This Wednesday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. Ireland’s Lúnasa will perform in the Deane Center’s Coolidge Theatre at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro.

This is the fourth in the Wellsboro Community Concert Association’s six-concert series.

Lúnasa is currently on tour in the United States and Canada. On this tour, along with their broad repertoire of traditional and original music from the many Celtic regions of the world, the band is “road-testing” new material for a release to be recorded in Japan later in the year.

The group that Folk Roots magazine once called an “Irish music dream team” was formed 26 years ago in 1997 from members of some of Ireland’s greatest bands. 

Four of the five founding members will perform in Wellsboro. They are: Trevor Hutchinson on bass, Cillian Vallely on pipes, Kevin Crawford on flute and Sean Smyth on fiddle and whistle. Guitarist Ed Boyd has been with Lúnasa for 10 years.

Hutchinson achieved fame as the bassist with The Waterboys and later Sharon Shannon; Vallely was a member of Riverdance and recorded with Bruce Springsteen; Crawford, considered one of Ireland’s greatest flute players, was a member of Moving Cloud; Smyth is a multiple all-Ireland champion on both fiddle and whistle; and Ed Boyd made a name for himself in the UK with bands, such as Flook, Kate Rusby, and Cara Dillon.

The band is especially excited to be touring North America once again with founding member Smyth, who has been rather busy in recent years with his medical practice in County Mayo.

The all-instrumental quintet is noted for double-bass and guitar-driven rhythms, original compositions mixed with material from Celtic regions, such as Brittany, Galicia, and Asturias, and a surprising focus on melodies involving three-part harmonies played on the traditional pipes, fiddle, and flute.

Adults with a season pass can attend all three remaining concerts with children 12 and under admitted free.

The ticket price per adult for the Lúnasa concert on March 8 is $25 per adult with children 12 and under admitted free. A student who is 13 to 18 will be admitted for $5 per concert.

Admission to the Matthew Ball aka The Boogie Woogie Kid concert on Saturday, April 22 is $20 per adult and to The Revelers concert on Friday, May 19 is $25 per adult. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

Information about and tickets for individual concerts are available by visiting www.wellsborocca.org or by calling the Deane Center at 570-724-6220.