ANTIGONISH’S Troy MacGillivray is a peerless Celtic musician, as proficient on fiddle as he is on piano, but he’s also a gifted collaborator.

Whether it’s with fellow Nova Scotian players (including sisters Kendra and Sabra), Scottish musicians like guitarist Anna Massey and flutist Nuala Kennedy, or even a one-off ECMA performance with jazz musicians like bassist Adam Fine and sax player Dani Oore, MacGillivray likes to spread his talent around.

"I hope that’s OK," he says with a self-effacing laugh. "I’ve never really thought about it, as in "Who will I work with this time?’ Anything I do just sort of happens.

"I get an idea, and usually it involves the people I’m hanging out with at the time, and usually it works out nicely. At least I hope it does."

MacGillivray’s latest project is When Here Meets There, a collaboration with Ottawa fiddle champion Shane Cook, who has several titles under his belt, including being the only Canadian to win the U.S. Grand National Fiddle Championship.

The two had often crossed paths, at Jerry Holland’s fiddle camp and on the road in Ontario, and eventually a friendship and appreciation for each other’s gifts developed.

"We’d be playing in the same concert with some other acts, and at some point we’d do a couple of songs together, and that led to doing our own shows together, and that’s where we got the idea to do a record together," explains MacGillivray.

This week a Maritime tour featuring the pair plus guitarist Skip Holmes and Ray Legere on mandolin — who also perform on the CD — kicks off today at Mabou’s Strathspey Place at 7:30 p.m., with guest pianist Betty Lou Beaton. That’s followed by a Sunday matinee at Sackville, N.B.’s Music Barn at 2 p.m.

The road trip continues on Wednesday at the Courthouse Theatre in Sherbrooke at 7:30 p.m. and the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The dates wrap up with shows at the deCoste Centre in Pictou on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. and the Bicentennial Theatre in Middle Musquodoboit on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.

What’s remarkable about When Here Meets There, as implied by the title, is the way it combines MacGillivray’s Celtic playing with Cook’s old-time sound, with the two players weaving in and out of stylistic sync as they play solo and unison parts. There’s definitely a unique harmony taking place on the album, bridging what MacGillivray sees as a split between the Celtic and old-time traditions.

"I guess there’s a divide there, I don’t know why that would be," he muses. "I just like good music; if it sounds good to me then I’ll probably want to try and play it.

"And it’s not even a geographical divide. Even in our own province the Scottish musicians don’t really know the old-time players and vice versa. They could be in the same community and not even know each other. Ottawa is a good example; you have Maxville, which is really Scottish, on one side, and then on the other side of town you have the old-time scene, and they have no idea about each other, even though they’re only a half-hour or 45 minutes apart. It’s odd"

What caught MacGillivray’s ear about Cook’s playing was his remarkable ability to absorb styles, mimic them and then perfect them.

"Shane definitely comes from the old-time school, and he does a great job of it, but he grew up with a lot of Irish music too, so he’s no stranger to Celtic styles.

"And being from Antigonish, I play the strathspeys and reels, but I’ve also picked up polkas and hornpipes which a lot of Celtic fiddlers wouldn’t necessarily play. So we’re both kind of stuck in the middle of a few different styles. It worked out kinda nice when it came to this project."

For ticket information go to troymacgillivray.com

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What do you get when you pair an ECMA Award Winner with a Canadian Grand Master Fiddle Champion? You get a dynamic live performance featuring two of the most highly acclaimed fiddlers around! "When There Meets Here" is a new CD that is a must-have for fiddle aficionados… it is the coming together of Troy MacGillivray’s driving Nova Scotian fiddle and piano with Shane Cook’s swinging Ontario-oldtime fiddle. And fiddle fans in the Maritimes will be able to hear this dynamic team live in concert as they travel around NS, NB and PEI September 26th - October 5th.

When Here Meets There is an exciting new collaboration between these two young Canadian fiddlers at the top of their game.

"Shane and I have been talking about doing a project together for a while... Shane started to make a new CD that turned into both of us working on it, sharing the duties and ideas and bringing together a sound that is definitely a new feel and twist in century old tunes", says MacGillivray.

"It’s a mix of East Coast and Ontario, of bluegrass, country and Scottish tradition".

In concert, Troy and Shane together provide an astonishing breadth of styles, tunes, and arrangements individually but together there is an obvious excitement and spark between the two players and their ensemble that is infectious. The ensemble includes New Brunswick mandolin player Ray Legere, Nova Scotia guitarist Skip Holmes and Troy’s sister, Sabra MacGillivray who dances during the show.

"Ray Leger is a great friend of Shane's and a man that I have heard of for many years and have great respect for", says MacGillivray. Adds Cook, "He is one of the best musicians that exists who is definitely proud of his East Coast roots and it shows in his personality and his music. Skip Holmes was a regular face on "Up Home Tonight" for a number of years and has played with hundreds of fiddlers from around the world".

