Kyle Alden has been to Ireland many times, touring with Irish musicians from the Bay Area and making friends along the way. On his most recent trip, though, he found himself with an unexpected and rather uncanny companion — the spirit of the great Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats. This concert will feature Songs from Yeats' Bee-Loud Glade, a collection of 13 poems by the revered Irish poet and playwright. Kyle Alden, well-known in the Bay Area Irish music scene, has set them to music, singing in a pleasing baritone and ably accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. Filling out the sound are some impressive guest musicians, including mandolin ace Mike Marshall, former Frank Zappa band bassist Scott Thunes and celtic fiddler Athena Tergis.
Born in NYC and raised in San Francisco, Athena Tergis showed a love and talent for the fiddle at an early age. She began with the Suzuki method of violin at age four, yet she yearned for more creativity and freedom in her music. She found it at Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School where she studied with such greats as Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Alasdair Fraser and Buddy MacMaster, winning the Junior National Scottish Fiddling Championship three years in a row.
Athena was a featured soloist in the 2009, USA tour with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 10 week, 49-city tour of America, Athena was a featured soloist in 9 compositions including Inishlacken, a concerto for two violins, written by Bill Whelan alongside classical violinist Cora Venus Lunny. Her most recent tour of China with The Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra included the live, nationally broadcast debut of her original compositions ‘Old Quarry’ and ‘Slide’, co-written by John Doyle, at the Beijing National Center for the Performing Arts Opera Theater.