Traditional Irish music is a body of melody and song shaped and reshaped over centuries by countless musicians. It is a collective creation. Very few of its composers are known to us. What has endured is not authorship, but essence, form, and the tunes themselves.

For me, the most essential element of the tradition resides in the intangible, in the soul-rich feeling carried within these melodies. It is a music in motion, always seeking to speak to the present moment while also carrying a wealth emotion and feeling from another time. Ancient airs sit alongside tunes written yesterday, without the need to distinguish between them. This is a living, breathing tradition that does not belong to any one era; it lives through renewal.

At its heart, it is communal and non-hierarchical. Beyond the concert stage, people gather simply to play—not to perform, but to participate. The informal music session in a bar, the kitchen gathering, the quiet act of privately listening deeply to another musician: These remain central. The tradition has been sustained by the multiplicity of ways in which it can be experienced.

The transatlantic connection is an essential part of this music’s story. In the early 20th century, Irish musicians in America encountered the energy of vaudeville, the vitality of the Jazz Age, and a newly multicultural musical world. The first commercial recordings of Irish traditional music were made within that atmosphere. Those recordings traveled back to Ireland and profoundly shaped the music’s evolution throughout the 20th century. Since then, the dialogue between Ireland and America has remained constant all they way through the folk revival of the 1960s and ’70s and into the present day.

The Common Ground Ensemble was conceived as a collaborative project to facilitate a musical dialogue between Irish traditional music and other traditions, genres, and artistic disciplines. Tradition, for me, is strengthened through meaningful encounter.

With Sam Amidon, we hear the kinship between Irish music and American folk traditions. Síle Denvir connects us to the deep roots of the Irish tradition through her sean-nós (old-style Irish language) singing and her beautiful harp playing. Stephanie Keane comes from the world of sean-nós Irish dancing, where the rhythmic response to the music is free and spontaneous. Dancer Nic Gareiss brings together—in a uniquely personal and improvisational way—a wide range of percussive dance styles, from Irish step dancing to American clog and flatfoot dancing. Poet Paul Muldoon brings language into the circle, affirming the ancient connection between poetry and music.

No single concert or ensemble can fully encompass the depth and breadth of this tradition. This Irish celebration is the first in a series of performances in the coming years that will invite us deeper into the world of traditional music, into its past, its enduring connections to other musical forms, cultures, and disciplines. Tonight’s presentation offers an opening: a doorway into this tradition’s many facets, its ever-renewing spirit, and the wider musical world with which it continues to converse.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

—Martin Hayes