The one-time "Riverdance" fiddler and her diverse ensemble, Immigrant Soul, will step into New Brunswick's State Theatre with the holiday show on Saturday. They will be joined by the choir of the historic First Reformed Church of New Brunswick on four tunes, including an arrangement that turns Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" into a jig.
"It's so much fun," said Ivers, a Bronx, N.Y. native, who won nine All-Irish fiddle championships before and after forming the Celtic band Cherish the Ladies.
"The bulk of the show is about an Irish Christmas and the similarities between Irish and American Christmases, mostly around the joy of the season," she said.
Having enjoyed a solo career for many years, Ivers decided to turn to the traditional Christmas music of both her American homeland and her ancestral land of Ireland with "An Nollaig," an 11-song CD from 2007 she reproduces on an annual holiday tour.
"One of my favorite moments is the counter melody that the choir does to go with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,' " she said.
The choir also will perform the Appalachian carol "The Holly Tree," a jig version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and a gospel-like medley of the Carter Family's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" and Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus."
Ivers said, "That really leaves the audience with the sense of the joy of the whole thing."
For the jigs and other numbers, Ivers also will be joined by the North Jersey-based Broesler School of Irish Dance.
"An Nollaig" also explores the feast of St. Stephen, known in Ireland as Wren Day. She borrowed the set list of the lads who would travel from house to house singing, while carrying a dead wren bird, the betrayer of St. Stephen's hiding place to the Romans.
"My father often recounted how when he was a little boy, they would hunt for a wren bird on Wren Day," said Ivers, a first-generation American. "They would capture it and go around with it on a stick and sing around the village, asking, "Give me a penny to bury the wren.' If they raised enough money, then they would have this big dance.
"Some feel it goes back to the time of St. Stephen and the old story about how he was betrayed by a wren bird while hiding from the Roman soldiers," she continued. "It's a nice thing to continue the tradition. We don't slaughter any birds, but we do raise money for the less fortunate in the area."
Ivers also focuses on the Christmas tradition of the fruitcake.
She balances the humorous tune "Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake" — about a case of holiday food poisoning — with memories of her aunts' surprisingly delicious recipe, which calls for copious amounts of Jameson Irish whiskey and Guinness Irish stout.
"It's so good, I was thinking of asking venues to print the recipe in the program so the audience can take it home," Ivers said.
In 2011, Ivers & Immigrant Soul will complete and release the recording of "Beyond the Bog Road," a collection of songs they have been touring with that trace the roots and influence of Irish and other roots music around the world.