And MacGillivray is used to playing with his sister Sabra … they have been a powerful musical team for over 20 years! "Sabra is a highly acclaimed highland and stepdancer, not to mention plays a mean bodhran!" says MacGillivray. "Its great to have her along on this tour—it brings a whole other dimension to the live performance." For more information on tickets and concert times, or to purchase When There Meets Here online, please visit www.troymacgillivray.com and www.shanecook.com . To listen to tracks from the new CD, please visit www.sonicbids.com/whenheremeetsthere

In August, Troy had the honour of being a judge for the first time at the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championships in Ottawa. The Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship was conceived by a group of people interested in preserving Canadian Traditional Fiddling, and giving recognition to the excellent fiddlers  found across Canada.

"I had a great time being on the other side of the table this year", says Troy. "It’s a totally different perspective and not as easy as it looks with so many great fiddlers in Canada." Quebec’s Andre Brunet was selected as the 2008 Canadian Grand Masters Champion.

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August 2008 - News Articles

Musician Proud To Represent Canada, The Casket Newspaper  - READ ARTICLE (JPG)

Entertaining The Soldiers in Afghanistan, Celtic Life Magazine -  READ ARTICLE (PDF)

'Live At The Music Room' CD Review, Celtic Life Magazine  - READ ARTICLE (PDF)

ANTIGONISH, NS — Troy MacGillivray is halfway through 2008 and has already had a year filled with many firsts: his first ECMA Award win in February, his first time touring with a new band in Germany, the CD release of his first joint project in April (with Ontario fiddler Shane Cook) and in May, his first military tour to perform for the troops in the Middle East.

Troy MacGillivray was one of 14 Canadian entertainers from across the country who traveled to Afghanistan to entertain our troops in May for the Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour. The diverse cast put on four performances for troops over a two week period from May 16-28 around the Persian Gulf including Kandahar and Kabul.

"It was an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was also very humbling, one I’m not soon to forget",
says MacGillivray. "The hospitality and giving from the troops from all the NATO forces was overwhelming.
It was great watching them enjoy and appreciate the music and entertainment. It’s an entirely different world over there … it is a place of strife where every day is more difficult than the day before. Every day it gets hotter - we arrived to a temperature of 56 degrees Celsius yet they still welcomed us with smiling faces and great happiness".

The tour was organized by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (CFPFSS),
the morale and welfare arm of the Canadian Forces (CF). The CFPFSS has a long tradition of providing
show tours to CF members serving overseas and in isolated locations. Over the course of any six-month
major mission, a CF Show Tour is usually held at the mid-point.

"These are great people representing Canada and I am very proud to have met some of them and to have had the honour to play for them", says MacGillivray. "They are amazing people who are risking their lives daily for the greater good of the world. It was incredibly humbling experience yet at the same time an incredible honour to bring a little piece of Nova Scotia, and Canada, to them half a world away".

"A CF Show Tour contributes immensely to the morale of deployed members," says Manager Deployment
Policies and Resources Mark Larose, "especially when topnotch Canadian talent takes centre
stage to perform for our servicemen and servicewomen half way around the world in a very harsh environment".

The show was directed and co-hosted by musical comedian Kenny Shaw. Also co-hosting was comedian
Pete Zedlacher who previously visited Afghanistan with a CF Show Tour in 2002. The remainder of
the show was filled with a variety of rock, pop, country and Celtic artists. Proving the Nova Scotia flair to
the tour were Troy MacGillivray along with fellow fiddler Kimberly Fraser and well-know local singer
Matt Minglewood. Additional performers included Duane Steele, Diane Chase, Ginette Genereux and
Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory.

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SYDNEY - They call it the boneyard and it might be one of the most powerful images to grip Cape Breton fiddler Kimberley Fraser during a visit to Afghanistan, where she performed in front of thousands of  Canadian troops. Consisting of mangled machine wreckage, it's the place where tanks go after they've been hit by a roadside bomb and it's one memory, among many, Fraser will hold for a lifetime.

'Some of them were in really bad shape and some of the guys didn't make it out of there,' the 25-year-old Sydney Mines native said. 'There's that side of it, and then there's the story about the kids that they're helping go to school. They're helping to rebuild the country there. We got to see a lot of that stuff first hand.'

A first-time visitor to Afghanistan, Fraser joined Horizon Talent out of Calgary for a mid-May performance at the Canadian Forces base in Kandahar. Fraser travelled along with fiddler Troy MacGillivray of Antigonish County and Cape Breton rocker Matt Minglewood, who has performed in front of the troops before.

Fraser returned to Boston from Afghanistan, Thursday, where the ECMA winner is a student at the Berkeley College of Music. She said while she didn't feel unsafe during her tour, she also wasn't permitted to leave the base for safety reasons.

Fraser and the other performers did experience two rocket attacks, which sent them back to the bunkers, but said it isn't as dangerous as it sounds.

'We had a rocket attack during one of our shows in Kandahar, but it was kinda blown up a bit in the news. They actually happen probably three to four times if not more per week. It's old Soviet weapons that are shot down on the base, but they're not explosive,' Fraser said. 'No one's ever been hurt by them.'

