halifax and in just a few short years was featured on CBC TV as part of the Halifax Comedy Festival. Dan has since gone on to tour all over the country as a headlining comic, even performing at the flagship Yuk Yuk’s in downtown Toronto. Dan has been seen on CBC TV and heard on CBC Radio (with CBC’s LOL) and has performed at the Halifax Comedy Festival and Hubcap Comedy Festival. Fans find Dan charming and hilarious. He draws the attention of every audience he performs in front of with his charm and likeability, keeping them laughing and entertained the whole time.

Always entertaining and definitely unique, Mudmen are a blast of Celtic energy whose members are known to be characters both on and off the stage.

As of 2024 Mudmen have been together for 26 years building a legion of fans from young to old. Mudmen have been selling out numerous prestigious theatres and Celtic festivals throughout North America with no signs of slowing down.