Join us for an evening of music presented by West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts.

Tickets by Donation. Students FREE.

Advanced Ticket: Pay what feels good! (Sug. 20 – 60)
Suggested donation $5-20 (I’m a household on a budget), or $25-60 (I’ve got some money and I want to make a difference!) No one turned away for lack of ability to pay. Can’t pay online? Use the waitlist.

Waitlist: Pay at the event (Sug. 20 – 60)
Suggested donation $5-20 (I’m a household on a budget), or $25-60 (I’ve got some money and I want to make a difference!) No one turned away for lack of ability to pay. Use this option if you can’t pay online.

Skye Consort & Emma Björling perform trans-Atlantic arrangements of songs and tunes from Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, England, Québec, Acadia, the USA, as well as original compositions. Each musician brings their own individual interpretation to these traditions, creating an extraordinary collaboration featuring voices, fiddle, nyckelharpa, cello, bouzouki, banjo, and percussion. Collectively, the band presents an assortment of whirling polskas, groovy reels, passionate love songs, breathtaking hymns, and original compositions.

Simon Alexandre (fiddle, nyckelharpa & vocals) is an accomplished chamber musician and orchestral violinist. He plays with the Ximenez String Quartet and is a member of the Orchestre Philharmonique du Québec. At age 17, he moved to Sweden to study nyckelharpa. He plays in the violin, nyckelharpa, and Hardanger fiddle in the folk duo La Traverse.

Emma Björling (lead voice, percussion & shruti box) is an award-winning Swedish singer, composer, and arranger, active in the renowned Scandinavian bands Kongero, Kongero/WÖR-Songbooks, and Lyy. She has toured the world with numerous bands and stays busy on the European folk/trad scene. Emma is a board member of NASC (North Atlantic Song Community), teaches at Framnäs Collage, and conducts workshops all over the world.

Seán Dagher (lead voice, Irish bouzouki & banjo) is an active performer, arranger, and composer of music from various folk and classical music traditions. He plays with The Swindlers, The Reese Witherspoons, and Gairloch, and is co-artistic director of La Nef. Seán has provided music for video games including the Assassin’s Creed series. You might have heard him singing on Black Flag and the others. Or maybe you saw him perform with ‘The Longest Johns’.

Amanda Keesmaat (cello & vocals) is a vibrant presence in the Montréal early music community. She has recorded and performed with many prominent singers, instrumental soloists, and renowned ensembles. She is the founder of Space Time Continuo and a regular collaborator with La Nef. She has toured extensively in North and South America and in Europe.

https://skyeconsort.org/

Please join us for an evening concert, presented by West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts.

Tickets by Donation. Students FREE.

Advanced Tickets: Pay what feels good! (Sug. 20 – 60)
Suggested donation $5-20 (I’m a household on a budget), or $25-60 (I’ve got some money and I want to make a difference!) No one turned away for lack of ability to pay. Can’t pay online? Use the waitlist.

Waitlist (free option): Pay at the event (Sug. 20 – 60)
Suggested donation $5-20 (I’m a household on a budget), or $25-60 (I’ve got some money and I want to make a difference!) No one turned away for lack of ability to pay. Use this option if you can’t pay online.

Singer/songwriter Myra Flynn spends her career embracing dichotomy. Half Irish and half African American, her original indie/soul songs blend soulful vocals with a lyrical delivery that doesn’t let one get too comfortable. As the New England Deli Magazine puts it, “Her vocal influences have as much in common with Ani Difranco and Shawn Colvin as they do with Rihanna and Jill Scott.”

Myra’s latest album, Shadow Work, was released in the summer of 2023. Margaret Grayson of 7days describes Shadow Work as “… five songs deeply concerned with relationships of all kinds. Flynn, who splits her time between Vermont and Los Angeles, sings of mothers and daughters, romantic relationships gone wrong, and the people who get us through the hardest times. She considers big questions about how a person ought to be in the world, but she conducts her case studies on the most intimate of stages. In certain moments, she questions herself, wondering if she’s doing enough for the people she loves; other times, she offers full-throated declarations of her own worth in the world. The same song can hold both sentiments, and Flynn’s ability to capture complicated, conflicting emotions in her lyrics swept me away.”

Myra is a lyrical storyteller, who uses her voice to empower, inspire, and even educate. She fearlessly tackles topics that others shy away from in both her music and in her journalism career. She says that motherhood has left her no more time to be self conscious and there is no room for shyness. She finds a new strength, independence and inspiration in her daughter, Avalon, and her husband Phil. Myra is a singer, songwriter, journalist, advocate, ally, mother, wife – and always, unapologetically, human.

Her podcast with Vermont Public Radio, titled Homegoings, is a “righteous space for art and race.” It’s a show that invites listeners to be a fly on the wall, privy to candid and genuine conversations about race. We explore themes that fearlessly straddle the line between necessary and uncomfortable, as I speak with artists, experts and regular folks all over the country about their literal skin in the game – of everyday life. Homegoings is storytelling – with a heartbeat. No topic is off the table, and there’s no such thing as going “too deep.” These are the conversations that are our birthright to have, and the stories we are lucky to hear.Currently, Myra Flynn lives a bi-costal life, still holding onto her roots in Vermont part of her year while also working and living in Los Angeles under the guidance of Swift Street Management Team. She has created a jewelry line made from recycled piano parts and recently partnered with Vermont Vineyard, Shelburne Vineyard to create a namesake wine: FLYNN. She has toured the United States countless times as well as: Whales, London, Ireland and most frequently, Australia. Her motto regarding next steps and fame tends to be: “If you’re doing it, you’ve already made it.”