Joining the Nova Scotia trio were four singers, two country acts, a bilingual singer, a house band and two comedians. The group performed four night shows, and slept in rooms and ate food similar to the soldiers.

'One of the things that struck me is it's so hot there. It can be 48-50º C there and we can wear whatever we want ' they have to wear their uniforms and their helmets and their weapons... I can't  imagine doing that. They're real heroes; they really, really are.'

After performances, the entertainment crew spoke with soldiers about their lives and duties in the desert and obtained autographs. Fraser said for her, a soldier's life is not always portrayed clearly in the media.

'They don't get a lot of live entertainment there, so when it comes along they're very appreciative of that. It was a huge honour, just to be asked to go on something like that. Just to ease their minds a bit about what they're doing,' she said.

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Hundreds of NATO soldiers got a dash of Canadian music and humour Friday night before a Taliban rocket attack forced a troupe of entertainers to temporarily douse the lights at Kandahar Airfield.

The music and jokes had been flying for about an hour when the first explosion and siren forced everyone to scurry for nearby bunkers. No one was hurt.

Kandahar Airfield, the main base for Canadian and alliance troops in southern Afghanistan, has been hit routinely over the last few weeks with wildly erratic 107 mm rocket fire intended to harass NATO forces.

The show was interrupted for about an hour before performers retook the stage and carried on. One of the headline acts was East Coast blues rocker Matt Minglewood, who has spent the last couple of days mixing and chatting with the troops.

It is the guitarist's second trip to entertain soldiers in the war-torn country, and he said earlier Friday that a lot has changed in almost four years. Reading about the dangers and the casualties wasn't enough to prepare him for a "chilling" trip to what soldiers call "the bone yard" - a storage area at the base for armoured vehicles wrecked by roadside bombs.

"It's just brutal to see it," said Minglewood, who traded in his signature cowboy hat for a ball cap and a desert neck scarf.

"People at home, they would never understand until you look in a vehicle where people lost their lives in. It brings the reality smack dab in front of your face."

Country singer Diane Chase, on her third concert tour in Afghanistan, said she looks up to soldiers and believes most Canadians feel the same way, even if they can't be here.

"People talk about having baseball players as heroes, you know, break world record. That's not a hero, these are heroes."

Musical comedian Kenny Shaw hosted the show, performed in front of troops from Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia, Portugal, France and Romania. Chase said she was excited to bring a little bit of Canada to troops, not only from back home but from other countries as well.

"They're just so grateful of us giving up our time to come over and perform for them," said Chase prior to the show.

"What we get back is far greater than what we bring them. It's hard to go home and perform for a regular audience after being here."

The musicians held an impromptu jam with soldiers, some of them just returned from forward operating bases for rest and relaxation, outside of the main Canadian recreation hall on Thursday night. One soldier broke out his own guitar and started playing, much to the delight of singer Ginette Genereux.

"He was really good, doing the guitar riffs and everything," said Genereux, who was the opening act.

The other performers included Celtic musicians Troy MacGillivray and Kimberley Fraser, the Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory and Alberta country singer Duane Steele.

The tour was organized by Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services.

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May 14, 2008
Afghanistan Show Tour Delivers Entertainment From Home

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- A group of ten Canadian entertainers from across the country will combine their talents and travel to Afghanistan to entertain our troops in May for the Task Force Afghanistan Show Tour. The diverse cast will put on five performances for troops over a two week period starting May 18.

These show tours are organized for each Afghanistan six-month rotation by the Canadian Forces Personnel and Family Support Services (CFPFSS), the morale and welfare arm of the Canadian Forces (CF). The CFPFSS has a long tradition of providing show tours to CF members serving overseas and in isolated locations. Over the course of any six-month major mission, a CF Show Tour is usually held at the mid-point.

"A CF Show Tour contributes immensely to the morale of deployed members," says Manager Deployment Policies and Resources Mark Larose, "especially when topnotch Canadian talent takes centre stage to perform for our servicemen and servicewomen half way around the world in a very harsh environment".

The show will be directed and co-hosted by musical comedian Kenny Shaw. Also co-hosting is comedian Pete Zedlacher who previously visited Afghanistan with a CF Show Tour in 2002. The remainder of the show will be filled with a variety of rock, pop, country and Celtic artists. Singers Matt Minglewood, Duane Steele, Diane Chase, Ginette Genereux and Toronto-based rock band Suckerfactory will no doubt have the troops singing along. Adding some east coast flair to the show are Celtic fiddlers Troy MacGillivray and Kimberly Fraser.

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Shane Cook (right), of Dorchester, Ontario and Troy MacGillivray, of Antigonish, Nova Scotia have just completed their new CD and they played one of their promotional concerts right here in Tillsonburg. The concert, which was a sellout, was also a fundraiser for Victorian Order of Nurses Oxford’s Sakura House hospice.  Cook is one of Canada’s most highly awarded old-time fiddlers, a 3-time Canadian Open Fiddle champion, 3-time Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, Grand North American Fiddle Champion and the only Canadian to win the US Grand National Fiddle Championship. Troy MacGillivray, is an accomplished fiddler, pianist and step dancer and most recently won the 2008 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.

