Celtic Woman & Celtic Tenors

Next Friday the mesmerising sounds of the rolling green hills of Ireland take over Sydney, as two of the foremost groups in Irish and Celtic music arrive to entertain and delight fans.

As part of their 2015 world tour celebrating the groups 10 year anniversary, Celtic Woman are set to bring their new energetic and lively show to our shores. Joining the ladies will be the all-male group the Celtic Tenors, who are commemorating the release of their twelfth album, Timeless.

Before arriving in Australia, members of both groups stressed the excitement about coming down under. “We can’t wait to be back, we were down there in January 2014 and we still talk about it. It was an amazing experience, it was like being on holiday because the weather was beautiful, the people were friendly and it was just a great atmosphere everywhere we went,” said Susan MacFadden of the Celtic Woman. James Nelson of the Celtic Tenors was also excited, saying: “We’ve been to Australia for the odd corporate gig or one-off concert, so it’s exciting just to see more of Australia, I’m dying to see it.”

Since joining Celtic Woman in 2013, MacFadden has been able to quickly slot right in and become part of the “family”. Joining such a successful and long standing group, Susan obviously felt some pressure and nerves about “not wanting to be the one responsible for a downfall”. But thankfully, as she put it, “[within] five minutes everyone made me feel so welcome and all those fears went away”. Since then the group has gone from strength to strength, touring all around America, Europe and now coming down under.

For the Celtic Tenors, the release of Timeless is an exciting occasion because they are now focusing on some new material, in particular the songs that they grew up loving in the late 70s and 80s. For this album the guys wanted to make sure they weren’t just trying to mimic or imitate the artists they are covering, but as Nelson put it they rather wanted to “put the Celtic Tenors stamp on these songs while still keeping them recognisable and with our own harmonies.”

Both groups are extremely excited to be joining forces for this tour. James said “we actually know one of the girls, Maréad Nesbitt, really well so it will be lovely to see her again. With the five women and three guys, we think visually it would be lovely to do something together so hopefully we can do that.”

“It will be fresh and exciting for us [having the Celtic Tenors on tour] and I think for audiences it will be a nice treat to see the male version and female perspective of Irish music,” said MacFadden.

September 18. QANTAS Credit Union Arena, 35 Harbour St, Darling Harbour. $131.52-162.10 + b.f. Tickets: ticketek.com