Cherish the Ladies

Celtic Christmas

Sunday, December 3, 2023 at 8pm at Union County Performing Arts Center

One of the most engaging and successful ensembles in the history of Celtic music, Cherish The Ladies have shared timeless Irish traditions with audiences worldwide for over thirty years. In Cherish The Ladies Celtic Christmas, the Ladies put their signature mark on classic carols such as “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Silent Night,” in arrangements that highlight the group’s unique Celtic instrumentation, beautiful harmonies, and spectacular step dancing. Hailed by The New York Times as “passionate, tender and rambunctious,” Cherish The Ladies have released three critically acclaimed holiday albums, On Christmas Night, A Star in The East, and 2015’s Christmas in Ireland.

“It is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do,” says the Boston Globe speaking of Cherish the Ladies, the long-running, Grammy- nominated, Irish-American super group that formed in New York City in 1985 to celebrate the rise of extraordinary women in what had been a male-dominated Irish music scene. Over the past three decades, they have toured the world, played the White House and the Olympics and recorded 17 critically acclaimed albums including their Emmy winning special, “An Irish Homecoming,” which was broadcast on PBS.

Under the leadership of All-Ireland flute and whistle champion Joanie Madden, named by The Irish Voice Newspaper as one of the Top 25 most influential Irish Americans of the past quarter century, these ladies create an evening that includes a spectacular blend of virtuoso instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, captivating arrangements, and stunning step dancing. Their continued success as one of the top Celtic groups in the world is due to the ensembles ability to take the best of Irish traditional music and dance and put it forth in an immensely entertaining show.

The New York Times calls their music “passionate, tender, and rambunctious,” and the Washington Post praises their “astonishing array of virtuosity.” They’ve won recognition as the BBC’s Best Musical Group of the Year and named Top North American Celtic Group at the Irish Music Awards and not to mention having a street named after them in the Bronx! They’ve collaborated with such musicians as The Boston Pops, The Clancy Brothers, the Chieftains, Vince Gill, Nanci Griffith, Pete Seeger, Don Henley, Arlo Guthrie and Maura O’Connell, as well as being the featured soloist with over 280 nights of symphony orchestras.

The level of artistic, historic, and purely enticing entertainment is unlike any in its genre. As their reputation and admiration from both fans and critics alike continues to grow, Cherish The Ladies blazes forward into another decade of music making. Get into the holiday spirit and join us for Cherish The Ladies Celtic Christmas!