When Here Meets There is an exciting new collaboration between two young Canadian fiddlers at the top of their game. Shane Cook of Dorchester, Ontario is one of Canada's most highly awarded old-time
fiddlers: 3-time Canadian Open Fiddle champion, 3-time Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Champion, Grand North American Fiddle Champion, and the only Canadian to win the US Grand National Fiddle Championship. Troy MacGillivray of Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is an accomplished fiddler, pianist and step dancer; he most recently won the 2008 East Coast Music Award for Instrumental Album of the Year. Individually, these
two fiddlers are virtuosic musicians and dynamic performers; together, stimulating and feeding off of each other and their top-tier back-up musicians, they are inspirational.

The album provides an astonishing breadth of styles, tunes, and arrangements. While each fiddler has several opportunities to shine on solo sets that emphasize his particular strengths, my favourite sets on the album are those that Shane and Troy play together. There's an obvious excitement and spark between the two players and their ensemble that is infectious. Their combined lift and rhythmic drive propel the music forward.

While each fiddler brings to the album a flavour of his own, the contrast between their playing is nothing but complementary. Perhaps my favourite tune on the album is "Archie Menzie's". After playing the tune through in unison, well-matched in style, tone, variations, and ornaments, and yet not erasing the unique sound of either, each fiddler plays the tune through by himself, each version excellent, and each version very different. There can be no mistake that Troy, gritty and strongly rhythmic, plays the tune through first and Shane, slightly smoother, with unique melodic variations, plays second. This is a wonderful opportunity to hear how two of the top players in their respective traditions shape the tune to make it their own. Shane has
a considerable reputation amongst fiddlers for his individual, unique style that is not always predictable, but almost always recognizable for its daring, yet ever tasteful, melodic and rhythmic adventures. Troy demonstrates a similar inclination to flirt with stylistic boundaries, most notably in a number of original tunes included on the album. Some will challenge the listener; all will please.

Although the tunes are obviously very carefully arranged, they still manage to sound fresh and inspired, with a spark and energy that is easiest to capture before they have been endlessly rehearsed. Several of the transitions between tunes, in particular, are quite unusual and grab the listener's attention. The play with textures, both between the two fiddlers and with the ensemble, is also especially effective. Techniques such as soloing, doubling of the melody by back-up musicians, harmonizing both whole tunes and short phrases here and there, and playing in different octaves all serve to highlight the talents of the individual musicians, as well as create an remarkable listening experience.

In short, this album provides something for everyone; for those who like the old standards and those who like the cutting edge. For those who are familiar with the playing of Shane Cook and Troy MacGillivray
as individuals, their collaboration will surprise and delight. When Here Meets There, when Ontario meets Nova Scotia, when Canadian old-time, Cape Breton, French-Canadian, Shetland, Texas and other styles and tunes from a variety of traditions meet on this album, the result is truly magical.

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Troy MacGillivray played over 250 performances in 2007 … and still managed to record and release a new CD! Live At The Music Room is Troy’s most invigorating and toe-tapping release yet and features the best of the traditional Celtic music world all wrapped up in a single package. And last night, Live At The Music Room garnered Troy his first ECMA Award for Instrumental Recording of the Year!

The ECMA’s are a four-day music industry conference and ceremony which took place in Fredericton this year. The event culminated in a gala on Sunday night at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton in which over 20 awards were distributed honouring the best in East Coast music over the past year.

Live At The Music Room is MacGillivray’s 4th solo release. Despite the fact that all of his previous recordings have received ECMA nominations, this release marks the first time MacGillivray has received the award. "People have been asking me for the past three or four years to make a live CD. Last year, the timing was finally right. The Music Room is a great facility to play in and the whole idea just came together in a matter of days. We had a fun night and the tracks sounded so good, that I just decided ‘why not’ " says MacGillivray from Fredericton Sunday night, where he was reveling in the recognition from his peers.

The Music Room on Lady Hammond Road in Halifax did indeed provide for a proper concert presentation of Troy’s gifts on both fiddle and keyboard. On the CD, MacGillivray delivers a toe-tapping, invigorating musical journey that is both a concert and ceilidh wrapped up in an incredible listening experience! The unique acoustics of The Music Room are paired with the intimate rapport of Troy and the audience to provide 70 minutes of pure entertainment that flies by so quick, you feel as if you are at the concert instead of actually listening to a CD. Accompanying Troy on the CD are ECMA Award winner Dave MacIsaac on guitar and fellow Antigonish-native Allan Dewar on piano. Special guest appearances by guitarist Brad Davidge and step-dancer Sabra MacGillivray (Troy’s sister) round out the tracks on the CD that Juno Award winning engineer Chad Irshick put the finishing touches to at his studio, Inception Sound in Toronto, to create one of the most dynamic traditional CD’s to come out of Atlantic Canada in recent years.

