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Interview/Feature
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Montgomery Media , Interview/Feature >>
Eileen Ivers set to storm Sellersville stage
When world-renowned Celtic fiddle player Eileen Ivers was planning her Christmas tour, she decided there was no better place to wrap things up than in Sellersville. Bringing her band, Immigrant Soul, to the theater on Temple and Main Streets on Dec. 21, Ivers is eager to make a return to Sellersville — especially at this time of year.
“We’re really excited to close out the tour there,” said Ivers. “It’s such a nice stop to end a big tour. We know the room and we know how much the audience gets into the music there. It couldn’t work out better for us.”
The New York Times has dubbed Ivers “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin. She’s performed with the London Symphony and the National Symphony. She’s played before presidents and royalty. She’s shared the stage with rock legends the likes of Sting and Patti Smith.
But how did a girl who grew up in the Bronx end up becoming one of the world’s most sought-after Irish fiddle players?
Ivers attributes most of the credit to her upbringing, an upbringing steeped in the traditions of her Irish immigrant parents.
“Both of my parents were born in Ireland and they would play records of Irish music throughout the house,” said Ivers. “I guess I naturally gravitated toward the music. I remember just loving the sound of the violin, bugging my mom to get me one and all that.”
By the time Ivers was 8 years old her mother had bought her that violin. And the rest is more or less history. A virtuoso, Ivers would go on to transform people’s very idea of what the violin was even capable of.
“It was wonderful when I was playing with ‘Riverdance,’ to see the way it transcended boundaries,” said Ivers We were all so surprised that we had sold-out audiences worldwide. That was pretty eye-opening — a wonderful feeling.”
Ivers attributes her success and universal acclaim to the inherent way that music is universally relatable, devoid of the cultural barriers that can get in the way of other forms of art.
“This [Irish traditional] music is pretty accessible,” she said. “It’s very familiar-sounding to most people in many ways — whether they’ve heard it before or not. There’s a foundation there of country, of pop music — the scales and the harmonies are very pleasing and very familiar to most audiences.”
Of course, there’s much more to seeing live music than just the songs. And it probably doesn’t hurt that Ivers and her band know how to put on quite the show. Playing with the same joy of that 8-year-old girl whose mother bought her a violin, Ivers’ pure love of music pervades every one of her performances. The energy she and her band bring to the stage is infectious, and before long there’s not a person in the crowd who can keep still.
“The way I play, the band and I love to improvise at times, to keep things fresh,” said Ivers. “The violin really lends itself to being an amazing lead instrument. It’s in so many different styles of music: ethnic music, folk, blues — just to name a few. People really respond to it.”
Touring throughout the year, Ivers said she and the band really enjoy their Christmas shows.
“It’s such a nice wide range of songs and tunes and sing-alongs,” she said. “We chat about Irish traditions and customs and that’s kind of a fun part of it. We play some jigs — really joyous, very rhythmic. But then we’ll go with something with the classical feel of Bach and we’ll do a gospel song or two. It’s always a lot of fun. At the end of the concert, there is a lot of joy and a lot of grins throughout the room.”
IF YOU GO:
Eileen Ivers
& Immigrant Soul
will perform
at Sellersville Theater 1894,
Main St. & Temple Ave.,
Sellersville, PA 18960,
Wednesday, Dec. 21, 8 p.m.
Tickets: regular, $29.50;
cabaret, $45.
Info: 215-257-5808 or
12/14/11 >> go there
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