Celtic fiddling legend Eileen Ivers has come to share the Irish spirit with Utah once again.

Ivers—originally from the Bronx, New York—is the daughter of Irish immigrants. She has developed a deep connection with her heritage.

“We used to visit Ireland every summer as a family,” she said. “Recently, I’ve also built a house on my father’s land there. Ireland is the most wonderful place.”

Ivers started Celtic fiddling at the age of 8 and went on to win numerous contests and awards, including nine All-Ireland Fiddle competitions. This helped legitimize her playing to the critics of the world, she said.

Her music reflects not only the traditional sound of Celtic music, but it also incorporates other forms of traditional American music, mostly Western or country in nature. Ivers searches for connections between the two sounds in an effort to more fully realize the experience of what it means to be Irish-American. Her new multimedia show, “Beyond the Bog Road,” employs this unique blend of music to tell the story of Irish immigrants in America and their experiences.

“I wanted to explore how traditional Irish music interacts with other similar genres of American music, such as bluegrass, Cajun and country,” Ivers said.

The multimedia concert, created by Ivers, includes a 13-piece ensemble of musicians and dancers. With the dancing, music and film projections, the story of Irish immigrants will be illustrated in a multifaceted presentation.

“This performance is juxtaposed with joyous dance songs and amazing championship-winning dancers,” she said. “The audience will be involved in various ways throughout. Most importantly, it’s music from the heart—honest music. We’ve heard some sniffles from the audience in the past.”

All but two of the dancers involved in the show are local performers from an Irish dance school. The local dancers who have been selected to perform include two of the U’s own students, former Daily Utah Chronicle employee Clare Duignan and Katie Register. Students of the Crawford School of Irish Dance in Salt Lake City, both Duignan and Register are competitive Irish dancers who continually compete nationally and internationally.

Another member of the ensemble, Matthew Olwell, is one of the two dancers of the permanent cast that tours with Ivers.

“We started the show for the first time about a year ago at this time, and so far it’s been very exciting,” he said. “We see a lot of cool places and the show itself is a wonderful mix of media, including archival film footage.”

The dancing is also a blend of Irish-American tradition, Olwell said. It incorporates tap, swing, jazz, clogging and riverdance and of course, Irish dancing.