Troy MacGillivray is also the 2005 winner of the Danny Kyle Stage from the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2004 Auleen Theriault Young Tradition Award winner from the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Ontario - an award given to an artist that
shows outstanding talent and love for traditional and roots-based music. Troy MacGillivray's career has kicked into high gear in recent years and is moving into overdrive with this latest recognition - the ECMA Award - and the release of Live At The Music Room, which is now available online at www.troymacgillivray.com

-30-

Contact: Troy MacGillivray or Pam Wamback
(902)863-1067 / (902)499-1657
info@troymacgillivray.com 

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A repeat broadcast of the Cape Breton Live concert filmed at The Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario in November 2006 will air tonight on Bravo! TV. Featuring Troy MacGillivray, Natalie MacMaster, Andrea Beaton, Glenn Graham, Howie MacDonald, Cheryl Smith, Buddy MacDonald, Kate Quinn and Bob Quinn.

Bravo! TV Canada, 7:00pm ET  |  Bravo Website
Portions of this concert can be heard on Cape Breton Live

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Troy MacGillivray played over 250 performances in 2007 and still managed to record and release a new CD. Live At The Music Room is his most toe-tapping release yet and features the best of the traditional Celtic music world all wrapped up in a single package. He will launch it in Wolfville, NS. next week.

The Music Room in Halifax is one of the finest acoustic spaces in Canada and houses a New York-built Steinway grand piano, which showcased the musical talents of MacGillivray for this live recording. Accompanying him on the CD are ECMA Award winner Dave MacIsaac on guitar and fellow Antigonish native Allan Dewar on piano. Special guest appearances by guitarist Brad Davidge and step-dancer and sister Sabra MacGillivray round out the tracks on the CD.

Juno Award-winning engineer Chad Irchick put the finishing touches to at his studio, Inception Sound in Toronto. Live At The Music Room is MacGillivray’s fourth solo release.

MacGillivray was the 2005 winner of the Danny Kyle Stage from the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2004 Auleen Theriault Young Tradition Award winner from the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, an award given to an artist that shows outstanding talent and love for traditional and roots-based music.

The new CD will be featured in a release concert at Al Whittle Theatre Friday, Feb. 1 starting at 8 p.m. Accompanying him at the concert will be Allan Dewar and Brent Chaisson with a special guest appearance by local favourites, the Fiddlestickers. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.

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Troy MacGillivray’s Live at the Music Room CD is ready for release with a special show in the very same Lady Hammond Road venue on Friday night. He also plays St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Whycocomagh on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Port Hawkesbury at the Grand Slam of Curling on Dec. 20 and the Celtic Touch Highland Dance Christmas Concert at the SAERC on Dec. 21.

JUST A MONTH shy of a year after recording it, Antigonish Celtic maestro Troy MacGillivray’s Live at the Music Room CD is ready for release with a special show in the very same Lady Hammond Road venue on Friday night.

Part of the same group of musical siblings that gives us fiddling sister Kendra and stepdancer Sabra, Troy MacGillivray has shown both great skill and feeling for the music on his studio CDs Musical Ties, Boomerang and Eleven. But if you’ve heard him perform live, you’ve seen him work up a sweat with that extra jolt of Gaelic fire that only a live audience and without-a-net atmosphere can kindle.

MacGillivray has some live clips available on his website (www.troymacgillivray.com) but Live at the Music Room gives us the listening pleasure of a studio-quality recording in the famed hall’s acoustically perfect environment as well as the extra energy of a concert setting, with pianist Allan Dewar and guitarists Dave MacIsaac and Brad Davidge drivin’ ’er right along.

As a bonus, you get to hear Sabra stepdance, which doesn’t really compare to seeing her kick up her heels in person, but may serve as an added incentive to get to the show on Friday.

It’s been a busy fall for MacGillivray; since October he’s played Celtic Colours, the Celtic Nations Heritage Festival of Louisiana, the Clear Lake Celtic Music Festival in Texas, plus concerts in New England, including the Boston Tree Lighting Event.

At the moment he’s recording a project with New Brunswick fiddler Ray Legere, guitarist Skip Holmes and 1999 U.S. Grand National Fiddle Champion Shane Cook, a versatile Ontario player who’s mastered a variety of styles, which should make for an intriguing meeting of musical minds.

And MacGillivray’s still got a few shows to go until Christmas, including St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Whycocomagh on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and appearances in Port Hawkesbury at the Grand Slam of Curling on Dec. 20 and the Celtic Touch Highland Dance Christmas Concert at the SAERC on Dec. 21. Then it’s over to Glasgow for the huge Celtic Connections festival in January, where he’ll likely reconnect with many of the Scottish musicians who grace the cross-Atlantic tracks on Eleven.

The Music Room concert starts at 8 p.m., tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling 429-9467 or e-mailing tyler@scotiafestival.ns.ca. Seating is limited, so it’s best to ensure you have tickets ahead of time.

