Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy bringing blazing fiddle playing to Hanover Theatre

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy are known as Canada’s reigning stars of Celtic music. Some people go even further with the praise, geographically speaking. They are "two of the planet’s very best fiddle players," says The Sound Cafe Magazine.

No one doubted either assertion when the married couple brought their “Visions from Cape Breton and Beyond” tour, and four of their seven children, to The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts in a concert presented by Music Worcester in 2019. Telegram & Gazette reviewer Jonathan Blumhofer said they brought "charisma and palpable joy to the proceedings."

MacMaster and Leahy return to The Hanover Theatre for a concert March 9, once again presented by Music Worcester. Four of their children will be on stage again as well.

No matter where you are on the planet, there is something about Celtic folk music that has universal appeal, MacMaster observed during a recent telephone interview.

The music translates

Originally from Cape Breton on Nova Scotia, MacMaster has made a name for herself performing jigs, reels, airs, strathspeys, waltzes, ballads, marches and traditional folk while also incorporating floor-pounding step-dancing. She's written her own original music in that vein as well as playing the traditional classics.

"The greatest thing about what I do is it translates," she said. "I've always loved the thrill of going to a new country. I was always confident of it going well and it always did." German audiences are particularly responsive, she observed, while the English are quiet but appreciative and in the United States people aren't shy about letting their exuberance show.

While the music translates, MacMaster and Leahy didn't get on the same page musically right away, having previously become established as renowned fiddlers in their own right before getting married.

Cape Breton music is considered Scottish-French Celtic, and MacMaster is of Scottish heritage. Leahy is from Lakefield, Ontario (where the couple and their children now live), and his Celtic roots are Irish. Also, as Blumhofer noted, MacMaster's repertoire is rooted in folk dances while Leahy's is more in instrumental virtuosity while incorporating some formal dance forms.

"Musically it to took a lot of time to make it gel," MacMaster said. They listened to one recording of them playing together and said, "this doesn't sound so good," she recalled.

"Over the years we got better at listening to each other. It took years to evolve ... (Now) we don't really think twice about it. It sounds like one sound together ... But we do make sure not to play too much together."

Dancing throughout the night

The couple have released three albums since their marriage in 2002 — "One" (2015), "A Celtic Family Christmas" (2016), and "Canvass" (2023). MacMaster released her own album "Sketches" in 2019.

For their joint concerts, "There's all sorts of ways to slice it," MacMaster said. The March 9 concert will likely begin with MacMaster and Leahy playing duets together on their fiddles, and then they will each have individual spots. The children will take the stage for some performing on their respective instruments (including fiddle, accordion and guitar) and dancing, with MacMaster and Leahy returning together. A band will accompany them at various points throughout the evening.

"There'll be a lot of dances throughout the night and the kids dancing," MacMaster said. With March 9 close to St. Patrick's Day on March 17, "You never know, we might have to put a twist in there, an Irish twist." But she noted that much of the repertoire "is Irish anyway without even trying."

'The perfect balance'

MacMaster will be making her fourth appearance for Music Worcester, having also previously performed here with her band in 2009 and 2013.

Adrien C. Finlay, executive director of Music Worcester, said "When we began curating the 2023-2024 season, we quickly realized that bringing back Natalie and Donnell, and their family, would provide the perfect balance. Their amazingly virtuosic fiddle playing, improvisations, audience engagement, and joyous music-making will serve as the perfect complement to the other legends on our schedule this season, including Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Voces8, Midori, and Chris Thile."

MacMaster's Scottish ancestors came to Cape Breton in the 18th century after the Highland Clearances had evicted tenants. MacMaster said she had just got back from a visit to Scotland. "They really value the connection to Cape Breton," she said.

She is the niece of the late famed Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster and said of traditional music, "I ate it for breakfast ... Mom always had a record player, cassette recordings."

She first picked up a fiddle (a three-quarters fiddle) in earnest at 9, giving public performances a short while later. By 16, she had released her first album, "Four on the Floor."

Asked if there had been a defining moment that led her to pursue traditional music, she said "I would say not a defining moment but an accumulation of moments. The writing was on the wall. When you live in Cape Breton there are a lot of music events. I was getting asked to play at a ton of places. I kept answering the phone and it became obvious."

MacMaster also earned a Bachelor of Education degree from Nova Scotia Teachers College to be a teacher as "a back up plan"

While at college, "I got a phone call one day — (he said) 'I'm a fiddler from Ontario, you probably don't know me.'" She replied, "I do know you."

It was Leahy who was "in town" and wanted to take her out to dinner. Leahy is from the well-known Leahy  Canadian folk music group of eight band members.

"We started dating," MacMaster said. They dated for two years, broke up for 10 years, "and then we got married (in 2002)."

Their seven children range in age from 5 to 18. They have all taken to music and dancing, and traveling together as a family when MacMaster and Leahy are touring, she said. She has put her teaching degree to good use by homeschooling her children.

However, "The pandemic shut us down well and good for a good long bit," she said of performing live.

MacMaster and Leahy worked on "Canvass" which was released last year an has special guests including classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Grammy award winning Americana music/Appalachian banjo/fiddle player Rhiannon Giddens. They also put on virtual shows.

MacMaster now performs about 75 shows a year. When she was solo she averaged about 250, she said. "Overworked, I guess you'd say. I was just too worn out."

MacMaster, Leahy and family will be coming to Worcester as part of a nine show U.S. tour.

Performing after the pandemic was "weird" at first as "people were still wearing masks." Now things seem normal, she said.

Does MacMaster still enjoy live, in-person perfromances?

"Oh my goodness, yes. I think more than I ever did."

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy — Presented by Music Worcester

When: 8 p.m. March 9

Where: The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester

How much: $49 and $65; youth and student $25. Thehanovertheatre.org

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy bringing blazing fiddle playing