Utopia Early Music to perform 'Harp of Éire: Six Centuries of Irish Music'

Utopia Early Music continues its fourth season with "Harp of Éire: Six Centuries of Irish Music" on Friday, March 8, at 8 p.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church (1100 E 5550 S, South Ogden) as well as Saturday, March 9 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 10 at 5 p.m. at the the Cathedral Church of St. Mark (231 E 100 S, Salt Lake City).

Admission: free‐will payment (suggested $15 general/$12 seniors/$10 students).From the press release:Celtic harp, fiddle, and flute lead listeners on a journey from the earliest Irish chant to favorite nineteenth-century ballads. Utopia's founders, Emily Nelson (soprano) and Christopher LeCluyse (tenor) are joined by Antona Yost (mezzo-soprano), Ricky Parkinson (bass), Lisa Chaufty (flute & recorder), Bronwen Beecher (fiddle), and Therese Honey (Celtic harp) for a sparkling frolic through six hundred years of Irish music. From the tuneful to the tearful, this nation's beautiful tradition has the power to lift the spirits and stir the soul. In addition to familiar nineteenth-century favorites like "Danny Boy," we present little-heard songs from the fourteenth-century Dublin Troper, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century harp tunes, and twenty-first century settings of traditional Irish texts.Recipient of the 2011 Arty Award for Best Classical/Opera Performance, Utopia Early Music breathes life into the Salt Lake City music scene with its historically informed performances of medieval, renaissance, and baroque music. Reviews of past concerts have praised the group for "wonderful performances that captured the character and spirit of this music" and "diverse programs that haven't necessarily been confined to the repertoire one would normally expect from an early music ensemble."