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October 9, 2007
Celtic Colours project strikes a chord with group of musicians
LAURA JEAN GRANT, The Cape Breton Post

BADDECK — Take 10 talented musicians, a picture-perfect setting, and Flo Sampson’s home cooking and you have all the ingredients needed to make musical magic. For the past four days some of the best Canadian and Scottish roots/traditional artists have been holed up in a Beinn Bhreagh home sharing their own songs and collaborating on new material and tunes which will be performed publicly for the first time tonight at Strathspey Place in Mabou, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The New Tunemakers is a special project of this year’s Celtic Colours International Festival and features well-known local musicians Troy MacGillivray, Glenn Graham, Andrea Beaton, Ryan J. MacNeil, Colin Grant, Prince Edward Island’s Patricia Murray, Metis fiddler Sierra Noble and the three members of Scotland band, Lau, - Aidan O’Rourke, Martin Green and Kris Drever.

O’Rourke said the project was devised by Celtic Colours co-director Joella Foulds and inspired by Scotland’s Burnsong project where a dozen artists spent a week together collaborating on new material.
With just four days to prepare for tonight’s show, O’Rourke said Sunday was the icebreaker day where everyone got to know each other and one another’s music during a jam session, and Monday and Tuesday were full days of writing and practising new tunes. The group will hold a final day of rehearsal today at Strathspey Place.

"It’s quite interesting for us as a band to work under this kind of pressure," he said, noting he, Green and Drever typically spend a lot of time fine-tuning new songs before performing them.
With a wall of windows overlooking the Bras d’Or Lakes as their backdrop, a fireplace keeping things toasty and lots of good food and snacks to keep the creative juices flowing, Green said the past few days have been a unique experience.

"It’s been fantastic," he said. "We’re in a beautiful spot and that never hurts."
O’Rourke said working with other musicians and creating new traditional tunes makes the time and effort required worth it.

"It’s really rewarding to know these quality new tunes are being written," he said, adding, "The atmosphere is good, morale is high."

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View photos from this concert

Dan Crook and Carla Sandstrom, whom I had met at the Tommy Peoples and Jerry Holland concert in Montpelier, are avid anglers who greatly enjoy fishing in the Margaree area; while there over the years, they have developed a taste for Cape Breton music, which they have recently started sharing with their friends and colleagues in a series of house concerts, providing another venue to visiting Maritime musicians in the New England area.

I heard about the Saturday house concert from a posting on this list. Since I was planning on attending the Jerry Holland benefit concert in Boston on Sunday, and since Lebanon, New Hampshire, is not too far out of the way, I e-mailed Dan to see if he still had room for another attendee; he did, so I decided to treat myself to an evening of Troy MacGillivray’s fine music on the way to Boston.

Dan and Carla’s house parties begin with a social hour with appetizers and BYOB from 18h-19h. They are followed by music until the musicians want a break, at which point dessert is served. More music then follows until the musicians decide to quit for the evening. When I arrived, the happy hour was in full swing and I got to meet several of the attendees. I also got a chance to chat with Janine Randall, who was Troy’s accompanist on this mini-tour, which also included appearances at the Skye Theatre in South Carthage, Maine, at a house party at Clint and Beth Telford’s home in Braintree, Vermont, and at the Jerry Holland benefit concert in Boston.

Troy and Janine started playing around 19h20 and provided a couple of fine Cape Breton sets which were very well received by the attentive audience. The acoustics were excellent and Troy played without amplification, so one was able to hear the music au naturel, so to speak. After the second set, Troy provided introductions to some of the tunes in the sets he played; in each case, there was a tidbit or more of information of which I was previously unaware. The third set began with Space Available March, composed by the fiddler, comedian, and actor Marcel Doucet (1948-1992) [locally pronounced as if written "Doucette"], who was heavily involved in the musical productions The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton Island and Cape Breton Summertime Review, and in whose honour the state-of-the-art sound and recording studio, Studio Marcel Doucet, from which CKJM broadcasts in Chéticamp, was named. The fourth set started with Elmer Briand’s slow air Beautiful Lake Ainslie (which appears in a version by Jerry Holland in his The Fiddlesticks Collection CD), for which Janine Randall’s accompaniment was superb; I don’t know how she did it, but she brought to my mind the rippling waters of Lake Ainslie under a clear blue sky, shimmering in the summer sun, whilst Troy’s beautiful rendering of the fiddle melody floated above the rhythmic pianistic waves. After another set (or possibly two—my notes are not clear), Troy took over the piano bench and played solo a fine set of tunes, none of whose names I have, starting with a slow air and ending with a virtuosic piece in which his fingers were flying through the descending cascades of notes with which it ends so fast that they were simply a blur to my eyes (I was seated not more than ten feet away), though not to my ears! The stunned audience, most of whom had never heard Troy play before, burst into applause at the end of this bravura performance!

