Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THE BAND Eira performs celtic-influenced Christmas music Friday at the Historic Ironwood Theatre. The band includes, from left, Cheryl Leah, Ed Willett, Liesel Wilson, Sue Spencer and Jim Ofsthun.
By RICHARD JENKINS
Ironwood - Christmas may have come and gone, but the holiday spirit was still alive and well at the Historic Ironwood Theatre Friday night as the theatre played host to Eira.
"For the last couple years people have been suggesting we should do something at the theatre between Christmas and New Year's," said Bruce Greenhill, the theatre's managing director. "Quite often we have a run of shows up until Christmas and then we take a break for a little while, but we were strongly encouraged to do something between Christmas and New Year's and we figured, 'Why not let the holidays continue for a little bit?'"
Self-described as a "five-piece band that performs holiday music for voice, strings and Irish drum," Eira played a variety of celtic-inspired songs along with some Russian- and Chinese-influenced pieces.
This is the first time the band performed at the theatre, according to Greenhill, although most of the members have performed there in other bands.
"Ed Willett and Cheryl Leah have played here under the name of Chance, and (Jim Ofsthun) and (Sue Spencer) were part of an Irish group - or Cape Breton group - McInnis' Kitchen that were here for St. Patrick's Day two years ago," Greenhill said. "So we knew what wonderful musicians they were and when they said they were combining to do Christmas music, we jumped at the chance to bring them to the theatre."
Liesel Wilson - who plays the fiddle, vocals and a Chinese instrument called an erhu - said while the band formed last year, they love performing such a fun show.
Wilson, who's from Ashland, also enjoyed performing so close to home.
"It's nice. It still feels local to me," Wilson said.
Between 150 and 200 people attended the show, according to Greenhill, who was pleased with the turnout.
"A lot of people are saving up to go out tomorrow tonight and do New Year's, but it's nice to see the people here," he said. "And obviously ... you can tell from the response, the crowd is really enjoying the performance."
Prior to Eira taking the stage, the audience heard local Tim Mesun perform an organ prelude on the theatre's Barton organ and HIT Idol winner Kate Averitt sing a pair of songs as an opening act.