It was time for a brief break. Troy had his latest CD, Eleven for sale; I noticed beside them a 7 × 8.5 inch booklet entitled Troy MacGillivray Fiddle Tunes. Published this year and designed by Troy and Pam Wamback, it contains fifteen of Troy’s compositions, four of which appear on his CD’s and one of which appears on his sister Kendra’s CD, in addition to some brief geographical, cultural, and biographical notes. I had a chance to chat briefly with Pam, who works in Nova Scotia’s Ministry of Tourism in Halifax; she was there overseeing the CD and booklet sales.

Once everyone was refreshed, Troy and Janine resumed playing. After a fiddle set beginning with the Carnival March, composed by Shetland composer and fiddler Gideon Stove (a version appears on Natalie MacMaster’s CD Fit as a Fiddle), Troy switched his fiddle tuning to high bass and gave us a Christy Campbell set (in introducing it, he misnamed it as Krispy Kreme, to the amusement of all, including Troy’s). Next, he explained that Antigonish square sets consist of five figures, with two of the five being danced to hornpipes and polkas; this led into a wonderful medley of hornpipes and polkas, many of which Troy got from his grandfather, Hugh Angus MacDonald, the celebrated Antigonish fiddler (1889-1976). A request from the audience led to a set with Gordon MacLean’s popular reel Mortgage Burn (which appears on Troy’s CD Eleven) and which Troy said had also been requested at the previous evening’s house party in Braintree. The next set began with the blind Scottish piper Archie MacNeill’s (1879-1962) pipe march Donald MacLean’s Farewell to Oban. This was followed by a long set containing Tulloch Gorm, ending in Troy step-dancing while he continued to play the fiddle at breakneck speed. A standing ovation ensued for this incredible performance! The encore featured a Jerry Holland tune (whose name I didn’t get) along with several other tunes. Janine’s piano accompaniment throughout was first class, never obtrusive and never pedestrian, but always solidly imaginative, complementary, and interesting; it sounded as if they had been playing together for years rather than three days. Indeed, she remarked how easy it was to accompany Troy as his playing was so true to the fiddlers she had heard and accompanied when she was first getting into the music, though she did admit, at the end of the evening, that her fingers were tired from keeping up with his hectic pace over the past three days.

The concert finished near 22h. I had an opportunity to speak with Troy afterwards and thank him for his fine music. His next CD, recorded live in Halifax, is currently in production; he hopes to have it available for Celtic Colours.

My thanks go to Troy and Janine for an evening of memorable music beautifully and energetically played with passion, and to Dan and Carla for their fine hospitality and for their kindness in fitting me in at the last moment. Their efforts to pass on to others the incredible richness and beauty of Cape Breton music through the quality of the performers they invite to play there are certainly off to a fine start and I wish them all possible success in this endeavour

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CARTHAGE - Troy MacGillivray, one of Canada's best young fiddlers, will take the stage Thursday, Sept. 6, at Skye Theatre Performing Arts Center.

MacGillivray's musical prowess can be attributed to a combination of commitment and bloodline. By age 6, he was already impressing audiences with his step dancing skills. By 13, he was teaching piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne's, Cape Breton. He has completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, has spent four years in a stringed orchestra and has earned a bachelor of arts degree with a major in music from St. Francis Xavier University.

Although engaged in a busy touring schedule, MacGillivray is on his way to Boston to participate in a benefit concert for mentor and friend Jerry Holland. Joining him on stage will be pianist Janine Randall founder of The Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music. Together, they will offer an evening of Celtic styles including Cape Breton, Scottish, and Irish fiddle tunes and step dancing.

Recent performance highlights include Celtic Connections 2004 in Glasgow, the 2004 East Coast Music Awards, Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Barbados Celtic Festival and the Edinburgh Fiddle Festival.

He also recorded a television program for the Bravo Television Network and provided music for a CBS made-for-TV movie starring Jane Seymour.

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SYDNEY - Bringin' It Home, Music Nova Scotia's annual musical tour of the province, comes to Cape Breton this weekend with two inspired pairings. Troy MacGillivray and Brad Davidge will appear Friday night at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 124, Iona, and Saturday night at the Octagon Arts Centre, Dingwall, and Sons of Maxwell and Scott Macmillan with Brian Doyle perform Saturday night at the Big Pond fire hall.

MacGillivray is a talented fiddler and piano player who has performed all over North America and from Switzerland to Australia. He was featured recently at Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Scotland, the East
Coast Music Awards in Halifax, Folk Alliance in Memphis, Tenn., and the
University of Wyoming.

Davidge is an exciting, versatile guitar player, full of energy and soul. His songwriting abilities are of a true craftsman, both mature yet current and his vocal abilities are endless, possessing a four-octave range. He regularly performs and records with Natalie MacMaster and has appeared on Good Morning America, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, CBS Morning Show, and ABC's New Year's Eve Special with Peter Jennings. His debut album, Unfolded, received coast to coast acclaim, including two Music Nova Scotia nominations, (album of the year, new artist of the year), and an ECMA for pop artist of the year.

Sons of Maxwell are a big hit with audiences of all ages. Don and Dave Carroll began singing together while attending university and started full-time music careers soon after graduation. Their pop-folk sound combines strong harmonies and thought-provoking lyrics with an interesting blend of musical styles that
has made them popular with a broad spectrum of people.

Macmillan is recognized as one of Canada's leading musicians and for playing an integral role in widening the audience for the music of Atlantic Canada both nationally and internationally. An exceptional guitarist, Macmillan has been nominated seven times for East Coast Music Awards, receiving the instrumental
artist of the year award in 1998, best classical recording for MacKinnon's Brook Suite in 2002 and Bach Meets Cape Breton with Puirt a Baroque in 1995.

Guitarist Doyle grew up in Margaree Forks. He was born into the Celtic music scene of pianos, fiddles, bagpipes and step dancers that were a part of his everyday life, performing with countless Cape Breton greats including Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac, Buddy MacMaster, Howie MacDonald, Cameron Chisholm and Maybelle Chisholm to list just a few.

For the complete lineup and information about artists, venues and where to buy tickets,
visit www.musicnovascotia.ca.

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March 15, 2007 -- Troy MacGillivray, Ellen MacPhee and Jason Murdock will perform a free concert of traditional and contemporary Celtic music from Nova Scotia Thursday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the University of Wyoming College of Education auditorium.

Whether playing piano or fiddle or showcasing his step dancing capabilities, MacGillivray displays commitment to the Celtic heritage he inherited from his Highland ancestors. By age six, he impressed audiences with his step dancing skills. At age 13, he taught piano at the renowned Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts in St. Anne's, Cape Breton. MacGillivray completed grade seven of the Toronto Conservatory of Music for classical piano, spent four years in a stringed orchestra, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Francis Xavier University.

Guest Ellen MacPhee is a Scottish small-piper, highly sought as a performer and a teacher. Guitar accompanist is UW student Jason Murdock, who has accompanied many of the top names in the Cape Breton tradition.

Other performers include Rod Garnett, professor in the UW Department of Music, Carrick Eggleston, professor in the UW Department of Geology and Geophysics, and UW students Amy Lenell of Cheyenne and Ingrid Thorstensen of Vikhammer, Norway.

The concert is sponsored by the UW Department of Music, UW Cultural Outreach, and the Associated Students of UW Student Activities Council. For more information call the Campus Activities Center at (307) 766-6340 or visit www.uwyo.edu/sac. 

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THE GREAT THING about Celtic music, especially here in Nova Scotia, is the ease with which it can transfer from the kitchen to the concert hall. Sure, you can dress it up with light show and splashy production if you want - Natalie MacMaster knocks 'em dead around the world doing just that - but often the sprit and the drive are plenty when it comes to entertaining crowds from a dozen or a few hundred.

Antigonish pianist and fiddler Troy MacGillivray is just the kind of artist who can do it; I've seen him play everywhere from someone's house to the Red Shoe Pub and a curling rink, and many different venues in between. But on Friday at 8 p.m. he's opting for one of the best venues for acoustic music you could hope
for, The Music Room on Lady Hammond Road for a proper concert presentation of his gifts on both fiddle and keyboard as well as making a live recording for future release.

"People have been asking me for the past three or four years to make a live CD, and I've always said no," says MacGillivray from his home in Lanark. "It's not that I wasn't interested, I just wasn't thinking about it.

"But over Christmas I was trying to figure out what direction I should go in next, and I'd been thinking about a Music Room concert for a while. Then I remembered they had a recording suite there, and the whole idea really just came together over a few days over the holidays."

Coming from a dynasty of musicians going back to grandfather Hugh A. MacDonald and including his sisters Kendra and Sabra, MacGillivray turned to a pianist with a similar lineage, Antigonish-area player Allan Dewar (son of noted pianist Marion Dewar), and also recruited the ne plus ultra of Celtic guitarists, Dave MacIsaac.

"I played with Dave when I was 16, when Kendra made her first CD, Clear the Track," recalls MacGillivray. "We played together a lot more after that, especially after he got off the road with Natalie.

"The great thing about Dave is he's so easy to play with. When I was a really young kid, I knew his music really well because he played on so many people's records. A lot of the time I'd end up listening to him more than the others."

As an added bonus, the evening will also include a set by special guest, guitarist/singer-songwriter Brad Davidge, known for his work with MacMaster as well as his own compositions on the CD Unfolded.

As for his CD, MacGillivray doesn't have a release date in mind yet for Friday night's recording, but he'd like to have it in hand before the summer music festival circuit gets under way. In the meantime, he's got a full slate with a trip to Scotland for the Celtic Connections festival and conference next week, plus trips to Wisconsin, Chicago, Folk Alliance in Memphis as well as some appearances at the ECMAs in Halifax in February, so listeners should catch him at home while they can.

Tickets for Troy MacGillivray and friends are $15 at the Music Room (429-9467 or 499-1657).

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